10-28-2011, 09:41 AM
Grieve Wrote:I don't really get what the problem is the studios have. For $5-15 a month you can subscribe to HBO, Starz, etc through your cable provider and get loads of studio movies, including a lot of recent ones. Each studio must only get a small fraction of that. The cable company will be keeping a bunch, HBO will be keeping a bunch, etc. It seems strange that Netflix can't sign similar deals.
I guess Netflix has to split it's $8 month fee amongst TV and movie studios, rather than just for movies, so maybe it isn't paying as much. Still, it reminds me of the futile battle the music companies had against digital music vs physical CDs.
The difference is that there is a set number of movies provided to the premium channels each month that they cycle through. (i.e. say 15 movies from a specific studio w/ 3 being new releases for x number of studios). Netflix deals (or at least I assume it would) would include the studio's entire library. The way to get around it is for netflix to pay-per-play, but the studios are most likely trying to squeeze a margin out of netflix similar to what they would from DVD sales (because why buy a $15-$20 new release if you can watch it whenever, however many times you want on a $8/month streaming account). Add to that the money the studios are getting from competitors for those same movies on a streaming rental basis.
In my opinion, you could defray some of the cost by allowing the studios to stream 1-3 movie previews (upcoming to theater, not the retarded dvd movie previews the latest bluerays try to force you to watch). The studios probably see a netflix deal as undercutting their streaming rentals and DVD sales, so even with what is essentially ad-based watching, there is probably a large gap between what netflix is willing to pay and what the movie studios see as profitable considering the reduced demand projections for the other media.