USA distribution -CBS All Access discussion

[Albinator]

Separate streaming networks are not "à la carte". There's a big difference between one service giving you different prices depending on what you want to watch and several dozen services charging you a flat rate for all their content. Different services have varying levels of quality and stability, and have different user interfaces that may or may not support the same features. (For example: on my dad's Android-based smart TV, you can use a Bluetooth mini-keyboard to type in a search in Netflix, but not in Amazon Prime.) Having a small handful of mature and highly functional streaming services isn't ideal for competition, but it's way better for most consumers.

Agreed, I don't really consider streaming services "ala carte." But I do think the benefits of a subscribing to 4-5 streaming services over subscribing to a big cable package too big to ignore.

If you're not a cord cutter, or it's not for you, that's fine. But streaming services are the future, while cable and broadcast are the past.

I have no doubt cable TV will go the way of the dinosaur, or at the very least, will begin to change drastically over the next 2-3 decades thanks to the proliferation of more streaming services.

Live in the past if you want, i'll be with Star Trek in the future.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

Agreed, I don't really consider streaming services "ala carte." But I do think the benefits of a subscribing to 4-5 streaming services over subscribing to a big cable package too big to ignore.

And what would those four or five be?

1. Netflix
2. Hulu
3. Amazon Prime
   
4. Disney
5. GO90
6. YouTube Red (or YouTube TV?)
7. Crunchy Roll
8. Sling (to avoid having 20 different single channel apps)
9. CW Seed
10. PBS Anywhere
    
11. CBS All Access

And those are the ones I can think of off-hand. And will your streaming app work if you don't have a code from your cable company? It hardly makes me an old geezer to think this whole thing is a clusterf***.

 

[Krandor]

And what would those four or five be?

1. Netflix
2. Hulu
3. Amazon Prime
   
4. Disney
5. GO90
6. YouTube Red (or YouTube TV?)
7. Crunchy Roll
8. Sling (to avoid having 20 different single channel apps)
9. CW Seed
10. PBS Anywhere
    
11. CBS All Access

And those are the ones I can think of off-hand. And will your streaming app work if you don't have a code from your cable company? It hardly makes me an old geezer to think this whole thing is a clusterf***.

If you are putting sling on the list, you need PLaystation Vue as well.

 

[Albinator]

And what would those four or five be?

1. Netflix
2. Hulu
3. Amazon Prime
   
4. Disney
5. GO90
6. YouTube Red (or YouTube TV?)
7. Crunchy Roll
8. Sling (to avoid having 20 different single channel apps)
9. CW Seed
10. PBS Anywhere
    
11. CBS All Access

Whichever 4 or 5 you prefer. That's why this is good. And once again, you're not listening to my actual argument here or following the discussion. Eventually these 11-15 will explode to 20-30, then contract to maybe 8.

It hardly makes me an old geezer to think this whole thing is a clusterf***.

Yes it does.

 

[CorporalClegg]

then contract to maybe 8.
.

While that's certainly the endgame, it's still a long ways away. It's in the content providers' best interest to keep TV and streaming separate and keep the streaming as diversified as possible for as long as possible.

None of this will really ever affect Discovery. But the next Trek series could be in a tough spot--if it ever gets off the ground.

*Also, as I suggested in the other thread, this is all assuming better angels prevail with net neutrality.

 

[Albinator]

Yes, it's all probably 15-20 years away from settling; the future of how we consume TV is clear, however. That is, unless a new technology emerges before then.

But clinging to the outmoded cable/tv model by singing its imaginary virtues is aged stubbornness at best, willful ignorance at worst.

 

[SG-17]

No way I'm paying for just one network's content.

 

[Albinator]

No way I'm paying for just one network's content.

Wow, thanks for that insight.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Over the next few years, we will see an explosion of exclusive streaming services, then some winnowing and market contraction, as content creators go from using a streaming service as a place for experimentation to a place they want to serve as a central hub for purchasing their products. I imagine at that point Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime will return to supremacy, and a lot of these smaller channels will fade away.

 

[Zod]

And yet millions of people do that for Game of Thrones. Please.

I would never pay HBO for just one show. There is not one other show I like on CBS at all.

 

[Albinator]

I would never pay HBO for just one show. There is not one other show I like on CBS at all.

Same here. But will gladly forego a coffee or two every month to watch Star Trek. If it sucks, I'll cancel it.

And that's another HUGE benefit over cable: the ability to cancel at any time if you don't like it. I once cancelled Amazon Prime after two months and received the prorated 10-month charge back as a refund.

The small monthly fees ($5-15 each) make it much more appealing than a massive $150/m and upwards of 2 year unbreakable contracts.

 

[ozzfloyd]

I've had CBSAA for 2 months now. Discovery aside, I'm fairly please with the content so far available.

 

[Albinator]

I first signed up for Netflix for the discs (4.99/m). I then upped to 7.99 for streaming because there was ONE show I wanted to watch. There are innumerable benefits to streaming over cable, and if you don't like that, that's fine, but history will look back at you as a fool.

 

[BillJ]

...but history will look back at you as a fool.

Was this really necessary? Some folks simply like things the way they are, that doesn't make them fools.

 

[Zod]

If you are responding to me I cut the cord years ago. Amazon Fire TV along with prime, Netflix and Hulu plus a $60 monthly internet connection. I only stream. I'm not adding a fourth streaming service for a single show with one caveat. If the pilot blows me away I would consider it for a few months then cancel. If not I'll happily skip it. There is already so much Sci fi, marvel and fantasy stuff out there I can barely keep up already.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

If you don't shell out money for this single show on a single-channel streaming network, history will remember you as a simple-minded, old geezer Luddites who lack the vision to see the inevitable future.

 

[Zod]

I think I am starting to feel a little old

 

[Albinator]

Was this really necessary? Some folks simply like things the way they are, that doesn't make them fools.

It's the most polite way I could find to phrase it. And yes, the very phrase "I simply like things the way they are" does sound like the words of a fool, I'm sorry.

Those are not the words of someone wise, because a wise man knows things must change and adapt to improve.

 

[Albinator]

If you don't shell out money for this single show on a single-channel streaming network, history will remember you as a simple-minded, old geezer Luddites who lack the vision to see the inevitable future.

That is not what I'm saying at all... what you're doing is a common logical fallacy known as a straw man argument.

 

[galad2003]

I don't have an issue paying $6 a month for a streaming service. I have an issue paying for another streaming service.

I already have Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Now and Alpha (for geek and Sundry). I have to draw the line somewhere and this is it. Too little shows for what I want. netflix has more shows and I can binge watch them.

Now, i get why CBS is launching all access and not putting this on Netflix in the us. I don't think they ever will put it on netflix and I cans see them yanking all Star trek in the future. But for now, this one show that looks bad to me to begin with, on a service that has nothing else I am interested in, I can't binge watch it and I still have commercials means a pass for me.

I don't think All access will fail but when it becomes big enough and has stuff I want to watch then I will subscribe.