FARK.com: (6862536) Way to kick a company while it's down, Time Warner

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		Way to kick a company while it's down, Time Warner (wired.com)		55
		More: Interesting, Time Warner, Netflix, Jeff Bewkes, content delivery, delivery business

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5972 clicks; posted to Business » on 06 Jan 2012 at 4:39 AM | Favorite | share:

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YattaJackson

2012-01-06 05:11:32 AM

And just like hbo, Netflix will start creating their own shows and content. If good, netflix's overall selection, availability and price will destroy HBO.

hoho19

2012-01-06 05:59:33 AM

I dropped Time Warner for Netflix 5 years ago. Haven't really missed anything. Most networks have their prime time shows online now. If not a quick goggle search can find a site streaming the episode I'm looking for. Don't even need to "pirate" anything. Replacing $80 a month with $10 was with it.

Sid_6.7

2012-01-06 06:51:21 AM

If a show isn't streaming on Netflix and my wife and I will probably want to be able to watch it a bit faster than the DVDs arrive, then I have no issue downloading it. At that point I'm paying for access, just taking a shortcut.

F*ck Time Warner and their outdated business model. You want my money, then take some streaming fees from Netflix, and otherwise piss off.

Deneb81

2012-01-06 06:55:54 AM

hoho19: I dropped Time Warner for Netflix 5 years ago. Haven't really missed anything. Most networks have their prime time shows online now. If not a quick goggle search can find a site streaming the episode I'm looking for. Don't even need to "pirate" anything. Replacing $80 a month with $10 was with it.

I'm pretty sure that streaming a television feed that you don't pay for is still viewing 'pirated' material, even though you're not technically downloading a file.

Not that I give a crap, eff HBO/TWC.
/and comcast.

Jamdug!

2012-01-06 07:30:24 AM

Netflix will just raise their prices to compensate.

hoho19

2012-01-06 07:40:53 AM

Deneb81: hoho19: I dropped Time Warner for Netflix 5 years ago. Haven't really missed anything. Most networks have their prime time shows online now. If not a quick goggle search can find a site streaming the episode I'm looking for. Don't even need to "pirate" anything. Replacing $80 a month with $10 was with it.

I'm pretty sure that streaming a television feed that you don't pay for is still viewing 'pirated' material, even though you're not technically downloading a file.

Not that I give a crap, eff HBO/TWC.
/and comcast.

Ennh whatever. I have pirated things before. It's not a moral dilemma in my head. The real issue is them suing me and forcing me to "settle". The budget is very tight and that would suck. I believe that the courts have ruled previously that you have to host or upload it to be liable.

Honest Bender

2012-01-06 07:45:42 AM

Deneb81: I'm pretty sure that streaming a television feed that you don't pay for is still viewing 'pirated' material, even though you're not technically downloading a file.

You are downloading it. How do you think the video gets on your screen? Magic?

Now, on to other things:

Dear HBO,

I WANT to watch your content. Please stop making it so difficulty. You're not locking me into your service, you're locking me out. So I find alternative methods to view your content. Piracy is my preferred method. Get a clue.

Sincerely,
Honest Bender.

P.S. You Too, Show Time.

Ackbar_GastricFluid

2012-01-06 07:59:11 AM

Any time I want to watch HBO I call up Verizon and tell them I am confused about some mail they sent me. Even if they didn't send me anything, they usually smooth things over with a few months of free HBO. I don't usually want to watch HBO though.

HotWingConspiracy

2012-01-06 08:02:52 AM

I guess people will just have to keep pirating HBO content.

$90 for one season of a show? LOL

DarthBrooks

2012-01-06 08:03:29 AM

And now Netflix has restarted production of "Arrested Development" as exclusive content.

Eat a bowl of Arli$$, HBO.

I read fark for the pics

2012-01-06 08:08:27 AM

Jamdug!: Netflix will just raise their prices to compensate.

I'd gladly pay more for the service that Netflix offers. And I have the Canadian content library.

IlGreven

2012-01-06 08:34:02 AM

Jamdug!: Netflix will just raise their prices to compensate.

...and you'll still be paying less than what Time Warner offers for HBO...and that's just the owner of the channel.

nervoust

2012-01-06 08:38:07 AM

FTA: in other words, Netflix isn't a cable company; Netflix is a video channel, with aspirations to become a first-rate video channel at the level of HBO

i.qkme.me

HotIgneous Intruder

2012-01-06 08:49:31 AM

The invisible hand will fist you eventually.

Torsoheap

2012-01-06 08:54:03 AM

I'd pay for HBO Go, but I'm sure as hell not going to subscribe to cable and HBO just to be able to get it.

If they really want to hurt Netflix, they'd allow you to get HBO Go without having a cable subscription. I have the same complaint about NBA League Pass. I'm willing to shell out $170/season to be able to watch the Blazers, but I can't watch games which are on TNT or ESPN or whatever (though TNT effs up the West Coast games anyhow so I wouldn't be able to watch them, cf. last night's game with the Fakers).

coderitr

2012-01-06 09:23:57 AM

Netflix Stock Surges With Internet Video Streaming (new window)

TV's Vinnie

2012-01-06 09:24:15 AM

YattaJackson: And just like hbo, Netflix will start creating their own shows and content. If good, netflix's overall selection, availability and price will destroy HBO.

You assume that the typical Netflix exec doesn't have the mental capacity of the typical Netflix exec.

coderitr

2012-01-06 09:25:37 AM

Torsoheap: I'd pay for HBO Go, but I'm sure as hell not going to subscribe to cable and HBO just to be able to get it.

If they really want to hurt Netflix, they'd allow you to get HBO Go without having a cable subscription.

Pretty much this. The HBO GO channel is available on Roku but you have to have cable service to get it. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Slaves2Darkness

2012-01-06 09:37:12 AM

coderitr: Torsoheap: I'd pay for HBO Go, but I'm sure as hell not going to subscribe to cable and HBO just to be able to get it.

If they really want to hurt Netflix, they'd allow you to get HBO Go without having a cable subscription.

Pretty much this. The HBO GO channel is available on Roku but you have to have cable service to get it. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

It is simple cable providers and cable channels don't want the competition and are doing everything to stifle it, same reason they are desperately trying to kill Netflix. It is why you can't buy individual channels for your own tailored package, even though the tech is easily available for you to do so.

Debeo Summa Credo

2012-01-06 09:40:50 AM

Honest Bender: Deneb81: I'm pretty sure that streaming a television feed that you don't pay for is still viewing 'pirated' material, even though you're not technically downloading a file.

You are downloading it. How do you think the video gets on your screen? Magic?

Now, on to other things:

Dear HBO,

I WANT to watch your content. Please stop making it so difficulty. You're not locking me into your service, you're locking me out. So I find alternative methods to view your content. Piracy is my preferred method. Get a clue.

Sincerely,
Honest Bender.

P.S. You Too, Show Time.

I want to watch it too, but I'm not going to subscribe to HBO or Showtime and pay their outlandish fees to get it. I'm not going to pirate it either (i have neither the time nor the technological knowledge to do this, even if I disregard any ethical issue)

So I'll just watch something else/cheaper. Apparently, enough people are paying for HBO/Showtime to make their business model effective. So it goes.

bacondevil

2012-01-06 09:42:05 AM

Just to clarify, Time Warner is not the same company as Time Warner Cable. Time Warner owns HBO, WB, Cartoon Network, etc, while Time Warner Cable is an unaffiliated company (since 2009 I believe) delivering you with the overpriced and subpar cable experience you have come to love/know/hate.

So if you dropped your cable company recently, you dropped Time Warner Cable, not Time Warner. This article is about Time Warner, not TWC.

[The things you learn while trying to find out why the hell HBO GO isn't available on TWC.]

jayhawk88

2012-01-06 09:42:57 AM

I can't even form coherent thoughts on this topic any longer. Just the whole idea of these media companies fighting so hard to make my enjoyment of their product as difficult and expensive as possible...every day I see something like this. Every day.

When I signed up for Netflix streaming I was delighted to find MST3K, and it was good. Watched them all, started thinking about how I could find more of them. Amazon Prime Video had some, but then I thought...why shouldn't I just torrent the whole series? I knew it had to be out there, and I knew there was no way in hell any media company would ever offer some of those old ones with copyright troubles for sale on any forum/in any form. Every time I read a story like this I feel less and less guilty.

/Wonder how big the Complete Simpsons torrent is?

HotWingConspiracy

2012-01-06 09:46:08 AM

jayhawk88: I can't even form coherent thoughts on this topic any longer. Just the whole idea of these media companies fighting so hard to make my enjoyment of their product as difficult and expensive as possible...every day I see something like this. Every day.

When I signed up for Netflix streaming I was delighted to find MST3K, and it was good. Watched them all, started thinking about how I could find more of them. Amazon Prime Video had some, but then I thought...why shouldn't I just torrent the whole series? I knew it had to be out there, and I knew there was no way in hell any media company would ever offer some of those old ones with copyright troubles for sale on any forum/in any form. Every time I read a story like this I feel less and less guilty.

/Wonder how big the Complete Simpsons torrent is?

I burned through all of them as well, then I started *gasp* actually buying their DVD sets. I needs my fix. I hope the creators still get a piece of the action.

lovefirststool

2012-01-06 09:50:31 AM

Really hope I'm never picked up for pirating as all my downloads are kid movies, clone wars, my little pony and every barbie and elmo video in the known universe. That's not a conversation I want to have with Bubba in stir.

I DO have kids. I do...really.

Dughan

2012-01-06 10:00:53 AM

Between standard Hulu and Netflix (Hulu + is something to buy for a month, watch the stuff they have you want to see, and then turn it off) you get, what feels like, the equivalent of the full 400+ package deal from any cable company you might sign up with.

Considering that most DSL lines are only about $30 bucks a month... even when you take that into account AND you pay for Hulu+, you are still looking at only $50 a month. For Cable, you are looking at double that, likely. Now, add in the bonus that ALL the content you stream is "on demand" and you'll see why I think that the online solution is a MUCH better choice.

Netflix could make some decent money by adding a "premium TV" service where they sort of simulated a channel for an area or city, including adding in a local news feed at the appropriate times. These channels would act like normal TV channels, running programs without commercials. A lot of people seem to miss that sort of a thing when they try to move away from normal cable. Without much work at all, they could add a suite of 50 channels, plus a "local channel" that figured out where you were and gave you the best available feed, by default (with an option to set it for whatever place you want, of course)

/The only reason my mom won't ditch her cable is because "I want something I can just turn on and watch."

Xaneidolon

2012-01-06 10:22:12 AM

The one thing that these arrogant farkers seem to be forgetting is that it's our $$ that keep them in business. Without the consumer, Time Warner ceases to be.

cheesedog1

2012-01-06 10:33:57 AM

jayhawk88: I can't even form coherent thoughts on this topic any longer. Just the whole idea of these media companies fighting so hard to make my enjoyment of their product as difficult and expensive as possible...every day I see something like this. Every day.

When I signed up for Netflix streaming I was delighted to find MST3K, and it was good. Watched them all, started thinking about how I could find more of them. Amazon Prime Video had some, but then I thought...why shouldn't I just torrent the whole series? I knew it had to be out there, and I knew there was no way in hell any media company would ever offer some of those old ones with copyright troubles for sale on any forum/in any form. Every time I read a story like this I feel less and less guilty.

/Wonder how big the Complete Simpsons torrent is?

http://mst3konline.blogspot.com/

http://mst3konline.blogspot.com/

http://mst3konline.blogspot.com/

//repeated 3 times for emphasis!

I Mash Grains

2012-01-06 10:47:35 AM

I cut the cable about 7 months ago and only have Netflix and use PlayOn through the Wii - and I have 3 young kids.
If i were a sports fan it would suck, but I found I barely ever watch TV any more, and use my Kindle a whole lot more.

Netflix is OK, but if another alternative came around with newer content i would jump ship pretty quickly.

drjekel_mrhyde

2012-01-06 10:51:37 AM

I'll be fine with this if they added more content to Ondemand.
/ Uverse in my main rooms and Roku with Netflix and HBO go in the basement and my daughter's room

Torsoheap

2012-01-06 10:52:21 AM

Xaneidolon: The one thing that these arrogant farkers seem to be forgetting is that it's our $$ that keep them in business. Without the consumer, Time Warner ceases to be.

While you can always vote with your wallet, HBO has a lot of cool shows and I choose not to pirate. I also do not want to shell out $80/month just for the privilege of paying another $5-10/month for HBO for the privilege of HBO Go.

Those greedy bastards could still get ~$10/month from me if they untether HBO Go from a cable subscription, but instead they're getting nothing. I guess I'm proving your point, but it sucks. There is plenty of room for them to make money off us.

Lsherm

2012-01-06 11:05:15 AM

hoho19: I believe that the courts have ruled previously that you have to host or upload it to be liable.

No, no one ruled that. The RIAA and the MPAA have just neglected to sue people who are only downloading, but that doesn't mean they can't in the future.

jayhawk88

2012-01-06 11:08:46 AM

cheesedog1: http://mst3konline.blogspot.com/

Wow, YouTube... I never would have guessed.

/Some of those Netflix links are out of date though, they removed a bunch of them recently

OvenFreshJew

2012-01-06 11:13:03 AM

Why do so many farkers like MST3K? I watched one episode of it due to how much mention it gets here and it sucked ass. The comedy was one step up from Ow My Balls.

Dangl1ng

2012-01-06 11:19:20 AM

Dughan: Netflix could make some decent money by adding a "premium TV" service where they sort of simulated a channel for an area or city, including adding in a local news feed at the appropriate times. These channels would act like normal TV channels, running programs without commercials. A lot of people seem to miss that sort of a thing when they try to move away from normal cable. Without much work at all, they could add a suite of 50 channels, plus a "local channel" that figured out where you were and gave you the best available feed, by default (with an option to set it for whatever place you want, of course)

I think what you want is Roku. Netflix is a "channel" Roku is the device and it has channels on it. Your point is still very valid. I think it would be great to have a channel that sort of autostreams things with local news at the top of every hour. In fact that sounds like a cool script.

hoho19

2012-01-06 11:38:19 AM

Lsherm: hoho19: I believe that the courts have ruled previously that you have to host or upload it to be liable.

No, no one ruled that. The RIAA and the MPAA have just neglected to sue people who are only downloading, but that doesn't mean they can't in the future.

I guess that's true. When it comes time that the *AA sues people for downloading only (and not "sharing"), It will be time to give up on the internet all together. Because if I have to find, read and acknowledge a little terms of service link hidden on every site I visit, to verify that I am not breaking the law, something is then truly broken with the internet.

I probably visit 200 to 300 individual sites per day. If I had to be assured that each one of those sites was not allowing me to inadvertently view copyrighted material then that is beyond broken.

Honest Bender

2012-01-06 11:42:44 AM

cheesedog1: http://mst3konline.blogspot.com/

I have every single episode of MST3K on my hard drive. Including the movie, This Island Earth. I watch a lot of MST3K. Love that show. In case you were curious, it tops out at about 120ish GB.

I also have about 15 GB of Rifftrax Shorts and about 30-40 Rifftrax features. The MST3K I pirated because there's not much of a choice for that. But I actually pay for my rifftrax. I buy about $10-$15 worth of rifftrax content per pay check.

I'm a pirate and proud of it. But I support Rifftrax because I really like the work those guys are doing. It's not for everyone and they have a lot of in-jokes. But I want to see them continue their work.

The Bestest

2012-01-06 12:22:37 PM

bacondevil: Just to clarify, Time Warner is not the same company as Time Warner Cable. Time Warner owns HBO, WB, Cartoon Network, etc, while Time Warner Cable is an unaffiliated company (since 2009 I believe) delivering you with the overpriced and subpar cable experience you have come to love/know/hate.

So if you dropped your cable company recently, you dropped Time Warner Cable, not Time Warner. This article is about Time Warner, not TWC.

[The things you learn while trying to find out why the hell HBO GO isn't available on TWC.]

came here to point this out

GriffXX

2012-01-06 12:26:37 PM

Honest Bender: cheesedog1: http://mst3konline.blogspot.com/

I have every single episode of MST3K on my hard drive. Including the movie, This Island Earth. I watch a lot of MST3K. Love that show. In case you were curious, it tops out at about 120ish GB.

I also have about 15 GB of Rifftrax Shorts and about 30-40 Rifftrax features. The MST3K I pirated because there's not much of a choice for that. But I actually pay for my rifftrax. I buy about $10-$15 worth of rifftrax content per pay check.

I'm a pirate and proud of it. But I support Rifftrax because I really like the work those guys are doing. It's not for everyone and they have a lot of in-jokes. But I want to see them continue their work.

I wonder how many people I would recognize from the Net if we did a roll-call on this 19th at the RiffTrax live show (and the guest riffers are getting bigger year after year - David Cross, John Hodgman, Bruce McCulloch and Paul F Tompkins this year.)

Honest Bender

2012-01-06 12:35:38 PM

GriffXX: and the guest riffers are getting bigger year after year

I don't really go for the Rifftrax presents. I'm only really interested in mike, tom, and bill. But weird Al did a good job on the Jurrasic Park Rifftrax. NPH was good on the Willy Wonka Riff. Richard Cheese was also very entertaining on the Ocean's 11 Riff. No one else really comes to mind atm, but some of their celebrity guests have been pretty entertaining additions.

/Nothing beats the full trio, though.

acella

2012-01-06 01:25:12 PM

I pay for HBO at roughly 10 a month (after playing CSR roulette, I got a decent deal on my total package).

HBO Go is fantastic. I still pay too much for cable, but I like watching HD sports from home, and to my knowledge there is no way to do this without having cable service.

My ideal situation would be to have Netflix, Hulu+ (just cancel it down months, easily the best way to watch new seasons of shows during their run), and in an ideal world being able to pay for sports access and HBO without having TWC.

Virtual Pariah

2012-01-06 01:36:54 PM

Time Warner is going to create a situation that they were trying to avoid. Netflix is going to have to start creating original programming. Then HBO is going to be in the fight of it's life.

Also had read how Sony is expected to spin off it's movie/tv production arm. Netflix could pick that up while they still have the money and have a weapon to use against TW.

FinFangFark

2012-01-06 01:49:52 PM

hoho19: I dropped Time Warner for Netflix 5 years ago. Haven't really missed anything. Most networks have their prime time shows online now. If not a quick goggle search can find a site streaming the episode I'm looking for. Don't even need to "pirate" anything. Replacing $80 a month with $10 was with it.

In a lot of areas, if you have only one broadband option (Here it's only Comcast, or DSL, yuck), they will raise the price of internet. If you want Comcast broadband, it's 59.99...but only 44.99 with a basic cable package...which it's $19 a month...so essentially, you are going to save a couple bucks if you just want the internet.

I would love another option for residential broadband...but I don't think it'll happen anytime soon.

FinFangFark

2012-01-06 01:51:56 PM

Virtual Pariah: Time Warner is going to create a situation that they were trying to avoid. Netflix is going to have to start creating original programming. Then HBO is going to be in the fight of it's life.

Also had read how Sony is expected to spin off it's movie/tv production arm. Netflix could pick that up while they still have the money and have a weapon to use against TW.

Maybe that will be the way of the future of media content. Each company will create their own "Channel" you can access on your devices, and we won't need a cable provider telling us to pay 100 a month for 75 channels we don't watch.

Berz

2012-01-06 02:06:53 PM

TWC is my only option right now. I hate having them but Uverse wont come to my neighborhood (and i live in a 40+ year old neighborhood in KC). Got a new tv this week so sadly I might be paying TWC more starting next month for the high def channels.

Geotpf

2012-01-06 02:23:11 PM

Virtual Pariah: Time Warner is going to create a situation that they were trying to avoid. Netflix is going to have to start creating original programming. Then HBO is going to be in the fight of it's life.

Also had read how Sony is expected to spin off it's movie/tv production arm. Netflix could pick that up while they still have the money and have a weapon to use against TW.

Sounds like how Google bought a farking cell phone company so they would have enough patents to survive a lawsuit war with Apple et al.

robbiex0r

2012-01-06 02:29:39 PM

This seems rather relevant:
Apparently no longer content with the 28-day window in which it sells DVDs but doesn't allow companies to rent them out, Warner Bros. is reportedly on the verge of doubling that time frame in an effort to starve viewers into starting to buy movies again. (new window)

acella

2012-01-06 02:46:49 PM

Warner Bros. can't double or even triple the amount of time DVDs come to Netflix. I lived through VHS years, where release from theater to home seemed to be a lot longer.

My memory could just be fuzzy though. Either way, fun to watch 'em squirm.

stewbert

2012-01-06 03:16:29 PM

This shiat is getting ridiculous. Cobbling together the various legal ways to watch what you want is getting far more difficult than just pirating/streaming. I don't mind paying a bit; hell, I pay for dish and netflix.

BlackPete

2012-01-06 04:11:36 PM

I'm torn on this issue.

On the one hand, HBO is a bunch of predatory vultures.

On the other hand, they're producing the Game of Thrones show. And I really would not like to see that get cancelled.

Virtual Pariah

2012-01-06 05:00:40 PM

FinFangFark: Virtual Pariah: Time Warner is going to create a situation that they were trying to avoid. Netflix is going to have to start creating original programming. Then HBO is going to be in the fight of it's life.

Also had read how Sony is expected to spin off it's movie/tv production arm. Netflix could pick that up while they still have the money and have a weapon to use against TW.

Maybe that will be the way of the future of media content. Each company will create their own "Channel" you can access on your devices, and we won't need a cable provider telling us to pay 100 a month for 75 channels we don't watch.

People have been wanting an option like that for years, but, it never came over. ESPN killed the cable broadcast companies, they just haven't realized it yet.

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