Re: Netflix is under pressure...
To be fair, content creators probably do maximise revenue right now by selling regional rights.
If you produce a hit series like Games of Thrones, then regional operators like Foxtel in Australia or SkyTV in NZ will bid up the prices for exclusive rights to the show.
Companies like SkyTV here in NZ get away with charging ~$60 per month (for basic set of channels and Soho) for people wanting to watch GoT legally, so can always outbid Netflix for the rights, as they only charge about $10 per month here in comparsion.
Total revenue from all the regions, with some paying way above the odds to prop up monopoly cable/satellite providers, must beat what Netflix offers as a global deal to content providers.
Interesting times though; Netflix is getting big enough that they could offer key content providers global offers that they can't turn down, as well as producing their own content as a counter to those who insist on regional rights.
Balancing act will be that if Netflix gets too big, then they will become a global monopoly and be able to screw down content providers too much.
I suspect in the long run, local distributors will lose out to global players like Netflix, Amazon and Apple/Google, but pirates and independant content providers selling individual episodes and niche series, will provide alternatives to too much locking.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
