Netflix hints at password sharing crackdown

[phenomlab]

@DownPW you know what’s interesting? Here in the UK, streaming services periodically log you out so you then have to log back in and they use that as a way of tracking who is using their services.

As if they don’t make enough profit already.

[crazycells]

@phenomlab First, there was live tv and cable, then Netflix decided that you do not need to pay a lot of fees for cable tv channels to get all these unwanted movies, useless programs, and unnecessary shows, and you should cut costs by buying Netflix, with a fraction of what you were spending before for cable tv and you can stream videos on demand anytime you want and watch only what you want.

Netflix started to offer movies from all major studios… Then, major studios realized how juicy this sector was getting, they stopped selling their movies to Netflix and they all created their own streaming platforms disney, HBO, hulu, amazon, paramount, discovery, peacock… and now cable tv is almost dead but thanks to movie studios’ greed, we went back to square one, with many platforms to buy and pay for it. we are actually paying more than what we used to pay for cable tv, and watch only what we want by having many unwanted movies, useless programs, and unnecessary shows

[crazycells]

lol

[phenomlab]

@crazycells absolutely love this response. It’s so accurate, and perfectly sums up the exact scenario we have found ourselves in today.

Back in the 90’s, I was installing cable TV for Cable and Wireless (see here) and even back then, it was being touted as the best thing to ever be created, with access to channels such as RTL, Movies, and much more. We were even offering a “dish down” service where the customer would get a discount on their installation if they allowed us to remove their Sky dish (which at the time was the size of a trash can lid, and weighed a ton).

Back then, pay per view was still huge, and streaming services didn’t even exist. It just seems ironic that cable TV was created to enhance the viewer experience, and then was subsequently replaced with streaming TV services - with Netflix being the pioneer and then others following suit - in fact, some are doing it better.

And yet, as you rightly say, all they have given us is the ability to binge watch shows rather than have to wait a week before the next episode as used to be the case, and despite having access to thousands of titles, there’s never anything to watch 🤬

[phenomlab]

Something of an update - an “ad free” subscription is now available, so that means any standard users (including myself) are likely to be bombed with annoying ads!

https://news.sky.com/story/netflix-raises-uk-price-plans-as-subscribers-grow-at-fastest-rate-since-2020-lockdown-12987335

[phenomlab]

An interesting take on this. I don’t typically agree with Martin Lewis, but it’s hard to ignore the points he makes here - particularly around the “eye watering” top price.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/10/netflix-price-rise/

[crazycells]

@phenomlab with many of these platforms economically collapsing and increasing prices… pirating will rise again…

thank god we have put.io

[phenomlab]

@crazycells Thanks for the link. That’s certainly an interesting concept!

[crazycells]

@phenomlab yeah, I think people would find this very useful as a download manager. It uses servers in Netherlands to download, and then you get it from there. As you and I are very decent people, we would never download copyrighted materials or pirate this kind of materials at all… And on top of this, of course we are against that. We love laws, and would pay if we want to watch movies.

But, if someone would want it to downlonad a free, uncopyrighted movie and then delete it after watching, they could do that easily with this put.io I know this app, because Turkish programmers are behind this, but I know it is popular around the world. If someone wants 20% discount code over their yearly rate, they should just reach them before buying and ask for a discount nicely, I have a feeling that they will provide a code.

[phenomlab]

@crazycells said in Netflix hints at password sharing crackdown:

We love laws, and would pay if we want to watch movies.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here - particularly around the point re: privacy. I expect that other people are willing to abide by the laws also, but it’s very easy to see how rising prices will simply fuel the pirate industry even further. Nobody likes to be “ripped off” or “held to ransom”, and there are always going to be those who would rather not pay at all and put up with a poor video image taken in the cinema with someone’s head bobbing up and down, or overhearing someone complain they asked for an ice cream but got a donut…

The rising costs of viewing material is what is in essence the fuel for the piracy market - not just viewing either - it used to be the case (before digital downloads of music tracks) that people were pirating CD’s because of the cost. With the onset of online music stores, that’s probably a thing of the past - I can’t recall overhearing anyone saying they spend all of their free time searching for mp3’s etc recently, unless I’m out of touch, but the film industry is encouraging piracy with the spiralling costs of attending the cinema etc - not to mention being robbed in broad daylight if you want refreshments.