It is just becoming the internet equivalent of an unlimited on-demand cable channel.
Don't get me wrong. I've found Marco Polo, Stranger Things, House of Cards (S1 & S2) & several other shows to be really interesting. I just don't have the time to watch that many episodes. I prefer a nice short movie to unwind to when I have time.
That said, I wish more books & comics would be turned into a series instead of movies at the theater. Netflix proved this with 13 Reasons Why. Star Wars, Marvel, etc would also benefit from this.
Clone Wars is good. The first season has some questionable animation quality, but it improves.
With no commercials. All in all, That's still an improvement over traditional cable.
They just make them unskippable by integrating them into their shows.
And I know other shows and movies do it as well, that is no reason to pretend you're not getting brainwashed to crave fast food and soda when watching these shows instead.
> They just make them unskippable by integrating them into their shows.
No, we're not going to stop saying this, because eliminating obnoxious commercial breaks is still a tremendous win.
Netflix doesn't want to pay the prices they'd have to in order to remain a one-stop shop, it certainly isn't practical at $9.99 a subscription.
There's no way the $100 a month cable subscription was suddenly going to be replaced by a $10 a month subscription. Now you can get CBS All Access, Netflix, Hulu, HBO GO, the new DC comics streaming service, the new Disney streaming service, a couple more probably, and you'll still be paying $100 a month... just a la carte for the channels you want.
So the realistic remaining players after the dust settles would be Disney+Hulu, CBS, Netflix, and Amazon. And of those 4, CBS lacks the capital or content to compete with the other 3 and given their relatively friendly relationship with WB, I can see them integrating into the Disney/Hulu heavyweight.
- CBS remains the dominant power in network TV, shows like NCIS, Big Bang Theory, etc.
- CBS has always been the standout in refusing to offer their shows over Hulu, feeling they have enough independent value of their own.
All Access has it's weaknesses, but it's also one of the cheapest offerings ($5.99 to watch with commercials), and CBS easily has the content to work with. Discovery alone is worth the cost of admission, and for anyone who also watches CBS' network shows, it becomes an easy sell.
Again, at the end of the day, these businesses are based on a $100 a month cable package model. All of this content is not going to keep being made at $10 a month offerings. Either you're going to end up with ten services, or the three or four services you see 'consolidating' will end up costing $25 a month each.
Discovery is my favorite show at the moment, but one show can't carry a company.
Disney owns the third biggest channel, Comcast owns the second biggest channel. Fox isn't even on the playing field, and is cashing in their entertainment arm.
It would be a monopoly if it were the only place to get that content; but a one stop shop, where the content is not exclusive, would still be highly valuable to a lot of consumers.
Perhaps having a minority of exclusive content will still be possible/desirable as a market differentiation mechanism.