New online media streaming platforms challenge Netflix
It’s an interesting time for streaming media, both in the level of competitiveness and the possible legal trauma associated with it. With the competition becoming more serious, companies are trying to get exclusive content to entice the masses. The biggest acquisition of late was Amazon obtaining the rights to classic HBO shows, the first time any of the premium cable network’s shows have been available to those who do not have an HBO subscription.
Yet with this battle between Amazon and Netflix heating up, so are two separate cases that have recently been presented in court: the legality of Aereo, a service that allows a user to stream shows from public channels, and the impending merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, which could have serious ramifications in the way we access our content.
Amazon’s deal with HBO is a huge deal. Though it won’t have current juggernauts such as Game of Thrones or new series such as Silicon Valley and True Detective, an Amazon Prime subscription will now allow you to access full seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Deadwood, Sex and the City and The Sopranos and will add newer episodes of series such as Girls and Veep three years after their original airdates.
It’s not the standalone HBO Go service that just about everyone on the planet would appreciate, but this is still a huge win for the service, which has bolstered its content with exclusive deals with networks such as FX (Justified and Sons of Anarchy), PBS (Downton Abbey) and Nickelodeon. It’s also seen as a big blow to Netflix, which has admitted to trying to emulate HBO as far as new content is concerned. Despite a recent price hike, Amazon Prime, in the same monthly price range as Netflix, gets you all of this content and two-day shipping for other Amazon products.
Netflix shouldn’t be shaking in its boots quite yet, even if the timing of this announcement is unfortunate. In a first quarter letter to shareholders sent earlier this week, CEO Reed Hastings stated that they might have to raise the price of subscriptions, but only for new users. The streaming service still has a wealth of content, and its original content, such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, is above and beyond anything Amazon Studios has produced. But every time they lose a series and every time another service gains a series becomes more pronouced.
As Netflix and Amazon compete for consumers, however, a larger set of battles lingers in the courts. Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of television networks against Aereo, a streaming service that allows users to access local broadcast stations and record them using a cloud DVR.
Even though it’s accessing channels that are already free over the air, the networks are arguing that what Aereo is doing is illegal since it is committing retransmission, the redistribution of content. This is the legal reason why anyone who publicly projects a public channel has to pay fees. All of the major networks are furious, with CBS even threatening to pull its network off the air and move exclusively to cable (and considering it’s the No. 1 network on television, that shouldn’t be taken lightly).
This might all end up being irrelevant. The FCC’s proposed rules on net neutrality reportedly won’t stop major broadband providers from offering better services, but only for content providers willing to pay the price. This would completely undermine net neutrality and would only benefit the cable providers, in particular Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
Netflix itself has gone on the offensive against Comcast and the like, saying that creating a tier-based service hurts companies and consumers who couldn’t afford it. Netflix, however, has already prepared itself by signing a broadband distribution deal with Comcast. Curiously, the moment they signed the deal, the notoriously slow speeds that the service had on Comcast networks became much faster. Take that as you will.
The argument over net neutrality and Aereo is indicative of a bigger issue and confirms the obvious: Streaming content is the future of media. It is going to be the primary way any of us will access television and movies. The best that can be hoped for is that the content providers, who also control the broadband for streaming media, don’t jeopardize the innovation that can occur in this field or limit consumers’ access to premium content.
Robert Calcagno is a graduate student studying animation. His column, “Tech Talk,” ran Mondays.