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Comment by tmtvl | Hacker News Reader

I don't quite understand the following:

> When Netflix launched its ad-supported tier [...], it tried to tempt viewers in with discounted rates

What 'discounted rates'? If it's 'ad-supported' surely they don't expect people to pay for it? Who in their right mind would pay for the privilege of sitting through ads?

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I don't think ads vs. paid needs to be a binary choice; for example a cheap but not free plan that only has ads at beginning/end of titles but not midways is definitely a valid choice alternative to midspan ads as on classic TV. Some people hate getting interruptions mid watching something but aren't bothered waiting through some ads at the start.

People who pay for cable TV.

People with cable have DVRs and can trivially and reliably skip commercials. It's streaming where you lose control of being able to seek arbitrarily through the video stream. Cable customers are the ones who can avoid commercials.

Really? I haven’t had cable since before DVRs were a thing, I didn’t realize you got one with your cable subscription now.

For a while the cable companies would partner with Tivo and provide a DVR as an upsell but now they all have their own DVR platforms and it's become the standard cable box.

It's been built into the set top experience for near a decade. They used to compete on space offered or how many TVs could record at once.

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