Microsoft-Netflix bid rumours feast on froth – and logic Some of the big takeovers in the pay TV arena have taken analysts by surprise, but that will not be the case if, as looks increasingly likely, Microsoft tables a bid for Netflix. We all know where the rumour began, with the announcement early in October that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was standing down from his other big role …
Not to pick on your grammar, but to point out the fun when commas are not present, this is all...
Earlier, I was thinking a merger would result in a "Microsoft Netflix". So, when I saw your post, my mind stumbled, and I decided that you are implying toast exists between two parties: the strip-mining investors (a term I like and had not heard nor recalled until today) and the potential entity Microsoft-Netflix.
So, again, I am only thanking you for giving me humor (in my so far long and mundane day today) to laugh at myself and thank those nuns back in the early 80s for their insistence on proper punctuation. But, as we know, English rules are hell on all kinds of people at times.
If this happens then maybe, just maybe Microsoft will have the clout to secure more i.p for netflix outside the U.S..
I recently did the dns hack for UK netflix and was amazed and appalled at how much better the u.s and Canadian netflix is. There must be 10 times as much material on there including more recent film releases, a LOT of full tv series and documentaries such as every episode of every startrek series and puzzlingly, more British tv shows.
The uk one really is a rip off when you see what the yanks get for the same price.
I'm currently working through Breaking Bad on my Xbox via Netflix and have to say the service is fantastic although as Mickey Mouse points out the material available is a bit lacking at the moment. If the rumours are true about another (higher) tier of Xbox membership then including Netflix would work quite nicely in my opinion.
And for the consumer. Microsoft needs a good library of streamed content for its new devices, and it needs this quickly. Google isn't going to rush to do this (they sell Nexus) and nor would Amazon with Love Film (Kindle Fire HD). Nexflix probably would, eventually, but eventually isn't enough. From a consumer perspective (i.e. this consumer who watches Netflix on laptop, smart TV and Nexus 7), I wouldn't see anything malign about Microsoft buying Nexflix; unless they ended up being complete idiots about it.
The music industry is basically dead because of the way record labels handled, or didn't handle, advances in technology and a shift in user / customer habits.
The film industry is putting up a slightly better fight but ultimately heading the same way because it's still trying to maintain a closed market were the product has to be sold at a premium because of limitations on customer numbers that the industry has created itself, in other words the industry is killing itself.
Companies like Netflix, Sky etc buying exclusive rights to content for their customer base creates the illusion of choice, but you will only have a complete choice if you sign up to every single content providing service... AOL tried to create an internet within an internet and failed because people want choice, another example would be a supermarket, they have killed 'corner shops' because they offer everything at an affordable price.
When will people realize that exclusivity is dead, ring fence your product so you can sell it at a premium, or offer it to everyone. £5 x 1000 is £5k, £1 x 1000000 is £1m, Less really is more.
Having all their eggs in one basket they are an easy target for greedy content companies. Your making money, give it to us!
Disney just added some of their crappier movies to the Canadian Play store. You can now "buy" Cars 2 but the download costs more then the DVD/Blu Ray combo at Amazon. That's just stupid, it's also typical.
It is a problem to have all their eggs in one basket, so remove the basket. I thought the aim of the industry was to reach as many people as possible, so only distributing their content via exclusive deals with specific vendors instantly limits the viewing figure to a maximum of 100% of the customer base of that vendor, which means that to make any profit they need to charge a premium for the content, which again alienates some of that vendors customer base.
Meanwhile technology is changing the way people access media, some would argue already has changed it. But instead of using these changes to improve the industry, they are seeing it as a threat because they're unwilling to change their operating model, then taking steps to quash the technological advancement, it's well known that negative change is short lived and positive change will usually win, which is why I think in the next 10 years companies like Netflix and Lovefilm etc which seem to be seen as the 'future' of media, threatening the likes of Sky, Cable and traditional 'TV Guide' services are themselves going to die out.
Previously record companies could get away with selling albums with two or three new songs amongst 15 others which they have released on previous albums and inevitably the "Greatest Hits" albums which contained 100% previously released material. The ability to purchase single mp3's effectively ended that. Customers simply need to buy the three new singles as opposed to paying for an entire album. Essentially record companies who were more than happy to screw over their customers have now found that those same customers are no longer willing and now have the means to avoid being screwed by those same record companies. There will always be those fans who will buy all albums regardless but they are by far in the minority, most will use a mix and match of their already purchased songs to recreate the new albums.
More likely a shift in production from "someone with a good musical idea and the skill to implement, partnered with a PR label" to "fixed format talent shows where the corporate reuses old material and floods advertising, media and talk show channels to get their choice of performer to the top of the charts."
The labels & marketing got too strong. Kids started playing computer games and spending time on facebook.
When was the last time you saw an amusing & witty music video or even one that told any kind of interesting story?
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