4 ms·

Netflix, bundling, and the future of video

3 points by dangoldin 13y ago

kbenson 13y ago
Unbundling is not about only getting the shows you want, it's about only getting the channels you want. Netflix has no channels, so there's nothing to unbundle. That said I would love it if they treated license holders as channels and allowed management of subscriptions.
- dangoldin 13y ago
  In the context of cable yes but people want channels for the shows themselves. I think the reason people like channels is due to the real time nature of television and having first access to the shows. If entire seasons of a TV show become available immediately I suspect people won't care for the channel anymore. People also like being able to just turn on the TV and watch whatever is on without having to think so maybe there's always room for channels - similar to why Songza can exist alongside Spotify. The only thing that make sense to do live are sports and concerts since that's the natural state.
  - kbenson 13y ago
    Don't we already have unbundling for shows? That's what you get when you buy a season, or a single show, from Amazon or iTunes. There's no reason to argue for that since we already have it. What we don't have is unbundled channels, or sets of channels/content based on IP holder (which I think makes more sense in Netflix's case). I wouldn't mind paying for whatever A&E allows for streaming, and NOT paying for whatever licensor supplies TLC and the History channel. I also wouldn't mind a service that allowed me to pay two different levels for the content, one for the shows with advertising, one for the shows without, preferably toggle-able per IP pack. Then you can start talking about whether we are referring to all (including current) shows for a rights-holder, or just back-catalog, or just the ones they pick (as Netflix is now). In the end, it's all very complex, but I think there's room between Hulu and Netflix, so hopefully someone can fill it.
    - dangoldin 13y ago
      Interesting point. It seems you want to pay for the channel to just have access to it without even worrying about the shows on that channel. Is your habit to just turn it on and watch it in the background? I guess the ideal solution for me would be to actually have shows unbundled entirely and then have 3rd parties create "channels" from them that can be tuned in whenever. The user experience just needs to be such that all this is intuitive.

3 points by dangoldin 13y ago

Unbundling is not about only getting the shows you want, it's about only getting the channels you want. Netflix has no channels, so there's nothing to unbundle. That said I would love it if they treated license holders as channels and allowed management of subscriptions.

dangoldin 13y ago
In the context of cable yes but people want channels for the shows themselves. I think the reason people like channels is due to the real time nature of television and having first access to the shows. If entire seasons of a TV show become available immediately I suspect people won't care for the channel anymore. People also like being able to just turn on the TV and watch whatever is on without having to think so maybe there's always room for channels - similar to why Songza can exist alongside Spotify. The only thing that make sense to do live are sports and concerts since that's the natural state.
- kbenson 13y ago
  Don't we already have unbundling for shows? That's what you get when you buy a season, or a single show, from Amazon or iTunes. There's no reason to argue for that since we already have it. What we don't have is unbundled channels, or sets of channels/content based on IP holder (which I think makes more sense in Netflix's case). I wouldn't mind paying for whatever A&E allows for streaming, and NOT paying for whatever licensor supplies TLC and the History channel. I also wouldn't mind a service that allowed me to pay two different levels for the content, one for the shows with advertising, one for the shows without, preferably toggle-able per IP pack. Then you can start talking about whether we are referring to all (including current) shows for a rights-holder, or just back-catalog, or just the ones they pick (as Netflix is now). In the end, it's all very complex, but I think there's room between Hulu and Netflix, so hopefully someone can fill it.
  - dangoldin 13y ago
    Interesting point. It seems you want to pay for the channel to just have access to it without even worrying about the shows on that channel. Is your habit to just turn it on and watch it in the background? I guess the ideal solution for me would be to actually have shows unbundled entirely and then have 3rd parties create "channels" from them that can be tuned in whenever. The user experience just needs to be such that all this is intuitive.