Netflix is turning into cable TV
Netflix is turning into cable TV
Netflix is turning into cable TV::After the loss of behind-the-scenes talent and the acquisition of rights to WWE, Netflix is starting to feel more and more like basic cable.
WWE? Lol they think that's must have TV?
5 billion for ten years? Lolol. Oh my sides. It's not even an acquisition. It's 500 million a year for fake wrestling.
fake wrestling
Nitpicking, but it's meant to be entertainment. You don't call HBO shows fake drama.
That's one of the reasons wrestling fans prefer the term scripted or staged as opposed to fake. It still requires tons of athleticism, and lots of wrestlers are still taking very real hits and injuries despite trying to minimize the impacts of them.
Do the people who go "you know that stuffs fake right?" actually think that there are people who think it's real?
Well I can't call it wrestling, because then what would we call wrestling.
Some people LOVE wrestling.
And it’s a pretty massive audience. This could officially be the end of Netflix as a movie powerhouse, but it isn’t a bad business strategy. Especially with how much they’re raking in from people paying for ads on top of the advertising dollars they’re earning from running them in the first place. They’re phasing out the cheapest ad free option. It’s a big gamble. And, honestly? Fuck ‘em if it doesn’t work. I mean, fuck ‘em if it does work too. I know I don’t personally give a shit about wrestling. (I don’t give a shit about their profits either. They’re not getting my booty. Yo-ho.)
I mean, as shitty as it is, there's a decent sized market for it. Probably worth it to them to overpay so much for it to hurt the current streaming provider, Peacock.
I think it's ignorant to call it "shitty" or "fake wrestling".
Pro-wrestling entertainment is a form of camp theater, like drag shows. It's an old, cherished artform with a wide, passionate audience that outsiders routinely dismiss because they don't get it.
I don't watch it. It doesn't appeal to me. But I know people who love it. I think it's largely class elitism that perpetuates the misconception that this form of performance art is somehow unrespectable. It's not, it's challenging, dangerous, physically demanding theater.
Edit: For those confused or skeptical, check out Super Eyepatch Wolf's captivating media analysis "The Undertaker: Long term story telling in wrestling"
You understand there are other people in the world besides yourself that have different interests than you, right?
You don't have to like it, but just FYI, the market doesn't care about your feelings. Professional wrestling is a worldwide phenomenon, especially in Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East.
The UFC merged with the WWE this year, and UFC fighters routinely show up to WWE events. Real professional fighters don't seem to care that it's scripted
Just because it's something you don't like, doesn't make it not worth an insane amount of money.
There's a reason why WWE is not only still around, but worth more today than it was in it's "heyday".
You're laughing because someone bought a proven market. It's literally the same as Marvel, Star Wars, or any other market.
That's nice you think you understand what a valuable acquisition is.
I think you're applying your own viewpoint here to the general public.
I don't enjoy wrestling. I also don't enjoy reality TV, teen dramas, horror shows, or European Football. But that doesn't mean they don't have value.
If TV needs to provide some infallible, logical benefit to be worth something, then every show is in trouble. It's practically all made up stories about nothing that matters.
This is one of the narrow times that "the customer is always right" applies correctly. It doesn't matter if it's "good" by any one person's definition. If people watch, it has value.
I'd pay good money to see high quality Starcraft 2 tournaments on TV. I doubt many other people would. That's how value is determined.
"IT'S STILL REAL TO ME DAMMIT"
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So I was listening to a Bloomberg Tech Podcast about this. Someone from some random media group actually said "consumer demand for ad supported content over netflix's usual high production value dramas is up"
For some reason, that statement was both incredibly threatening and incredibly ominous
That doesn't even make sense. The high production stuff would be ad supported too.
The whole fucking internet is, really.
Just cancelled today after not even using it for a year.
Protip: always cancel immediately after subscribing. Only resubscribe if there is something you actually wanna watch. And cancel immediately again. And so on. This way you will never pay for not using it.
Let me rephrase as I guess I was a bit unclear. I've had Netflix since 2012 but just cancelled it today after not using it for almost the entirety of 2023.
Still a great tip you've given, not trying to detract from that. That's what I do with most services but for some reason just took forever to pull the trigger on cancelling Netflix.
Protip: Just use free streaming services like fmovies.
Just cancelled today after not even using it for a year.
How can you be so dumb to pay for something you don't even use? No shit they're rich af 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
For me, it’s the DRM that’s killing streaming. If I can’t put it on Discord so my wife and I can watch it while hanging out online, I’ll just pick something else or find another way to watch it.
I mean, can't you use something like Teleparty to sync up streams in both your browsers? Then just voice chat in Discord.
Looks like that would work. Sucks to have to use an extra bit of machinery to restore a feature that they intentionally broke though. It’s like they view their customers as the enemy.
Huge eyeroll. There was a writers strike. To make up for all the new content that's not available, Netflix acquired a bunch of old stuff that may be new to subscribers.
Old stuff was exactly why I originally subscribed to Netflix back in the day. I'm not going back to check now but I'd consider a deep well of older content to be a good thing on a streaming service.
YouTubeTV and Hulu + Live TV already literally stream cable. Can't get closer to basic cable than that, lol. That said, remains to be seen whether Netflix is one of the services that survives the drastic market correction I think will happen eventually.
Newsflash: they all are.
Its worse than them becoming cable tv: They're BORING tv now. I imagine a large segment comes and goes when Stranger Things releases, which is a bad read. Less than a decade ago, we all saw Netflix as the second coming of HBO. Now its just bad tv.
Also I figured the rates would go up after the WWE deal, and I was right: they axed the lowest ad tier the day after.
I resub for Stranger things and then I unsub. Simple.
We really turned full circle.
It's funny, when I was a young adult I turned my parents on to Netflix and away from cable. And now I'm trying to get them off Netflix
I fundamentally agree with the premise of the article, but did anyone else find it strange how much the writer mentioned the show Suits?
The thesis from my skim pf the article was just that Netflix is shifting from weird/experimental award bait to the sort of normie stuff you'd see on TNT, USA, or other mainstream/non-niche basic cable.
With Suits being a quintessential example of such a turn.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Netflix’s days of chasing prestige might be rapidly coming to an end with this sharp reversal of the streaming golden age replaced by something akin to Spike TV circa 2005.
“This should add some fuel to our new and growing ad business,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in an earnings call after the announcement.
But, if it doesn’t, then spending $5 billion to secure the rights for WWE Monday Night Raw for the next ten years means Netflix subscribers could see another price hike in their future — whether they like wrestling or not.
So it's got whatever this long-delayed and troubled adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender is, but also Young Sheldon and Suits, and a wealth of foreign language programming.
You make money spending less on it than your originals, the place you’re buying from gets to have it on their service, too, and everyone looks nice and friendly and competitive in case the FTC comes around.
Eventually, this strategy of Netflix’s — to rely on its size, content bought from other streamers, and a graveyard of prematurely canceled originals — could struggle.
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So Netflix actually has content worth watching now?
Loudermilk moved there from Amazon. I enjoy it.
Always has, May December, Maestro and They Cloned Tyrone premiered on Netflix this year, I think I'm forgetting another one. Plus plenty of comedy specials
How? I remember cable and it was more like paid YouTube.
Netflix is actually adding content I want to see recently. And it's still the only streaming service that has no ads or is constantly blocking half it's library behind a channel paywall. Every time I want to watch something on Prime it's behind yet another channel I have to pay for.
I'm not a wrestling fan but I used to be, so I hope the Netflix deal also includes some of the old library from the 80s and 90s
Um.. I seem to be forgetting just how cable TV was like paid YouTube. Could you refresh my memory?
It’s easier to find ANY movie or show online than it is to actually take the time to login to netflix