[Cygnus2112]

Not good news as I was looking forward to the next season of spartacus. I still won't subscribe to starz or any premium channel.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20...?tag=cnetRiver

 

[mproper]

That does suck....not that the Starz content was that great (SD/stereo only and frequently cropped) but it did tend to be the newest stuff available (for the most part) and I thought the quality was getting better.


Oh well. I just went through my queue and there's only a few StarzPlay titles on there. I'll just make sure to finish them up between now and February.


The timing of this announcement is interesting though.

 

[moviegeek]

This decision is because of the studios, mainly Disney and Sony.

Oh well I guess I can always rent the disc.

 

[colour]



Quote:
Originally Posted by moviegeek /forum/post/20894810


This decision is because of the studios, mainly Disney and Sony.

Oh well I guess I can always rent the disc.

I hate Sony with an extreme... I mean really extreme passion.

 

[RangerOne]

NETFLIX CEO REED HASTINGS: Here's Why We Let Starz Walk Away...


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/reed-...#ixzz1WkOGTkAj

 

[Taperwood]

Thanks for the link, RangerOne. It sounds to me that Netflix is trying its wings. I believe they are going to find out next year if they really are the only game in town. They currently own the streaming market and they just proved it. The question now is what do they have from other providers to make up for this. Hastings implied more content in Q4. I'm waiting to see what that is.


One thing about Starz. They deliver content just like Netflix. They have distribution contracts just like Netflix. I have a feeling the content Starz controls will not be "dark" for very many years. This breakdown in negotiations probably has more to do with Sony refusing to renew Starz's streaming rights for its movies than anything else. Perhaps the major content owners are beginning to see the light and will start cutting out the middlemen and start dealing directly with Netflix?

 

[jagouar]

They will need to add quite a bit to make up for starz but I am happy to hopefully see the crappy starz SD content traded in for more HD first run films. They have been doing a better job of licensing newer films from the studios but they will have to significantly increase that if they want to make up for the loss of starz content.

 

[Charles R]

I see this as a good thing. It appears they were going to be 6% of total viewership and I presume Netflix offered revenues accordingly. More power to them if they can get more money for their content elsewhere. Long term the content will be streamed and its actual value will be determined. This should simply speed up the process.

 

[mproper]

Yeah, after reading a few things (such as the article linked above), I gotta agree. If true, the Starz titles were a pretty small part of what people were viewing (which actually surprises me).


Hopefully by cutting out the middle-man (Starz), Netflix can deal directly with the studios and get HD/5.1 (and OAR) encodes. We'll see how it shakes out.

 

[Cygnus2112]

Well lets see if netflix adds more streaming deals this 4th quarter. I hope they get a deal to just stream starz original content as I'd like to see the next season of spartacus. I think starz needs netflix more as how many actually pay for starz?

 

[RangerOne]

It will be interesting to see if Starz keeps their content to themselves like HBO does or will they license to a Netflix competitor?

 

[kizzo]

I"m surprised that any of the premium cable channels are on Netflix anyway. They are pretty much in the same business except HBO and Starz are tied to cable and Netflix is internet only. It's like HBO licensing their programming to Showtime or Starz... it didn't make sense.


I do hope that one day we can buy a subscription to HBO GO (excellent product) without cable. I would gladly pay $15 a month for that.

 

[mgkdragn]

Maybe a negotiation ploy .. who knows .. I read that NF would have spent 250M - 300M on the Starz deal .. if they don't reach a deal, that money NF can spend on other content ..


Problem for NF is Starz really put them on the streaming map, the top 50 NF streaming film titles were half from Starz .. Amazon could swoop in now and gain some market share pretty fast with a Starz deal, especially since this announcement comes at the same time as the NF price bump ..

 

[Charles R]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mgkdragn /forum/post/20898038


Problem for NF is Starz really put them on the streaming map, the top 50 NF streaming film titles were half from Starz .. Amazon could swoop in now and gain some market share pretty fast with a Starz deal, especially since this announcement comes at the same time as the NF price bump ..

I see the original Starz deal as a one time event (based strictly on the conditions at that moment) and the streaming arena is far different now. Even if they could have come to terms the current deal would have been very different than the previous one. I don't think going forward they have the rights to much of the content they have had previously.


Regarding Amazon I don't think they are serious about streaming. I know they are the darling of the cost-consensus crowd (similar to the OTA only crowd). I have recently been giving them a try and forgetting the shipping side of Prime (which one has to to compare streaming) I don't feel they are competitive at all with Netflix. That is content versus monthly fee isn't even close.


Netflix's online and app interface is bad enough but with Amazon it's non-existence. Not even a queue? Until they take themselves seriously I have a hard time taking them serious.


For me the interesting side of streaming is Hulu! What will happen to them and their current content. Being OTA only myself I find a lot of value in their content along with other first run content not yet (or at least not easily) available online and or eventually on your TV. That's the 64,000 question as far as I'm concerned.

 

[mgkdragn]

The only reason I mention Amazon is Starz being up in the air right now and NF having really used Starz as a big part of their growth .. if Amazon were to get the Starz deal, it would boost them as it did NF ..


Starz was a backdoor way for NF to offer better content ..


And yes, Amazon is not quite ready for prime time ..

 

[Brian Conrad]

I don't understand why when their Anchor Bay Blurays and DVDs are pretty well encoded and OAR do they whittle many of their streaming offerings to PS and often just SD or SD+. For crying out loud, Netflix is a DVD rental company and the majority of content on DVD has been OAR for well over a decade. I guess Starz goes on the cheap and only uses their SD masters made for SD cable subscribers to encode streams.

 

[mgkdragn]

Starz to remove streaming content from netflix


You may not have to worry about the encode much longer .. and what's that got to do with this thread .. ??

 

[Charles R]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mgkdragn /forum/post/20898295


The only reason I mention Amazon is Starz being up in the air right now and NF having really used Starz as a big part of their growth .. if Amazon were to get the Starz deal, it would boost them as it did NF ..


Starz was a backdoor way for NF to offer better content ..

I agree with you. I just think what Starz offers today isn't what it offered in the original deal. So it makes for a great headline (just noticed it at USA Today) however in reality (based on what it would be going forward) I don't see it being a big deal.

 

[Brian Conrad]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mgkdragn /forum/post/20898316

Starz to remove streaming content from netflix


You may not have to worry about the encode much longer .. and what's that got to do with this thread .. ??

Ya askin' me? Maybe because there were already quite a few comments on the quality of the Starz encodings which is why I also avoid Starz offerings on NF as do many others here.

 

[Cygnus2112]

I don't have a problem with starz content. It looks fine on my 55in HDTV. With the loss of starz, what content should netflix pursue? They really dropped the ball regarding criterion studio too. It is rumored that amazon may try to get starz content. But if it does not include sony and disney, how valuable is starz anyway?