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Netflix wants to retire basic ad-free plan in some countries, shareholder letter says (www.cbsnews.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology

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Netflix will implement the change in Canada and the U.K. in the second quarter of the year before "taking it from there," the letter said.

The company did not specify when (or whether) the change would impact U.S. subscribers.

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

…And the enshittification era of streaming services continues unabated.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 months ago (1 children)

In theory, that would be the time for someone to step up and make their own streaming service with blackjack and hookers, but no ads.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 10 months ago (1 children)

that theory doesn't really work here, because you don't have what they have.

if someone makes bread, you can also start making bread and people don't care, it is still a bread.

if someone has and sells game of thrones, you can't just make your own game of thrones with blackjack and hookers. you can make something similar, but it is not going to be the same and some people will still want to see game of thrones, which is why the market is so fragmented.

[–] Enk1 -2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Most streaming content is licensed, not owned by the streaming platform. Anyone could start their own streaming service and get licenses for existing content, assuming they had the capital to do so.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That is increasingly not true, which is why there is so many different platforms - every rights owner rather starts their own platform, than licensing to someone else and sharing the profit.

[–] bassomitron 7 points 10 months ago

And even if they're willing to license, it's usually at an exorbitant cost that it's unsustainable at prices people are willing to pay for your platform. Netflix had said Friends was costing them tens of millions of dollars to keep on their platform: https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/netflix-friends-100-million-streaming-tv/

When a rumor began circulating in December 2018 that ’90s sitcom Friends would not be available on Netflix after this year, the notion seemed to wake a sleeping giant, with subscriber uproar quickly leading to a deal that reportedly cost the streaming service $100 million to retain the popular show through 2019.

$100 million for one year. Insanity.