Greetings All
Being shut in because of the blizzard (I live in New Hampshire) I've binged all 13 chapters of House Of Cards. I (and my wife) have evolved to enjoy binge viewing so this binge is nothing new.
I enjoyed the show, I look forward to the next installments but, that really isn't the reason for this post. Before I get to the actual reason a disclaimer is needed.
I am a nobody, I have no industry ties and I am by no means a business model wiz kid, these are just going to be my personal opinion, and just like the expression goes “Everybody has one”
I cut the cable/ripped dish down over 4 years ago, we relied on OTA using the computer as the DVR, an old ATI HD TV card. At that time HULU and Fancast were just starting out. I vividly remember a business trip I had to make, the hotel I stayed in had all the cable/channels you would ever need, yet I fired up my laptop to go to HULU to watch the few shows I wanted to see. The following evening during the plane ride home it dawned on me the significance of my choosing the laptop for my evening of viewing rather than a fully loaded cable TV choice.
Today I am a Netflix (streaming only, DVDs don't allow for binge viewing) customer, I am a Amazon Prime member, I occasionally use HULU and rarely use Xfinity (Fancast) anymore. Today I have a good HTPC and can program/record (with a mouse click) all the major network OTA shows, as well as going to various providers web sights (wife love Project Runway, Lifetime makes the latest episode available the next day), and for the shows we can't get legally for free, we pay the $1.99 (Top Chief via Amazon) I look in retrospect at this journey over the past 4 years and will dare to look forward and guess at what the future is/will bring.
Satellite TV: Well this will go the way of a rotary phone, with all the devices we do and will own capable of streaming, and even more content becoming available online I can't foresee a business model that the satellite TV industry can survive in.
Cable TV: I see them evolving in to just an ISP, maybe with only basic/local channels, OTA HDTV channels will help this evolution, Cable almost killed the local OTA channels, I find it funny the shoe is on the other foot now.
Networks: Well, I can only guess they will be forced to provide more content online (if they want to survive), the recent willingness of Netflix and Amazon to invest in producing their own series should scare them a bit (should actually scare them a lot) and make them realize they need to accept an alternate means to distribute their media content.
Netflix: I think they are great (for the money) and have no complaints, they were the ones that started all this (poor video rental places) and it will be interesting how deep this rabbit hole is going to go. My only concern about Netflix is they may go the way of America Online (remember how great they were in the beginning, and how we (I) grew to hate them), it is tough to sustain trend setting status.
Amazon: I enjoy my prime membership, where do I think they will go? I believe they are the dark horse, they have deep pockets and have been able to jump on the newest band wagon of trends in the past. If I had to guess, it would be different Prime membership levels, the various levels (and fees) for different networks content. 1st level, TLC & TNT, 2nd level, first level plus Bravo & Discovery, Etc, Etc
A subject that has to be brought in to this type of conversation is, the Hack Sites: I believe most people are willing to pay a modest amount for only the content they want, but when all else fails this is a path some choose. This could be the red headed step child in the room to any business model. The only way to compete is to offer quality content at a reasonable price. Look what Napster did to the music industry, I see the same thing happening with video content today that happened to music 10 years ago, I only wonder if the industry has learned anything from those Napster days.
So to conclude, Netflix threw down the gauntlet with House of Cards and brought us into a new era. I think when all the dust settles, this will make Netflix money and spawn more content like it (via Netflix and others)for all to enjoy. I see Satellite TV going away, cable companies are reduced to being just ISPs, this will force the networks to distribute using that newfangled thing called the internet.
Well that's my opinion (not that anyone asked :-} )
AFM
Edited by afineman - 2/9/13 at 2:12pm
Being shut in because of the blizzard (I live in New Hampshire) I've binged all 13 chapters of House Of Cards. I (and my wife) have evolved to enjoy binge viewing so this binge is nothing new.
I enjoyed the show, I look forward to the next installments but, that really isn't the reason for this post. Before I get to the actual reason a disclaimer is needed.
I am a nobody, I have no industry ties and I am by no means a business model wiz kid, these are just going to be my personal opinion, and just like the expression goes “Everybody has one”
I cut the cable/ripped dish down over 4 years ago, we relied on OTA using the computer as the DVR, an old ATI HD TV card. At that time HULU and Fancast were just starting out. I vividly remember a business trip I had to make, the hotel I stayed in had all the cable/channels you would ever need, yet I fired up my laptop to go to HULU to watch the few shows I wanted to see. The following evening during the plane ride home it dawned on me the significance of my choosing the laptop for my evening of viewing rather than a fully loaded cable TV choice.
Today I am a Netflix (streaming only, DVDs don't allow for binge viewing) customer, I am a Amazon Prime member, I occasionally use HULU and rarely use Xfinity (Fancast) anymore. Today I have a good HTPC and can program/record (with a mouse click) all the major network OTA shows, as well as going to various providers web sights (wife love Project Runway, Lifetime makes the latest episode available the next day), and for the shows we can't get legally for free, we pay the $1.99 (Top Chief via Amazon) I look in retrospect at this journey over the past 4 years and will dare to look forward and guess at what the future is/will bring.
Satellite TV: Well this will go the way of a rotary phone, with all the devices we do and will own capable of streaming, and even more content becoming available online I can't foresee a business model that the satellite TV industry can survive in.
Cable TV: I see them evolving in to just an ISP, maybe with only basic/local channels, OTA HDTV channels will help this evolution, Cable almost killed the local OTA channels, I find it funny the shoe is on the other foot now.
Networks: Well, I can only guess they will be forced to provide more content online (if they want to survive), the recent willingness of Netflix and Amazon to invest in producing their own series should scare them a bit (should actually scare them a lot) and make them realize they need to accept an alternate means to distribute their media content.
Netflix: I think they are great (for the money) and have no complaints, they were the ones that started all this (poor video rental places) and it will be interesting how deep this rabbit hole is going to go. My only concern about Netflix is they may go the way of America Online (remember how great they were in the beginning, and how we (I) grew to hate them), it is tough to sustain trend setting status.
Amazon: I enjoy my prime membership, where do I think they will go? I believe they are the dark horse, they have deep pockets and have been able to jump on the newest band wagon of trends in the past. If I had to guess, it would be different Prime membership levels, the various levels (and fees) for different networks content. 1st level, TLC & TNT, 2nd level, first level plus Bravo & Discovery, Etc, Etc
A subject that has to be brought in to this type of conversation is, the Hack Sites: I believe most people are willing to pay a modest amount for only the content they want, but when all else fails this is a path some choose. This could be the red headed step child in the room to any business model. The only way to compete is to offer quality content at a reasonable price. Look what Napster did to the music industry, I see the same thing happening with video content today that happened to music 10 years ago, I only wonder if the industry has learned anything from those Napster days.
So to conclude, Netflix threw down the gauntlet with House of Cards and brought us into a new era. I think when all the dust settles, this will make Netflix money and spawn more content like it (via Netflix and others)for all to enjoy. I see Satellite TV going away, cable companies are reduced to being just ISPs, this will force the networks to distribute using that newfangled thing called the internet.
Well that's my opinion (not that anyone asked :-} )
AFM
Edited by afineman - 2/9/13 at 2:12pm
