Netflix wants to make content the same worldwide

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StarBlazer

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#170998 1-Apr-2015 15:34

Saw this on Stuff - at last someone is talking sense. In the ideal world, the content would have a worldwide release.

However I don't agree with the term 'VPN Piracy' - people go to a lot of effort to pay for content from overseas providers, let's not try to criminalise the act.

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#1275464 1-Apr-2015 15:44

April Fool? :-)

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StarBlazer

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#1275469 1-Apr-2015 15:47

n4: April Fool? :-)

If it is, Stuff don't know the rules! Only recently posted to Stuff at 3:28pm ;-)

However, it would be really, really funny if Stuff have fallen for an April Fool joke from the US!!!

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NonprayingMantis

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#1275471 1-Apr-2015 15:48

wanting to do it and actually doing it are two totally different things.

Whilst it sounds awesome and noble, I believe this is just then paying lip service to the people who complain about the current system, but Netflix actually have no intention of doing this for the following reasons

1) Whilst there is some content they could not get for NZ because it was already bought by another provider (e.g. House of cards, Better Call Saul etc), there is also plenty of content available in the US catalogue (and other regions) that has NOT been purchased by any NZ provider. They were no restrictions to them buying that content, but they chose not to.

2) why would they, as a business, want to buy content for the certian market which nobody will watch? Local shows from, say, Brazil might be very popular in Latin America, but I doubt they will get much traction here, so why would they bother buying the NZ licence for them and putting it on the NZ service. It would be a total waste of money.

3) they have also stated publicly that they tailor the content for each region according to what the locals like. This makes complete sense (see point 2) but would totally contradict the idea of having all content the same worldwide. You cant have the same global content, but at the same time tailor it for the local market.

4) from a practical point of view, it's going to be very challenging to purchase global rights for content that they don't produce themselves. Studios make far more money by selling the content to smaller local providers (that's the whole reason for separate geographical rights in the first place)

5) Studios also know that, despite the risk of piracy, some content simply works better at different times of the year, which is why they have different release schedules. e.g. kids movies work best when released during school holidays. School holidays in NZ are not the same as school holidays in the USA. Other movies work best in the winter or summer. Again, different seasons in different hemispheres.

sidefx

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#1275472 1-Apr-2015 15:50

Pretty sure that's not an April Fools - I think Netflix have made noises like this quite a while ago, well before April.

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n4

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#1275478 1-Apr-2015 15:56

sidefx: Pretty sure that's not an April Fools - I think Netflix have made noises like this quite a while ago, well before April.

Yes, tongue in cheek. As NonPrayingMantis alludes to, what Netflix is actually saying is 'if the content providers gave us a worldwide licence for the same price we pay now for local licences, we would make content available everywhere'. They would not pay any extra to make content more broadly available unless there was a direct revenue stream (ie more subs) from doing so.

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xontech

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#1275479 1-Apr-2015 15:56

Its not an April Fools, it is just that it took Stuff 12 days to (copy and paste) report on it.......

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/03/netflix-ceo-reed-hastings-on-the-nbn-piracy-and-launching-in-australia/

dclegg

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#1275486 1-Apr-2015 16:08

n4: April Fool? :-)

Highly doubtful. Netflix have stated this is their intention all along. But they have to wait until current content rights expire before they can renegotiate.

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StarBlazer

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#1275491 1-Apr-2015 16:18

xontech: Its not an April Fools, it is just that it took Stuff 12 days to (copy and paste) report on it.......

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/03/netflix-ceo-reed-hastings-on-the-nbn-piracy-and-launching-in-australia/

Thanks for that - it was actually an interesting read compared to the couple of paragraphs Stuff managed to wrangle out.

Funny enough Stuff quote "However, he said VPN piracy played only a small part in piracy worldwide." - the phrase VPN Piracy was never used in the original article.

The original article was worded as; (I've added the bold)

By “the VPN thing”, Hastings means users accessing Netflix from Australia when they shouldn’t be. Using digital connections to mask the fact that they’re hailing from Australia in order to access the service. It’s an ongoing problem for Netflix which has specific content agreements in place not to export certain content outside of a particular territory, and one it’s always trying to fix. Clearly Hastings would rather give up the fight against dodgy VPNs if he could win the war against piracy instead.

“Piracy is really the problem around the world. The VPN scenario is someone who wants to pay and can’t quite pay. The basic solution is for Netflix to get global and have its content be the same all around the world so there’s no incentive to [use a VPN]. Then we can work on the more important part which is piracy.

EDIT: Formatting of the quote

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freitasm

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#1275524 1-Apr-2015 16:59

Just to show local papers and journalists are clueless about content and technology.

sultanoswing

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#1275649 1-Apr-2015 19:31

NonprayingMantis:
3) they have also stated publicly that they tailor the content for each region according to what the locals like. This makes complete sense (see point 2) but would totally contradict the idea of having all content the same worldwide. You cant have the same global content, but at the same time tailor it for the local market.

They could still conceivably do both global and local by offering everything everywhere, but perhaps charging a small premium on your account for the "Global Content" option, whilst offering a tailored package to each market/territory as a seperate or cheaper package.

StarBlazer

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#1275946 2-Apr-2015 10:41

Interestingly, almost all the comments on Stuff complain about the use of the phrase VPN Piracy and how this is not piracy!

Well done Stuff on your bait reporting. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story!!

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robjg63

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#1275962 2-Apr-2015 11:02

I am sure Netflix would love to provide the same content everywhere.
I imagine it would take quite a bit of negotiation and a bit of time - but then thats their job - so probably possible enough.

One thing that strikes me though, is that the content providers do not want any one company to have a monopoly hence the reason you may get a series that has random seasons on different providers. It gives the content providers a way of bargaining up the price of their programs.
The content providers may still want to have different content available at different times and charge differing amounts for different regions - so it might not really be up to Netflix.

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StarBlazer

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#1275969 2-Apr-2015 11:08

At one point in their existence, someone probably said that the studios and distributors would never allow streaming as it would undermine the whole DVD distribution stranglehold they had.

Netflix have enough market force to push for change - it may take a couple of years but I think it will happen.

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Dairyxox

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#1276056 2-Apr-2015 13:09

I love how netflix handle all these tricky aspects of their business model. (Remember queries about whether you could use your existing member ship in other locations/markets).
Its so refreshing, ideal and free of BS, for a company to act like this.

reven

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#1276080 2-Apr-2015 13:27

in 5-10 years time I could see this been the netflix model, there would be a few differences with some content banned in some countries, but for the most part the available content would be the same.

comes down to a huge international company bidding on content, vs a small player in one country (well small compared to netflix).

netflix are also starting to produce a lot of their own content. so i believe this will happen one day, just a few more years off IMO.

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