[dec0dedab0de]

The killer feature of services like Netflix is not really the "over the internet" part, it's the "watch any show on demand" and "massive library so you can start watching from S1E1, if you want to". Streaming live TV services fail at both of these.

I think being over the internet is the killer feature. Cable companies had on demand for a decade before netflix streaming, being over the internet meant you were not locked into a monopoly or duopoly.

That said, I agree it seems old-timey and the wrong way of doing it.

[truth_]

Surprisingly, there still exists demand for "live TV" rather than choosing the show because some people don't like to decide what they want to watch. Netflix is testing "live TV" in France [0][1][2].

[0]: https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/7/21553998/netflix-linear-c...

[1]: https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/11/06/netflix-is-experime...

[2]: https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/06/netflix-tests-a-programmed...

[cardiffspaceman]

Cable on demand used to be more clunky than Netflix because the baseline was they were going to charge you, so they had to inform you and you had to accept. When the baseline is that the whole library is bundled, then certainly the bundled content can just start without creating a contract first.