The world is changing

[andrewducker]

Netflix just outbid HBO to buy up the right's to David Fincher's new TV series "House of Cards".

Interesting because (a) online TV producing good original content. (b) David Fincher making TV. (c) US remake of "House of Cards"!

This looks to be the first step in TV moving to online as its permanent home - I don't know how successful it will be, but it's an inevitable step. The main question for me is - when/how will Netflix make this available in areas that their service doesn't cover?

Comments

[miss_s_b]

Bugger where they're showing it, who are they going to cast as FU? And if it's a US remake how the hell will it work? It's culturally so Tory British...

[andrewducker]

I think a decent writer could make it work with a Republican. Or even a Democrat, if they put the effort in.

It'll have to be tweaked a fair bit, but I'm fine with that, so long as they produce something good.

[randomchris.livejournal.com]

Inherent problem with your assertion of "good original content" there... but I see your point.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

If they are smart they'll put high quality editions - with ads at the beginning on Kickasstorrents.com.

[andrewducker]

That's probably smarter than they're willing to be at the moment :->

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

I don't get why TV studios don't do this. A high quality torrent of a popular television show would get hundreds of thousands of downloads - and people would choose the high quality version and put up with the ads, just to know that it didn't have a hidden virus/was of really good quality.

[andrewducker]

In this case, I'm going to go with "because they don't own the global rights", "Because US advertisers won't pay for adverts shown in the UK" and "Because they can only release it once, with one set of adverts, and it kills their revenue stream for the following 30 years".

But having a standard method of watching movies/TV over the internet, and then putting it in set top boxes everywhere, seems like such a no-brainer to me that I wish they'd just get on with it...

[ajr.livejournal.com]

Someone would download the offical HQ version, rip out the ads, and stick the ad-less one up for everyone else to download.

There are already several reputable encoding groups, which people can stick to without having to worry about hidden viruses. The quality, to an extent, is irrelevant - it's rare to see any really awful encodes if you stick to reputable sources, and those that are broken in some way always have corrected versions replacing them quickly.

Main reason TV studios don't experiment more with online releasing is because they need the ad money, and advertisers won't pay them for trying any crazy internet stuff. They'll say the internet release devalues the broadcast release, so they'll pay considerably less for the ad slots, no doubt.

That said, I'm convinced that internet-broadcasting (if you can call it that) is the future, and one day someone will figure out how to do it properly. But it's never going to be the traditional TV studios.

[andrewducker]

Would something like this be a step in the right direction?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouView

I'm sure I saw something last year about companies trying to sort out a standard as well, so that videos from any compatible provider could then be rented from any compatible rental service. But I'm damned if I can find any sign of it now.

[elmyra.livejournal.com]

Can has reference for that? All I can find is reference to Netflix being "in negotiation" but not to the done deal.

[andrewducker]

This is what I found:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-outbids-hbo-david-fincher-167882