| > It seems like consolidation was a lesson we learned a few decades ago and are in danger of forgetting. Despite groans to the contrary, I don't think consolidation is the reason services like Netflix/etc. are so popular and why cable service is starting to become considered gauche. I posit that it's entirely about: 1) The on-demand content that services like Netflix/etc. provide
2) To a lesser extent, the discoverability of content I don't want to watch Game of Thrones on Sunday evening. I want to watch it now. I want to re-watch Ocean's Eleven tonight, not Thursday during the day. Netflix (in theory) helps me with that. Cable service doesn't. I want to watch an action movie, and one that I can actually watch right now. Netflix helps me with that. Cable service doesn't, unless I just put on whatever the "action movie" channel is showing. Hell, cable service providers try to offer some of this already - it's just that their selection sucks. It's either incredibly old movies, or movies that no one wanted to see the first time around. Or it's just the latest episode of a popular television show, or the first season and we're on season 12 now. Again, despite what people might say I don't think they really want a la carte programming: They want a Spotify subscription for television and film. |