This thread is a general thread for paid subscription to watch scifi shorts or possibly serialized stories. It could be from mainstream services with an extra fee like a premium channel say from Netflix or Hulu Plus, Vimeo, YouTube, or Machinima. For example Ridley Scott will produce scifi shorts for machinima http://www.tubefilter.com/2013/03/21/ridley-scott-paid-subscriptions/ http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/03/21/youtube-execs-talk-up-paid-subscription-channels/?mod=WSJBlog So no no a big brand like Trek but smaller episodic scifi could takeoff with paid subscriptions. Sort of like a premium scifi cable channel. If they did a space opera with green screen like Blood & Chrome what would it cost to produce? I would be willing to pay a subscription of $3./month to start for scifi shorts with a certain production value including shot on DSLR or HD large sensor cameras, sound design, 2.0 stereo sound mix .
Cancel your cable and encourage them to move faster towards an al la carte online subscription option. I can't wait until I can boot up my web browser or iTV or Roku and scroll through my "channels." No more buying 156 channels I'll never watch to get the 8 I actually want. A $8 sub for netflix, $8 for Hulu Plus, plus a few more wheneven HBO and Showtime, etc. and the cable companies realize they cant run on their wacky subsidizing model forever. Just think about being able to just order the science and history channels as a package without having to also pay for the 'lifestyle' and 'womens' networks too. The future looks bright, we just have to wait a few more years.
BBC iPlayer and commissioned original short films Just today This shows yet another major player showing commissioned short films as original content on a streaming-only service and not on a linear channel. No not just short films picked up like IFC has done for over a decade but commissioned short films. according to Fast Company. And this is what it will probably take: support from some owned linear TV channels for promotion. The chicken before the egg is why would a company that owns linear channels want to drive people towards online-only streaming/downloads? It depends on how many eyeballs are there and cut the cord to cable with linear channels... BBC to debut six iPlayer-exclusive short films via
I guess it depends what they mean by short content. I don't think five minute webisodes or whatever are ever going to take the world by storm. They need to move beyond cheapo green screen stuff with questionable acting. I guess it's a catch-22, how to produce that stuff without $$$, how to get $$$ without producing stuff.
My attitude nowadays is Netflix or Nothing. I have 300+ titles in my queue and I'm adding them faster than I can watch them. It would take something pretty frakking spectacular to get me to pay for content any other way. A legit live-action Star Trek series for instance. Maybe Star Wars or B5. But stuff like that, I'd expect Netflix to get their paws on sooner or later. I'd watch short films if they were on Netflix streaming and I had some reason to believe they were worth my while, but that's not my preferred format. I like stuff that's really worth my while, and promises a lot of content - several season's worth. That's because the big "cost" to me is in my initial investment of time. I'm drowning in content, so I like to feel like bothering to spend the first five minutes with something will lead to more stuff that's worth five more minutes, and five more, etc. more than whatever else I could be watching instead. Why wait, do it now. I do. There's just one channel on my Roku that I ever bother with (other than Pandora for music) but they seem to get a lot of cool shows like The Walking Dead, Parks & Recreation and Arrested Development. The fact that they all came from different corporations matters no more to me than the fact that the groceries on the supermarket shelves come from different sources. Just show me everything at once and let me decide.
Remember that Take My Money, HBO campaign? Maybe the ice is cracking (though this article sounds very inconclusive.) "Maybe"? More like definitely. But it will take a while so in the meantime I'll keep getting DVDs from Netflix in addition to streaming. I'm confident the corporations will catch up to me sooner or later.
Hopefully at least one paid sci-fi channel. I think the Machinima is the paid channel that will be carrying the Ridley Scott series. Wow a slippery slope. watching one 30 second ad when viewing with a web browser is irritating to me. YouTube Set to Introduce Paid Subscriptions This Spring http://mankabros.com/blogs/onmedea/2012/07/06/youtubes-original-content-strategy-is-working/ interesting thought.
Broadband only channel This may be something new. A broadband only channel http://mobile.broadcastingcable.com...cipant_Media_s_Cable_Network_Named_Pivot_.php http://www.adweek.com/news/television/particpant-media-starts-new-tv-network-pivot-148184 Very interesting and it may or may no be a business model in the future for niche programming.
Sounds good to me. I buy novels and anthologies and subscribe to short-story magazines, so I'd have no problem buying shows or subscribing to series or individual channels if they appeal to me.