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Re:Netflix Loses 1M Users in Spain over Password Policing by baq on Wednesday April 26, 2023 @04:55AM (#35711056)
That's the paradox: everybody wants to build and operate that since it's obvious everyone would subscribe to such a service, it'd be a cash cow, a golden goose, etc. But nobody wants to share their slice of the copyright and licensing pie with anybody else for revenue reasons, brand reasons, whatever, so we're slowly moving back toward the cable model with 200 subscriptions and nothing to watch. Torrents will be back, big time, since they actually provide the service everybody wants.
Re:Netflix Loses 1M Users in Spain over Password Policing by m000 on Wednesday April 26, 2023 @05:33AM (#35711314)
This is essentially the ridiculous copyright laws backfiring.

The entertainment market is stagnating (if not quantity, at least quality-wise) because the copyright laws stiffle innovation instead of fostering it. Early-comers (Hollywood & co) are comfortably sitting on their stash of content, content with rehashing the same franchises. New-comers are forced to low-risk - low-quality content, sprinkled with anything they can get their hands on from other sources.

Re:Netflix Loses 1M Users in Spain over Password Policing by sokoloff on Wednesday April 26, 2023 @05:42AM (#35711372)
What part of that is about "ridiculous copyright laws backfiring", though?

It seems like it's copyright laws working as intended. (I may not love that I have to pay to access a 25 year old movie legally, but it hardly feels objectively unfair or ridiculous that I have to do that.)

Re:Netflix Loses 1M Users in Spain over Password Policing by lotsofpulp on Wednesday April 26, 2023 @11:13AM (#35714968)
The unfairness comes from the fact that society is paying to enforce those copyrights via expenses on judges, lawyers, police etc, but society is not getting a commensurate return on investment.

The purpose of copyright is to incentivize creativity, but society does not need to pay for 180 years of monopoly protection to incentivize creativity.

Re:Netflix Loses 1M Users in Spain over Password Policing by andsoitis on Wednesday April 26, 2023 @11:46AM (#35715623)
> society is not getting a commensurate return on investment.

What investment is “society” making in tv shows and movies?

Re:Netflix Loses 1M Users in Spain over Password Policing by lotsofpulp on Wednesday April 26, 2023 @11:50AM (#35715683)
The cost (or part of the cost) of the law enforcement apparatus around copyright.
Re:Netflix Loses 1M Users in Spain over Password Policing by sokoloff on Wednesday April 26, 2023 @04:01PM (#35719185)
I'm quite sure that the tax receipts from the sale, rental, and performance of the copyrighted material more than adequately covers the portion of those costs borne by society. (In fact, that's probably a fair part of the reason that government is willing to support lengthy and obstructive copyright protections: because it adds government revenue far in excess of the cost.)
Re:Netflix Loses 1M Users in Spain over Password Policing by lotsofpulp on Wednesday April 26, 2023 @04:12PM (#35719331)
I don’t know how one would tease that out of any tax receipt date, compared to economic loss due to suboptimal allocation of society’s resources.

Suppose copyright law was 15 years instead of 100 years or whatever. Society still gets the tax receipts and benefits from creation of the media, but the shareholders who own the media do not get to collect a price premium from the extra 85 years. That money can now be spent by consumers elsewhere as opposed to supporting media owners who already had sufficient incentive to create the media.

The question at the end of the day is, does a 100 year copyright term incentivize the creation of media with so much utility compared to copyright term of 15 years such that it makes sense for society to transfer extra resources to the media owners for an additional 85 years? Amongst other externalities to consider.

Re:Netflix Loses 1M Users in Spain over Password Policing by coldpie on Wednesday April 26, 2023 @12:21PM (#35716196)
We are also paying for it with the loss of our shared culture to a few individuals.
Re:Netflix Loses 1M Users in Spain over Password Policing by mitchdoogle on Wednesday April 26, 2023 @02:52PM (#35718329)
The real question is why do people feel like they deserve to have access to absolutely everything? The home entertainment landscape has continually moved towards more options, better technology, and more access, and always at a cheaper rate per hour of programming than before. Of course, if you want to maintain access to absolutely everything, then your cost is always going to go up, because the pool of absolutely everything continues to get larger and larger, not just from new content, but from the inclusion of old content that wasn't available in any form before. There is a disconnect that comes from the fact that people can't/don't actually watch that much.

The only thing keeping cable alive today is live sports, but that eventually will be folded into existing streaming services or they will have their own services. Which brings me to my next point. There will very likely be 200 subscription services (if there aren't already), but the more there are, the more niche and specialized they will be. But importantly, you will be able to choose what you want (a la carte). This is a far cry from cable because cable has never been a la carte. They've always required you to purchase at least a basic package with 30-50 + channels, and each channel getting a couple bucks each month. The consumer's total cost is at least $50 / mo, probably more

Compare that to one of the typical big streamers which are $10 - $15 per month. Netflix, Max, Hulu, Disney - each of these alone has more content than you could ever watch. As long as they are all around to stay in competition, then prices will remain low. The absolute worst thing that could happen for consumers is for streamers to combine and form a conglomerate. Now that would be like cable - they'd have a monopoly and they'd end up charging you more overall than you were paying before, and then singling out "premium" content for even more money.

If you feel like you have to subscribe to all of them, that is simply a marker of their success in marketing to you. There is enough content (good content that you WILL enjoy) on any one of them. Or hell - even on Youtube which you can watch for free, there will be enough content to keep you from getting bored.

Re:Netflix Loses 1M Users in Spain over Password Policing by baq on Thursday April 27, 2023 @06:10AM (#35725827)
I don't know if I'd use words like 'feel like they deserve'. I'd rather use 'feel like it isn't possible because somebody said so'. It evidently is possible technically and people (IMHO correctly) are fed up with studios not being able politically to work together to provide a good service - IOW they vote with their wallets.