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New Arrested Development will appear exclusively on Netflix Streaming
- modeless 15y agoAnd for the first time, people will actually care about breaking Netflix Streaming's DRM. Anyone want to guess how long it'll last? I'm thinking it'll be up on the Pirate Bay the day of release.
- dmix 15y agoIt will be on Torrent/usenet sites within 15min of airing. Pirate groups have this stuff down. Its not much harder to capture netflix than any other live show. You can buy $100 capture cards and record live gaming. DRM isnt an issue since you dont even need to crack the source.
- westicle 15y agoAnd thank god it will... being an avid AD fan outside the US I would otherwise have no access to it. If Ron Howard wants to throw up a donation button somewhere for all us internationals I'll gladly chip in though :)
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- bherms 15y agoBold move, but also a crucial blow to cable television.
- angli 15y agoI loved Arrested Development, and I'm glad that it's coming back, but I'm not sure this is a good move for Netflix. If this idea picks up steam, Netflix becomes a competitor to the networks and their relationships get worse. Heaven knows they're tense enough already. It seems likely that others may pull their content, as Starz recently did, lessening Netflix's appeal. So yes, in the short run they'll gain subscribers, but I don't think this outweighs the major risks this poses in the long run.
- mk 15y agoOr the producers of television see this as a way to not deal with the networks and still get their show distributed to people, and the networks find themselves without good television to put on the air.
- munaf 15y agoAgreed. This is proof-of-concept time. If it succeeds, TV/film producers will gradually dip their feet in more.
- tomsaffell 15y agoDon't those long-term risks exist no matter what?
- barredo 15y agoIf Netflix doesn't make steps like this (and the $100M tv show produced by netflix) they will be at the complete mercy of the major studios/networks.
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- danilocampos 15y agoThe flawed premise here is that the networks will continue to matter. They won't. Their days are numbered. Building the future is hard and it's messy. Netflix has been taking it on the chin this year as they've passed through a really rough patch. In the end, though, I'd put money on Netflix existing in 2020 before I would any given broadcast network. TV is dead. Netflix is trying to redefine distribution. They're not going to win by placating the dinosaurs of distribution's past. If the Arrested Development deal works out, production companies may see that they have new options for financing their projects and might get better opportunities to reach an audience than they'd ever get on TV. So it's simple: take the issue by the balls and control your destiny or bow and scrape before moronic suits who don't understand technology, hoping and praying that they won't change their minds each time a licensing deal expires.
- tomsaffell 15y agop(viewer loves Arrest Development | viewer has netflix) > p(viewer loves Arrest Development) ?
- jerf 15y agoThis is better understood as a strategic move, not a tactical one. It's not about Arrested Development qua Arrested Development, it's about not needing Fox, and not Fox qua Fox either but Fox as a particular instance of the general category of television channels.
- tomsaffell 15y agoYes, that probably & hopefully is their strategy. But is it mere co-incidence that their first major play of that strategy is for a show that is well loved by geeks? My guess is that the above probability does hold true, and that's part of the reason that this particular show is a going first.
- icandoitbetter 15y agoThe above probability does not hold true.
- ianferrel 15y agoNetflix and Arrested Development watchers both skew young and urban. I'd be surprised if it didn't hold true. What makes you think it doesn't?
- orangecat 15y agoExactly. Firefly would be another obvious choice.
- junkbit 15y agoMuch more expensive per episode though
- jackvalentine 15y agoI hope Netflix licences this out in countries they don't serve.
- mkr-hn 15y agoSyndication of Netflix-produced shows will probably become one of their big money makers if this works out.
- quinndupont 15y agoI'll be sure to watch it on pirate streaming/BitTorrent once it comes out.
- MrEnigma 15y agoWell havin just cancelled Netflix, I may have to get it again, at least for a month.
- tomkinstinch 15y agoThis bodes well for Netflix and their new business model. I hope that the programs they produce will be free of advertising.
- jwallaceparker 15y ago>> I hope that the programs they produce will be free of advertising. Agreed. They should be, right? Nothing annoys me more than paying for a movie ticket and sitting through 10 minutes of commercials before a film.* I would hope after the customer backlash over the pricing change that Netflix will be smart enough to stay away from commercials. * Drivers who camp out in the left lane annoy me slightly more. "Stay right except to pass."
- rudiger 15y agoI like movie previews. Am I the only one?
- anigbrowl 15y agoNo, you're not. I could do without the TV-like nonsense that runs in between shows, though - I can actually tolerate a blank screen.
- carbocation 15y agoI would be more tolerant if there were 2 listed times: (1) when the previews will begin; (2) when the movie will begin.
- HeyImAlex 15y agoFor most theaters there are. Our local chain in my hometown started the actual film exactly fifteen minutes after the advertised time, and the same is true for the theaters where I live now.
- joshmlewis 15y ago
- joejohnson 15y agoI hope there will be an easy conduit for these episodes to appear on torrent trackers.
- xsmasher 15y agoI hope there isn't. Sounds like you're a fan, but either don't want to pay the creators, or don't approve of their choice of distribution? That doesnt give you a moral or legal right to stiff them.
- sathyabhat 15y agobring Netflix in all over the world and then we'll talk about that. Till they keep screwing people outside of US, I'll head over to the torrents.
- pat2man 15y agoAgreed. The only reason to use torrents is to get your content delivered to the devices you want. It's hard to find a device that doesn't support Netflix. An offline Netflix option might be the only exception
- timknauf 15y agoThe only exception? How about the billions of us living someone else in the world other than the US?
- tomjen3 15y agoArrogant nationalist. Not everyone is American and and for that reason gets screwed from everything from current tv (yeah I like to see shows 3 years after they were current) to innovative things like netflix, hulu and even iTunes tv show store.
- xsmasher 15y agoIt will probably come to DVD or be distributed on another channel in your country. If not, it still doesn't grant you a moral or legal right to the content. If you pirate instead of paying then you make distributing to your country unprofitable; that sounds like the opposite effect from what you want.
- ansy 15y agoThis is great that Netflix is being bold. Netflix needs to be bold. The networks own the studios that produce all of the content and will continue to use that to keep Netflix under heel. Arrested Development certainly has risk though. It's impossible to pick up where the show left off six years ago. Hopefully if this succeeds Netflix will consider following up by reviving Better Off Ted. A similar, critically acclaimed, and more recent show with actors that seem generally available.
- cyanbane 15y agoIf that IS their biz model I personally would love it. I don't watch much TV, but what I do watch is usually in bulk via a 3rd party streaming service and a year or five late. If Netflix started bringing other titles that were cancelled too soon like Firefly, Deadwood, etc with the budget of HBO and the postsight of watching the net for sleeper hits that were cancelled, you can count me in.
- tomjen3 15y agoThat would definitely be awesome, but it also seems very expensive. Hbo cost a lot more than netflix jet their target audience is usually much wider. Finally hbo, in my mind at least is as much a certificate of great tv as it is a channel. This is not the case for netflix.
- bmelton 15y agoThat wasn't the case for AMC before "Mad Men". Now, in addition to "Mad Men", they have "The Walking Dead", "Breaking Bad" and "Hell on Wheels". Even more than that, they have my guarantee that I will at least try a few episodes of any AMC original show that comes out. You're right that Netflix would have to build an audience, but if they are able to create exceptional quality shows, as HBO and AMC have done, then they can very print that certificate very quickly (within a couple of years).
- smokinn 15y agoThey've already announced how they're going to pick up where they left off and it's actually a very good idea. For the first few episodes, each main character is going to get a recap episode of what they've been up to. (Now my personal opinion:) Of couse, the other characters are going to show up but I think it's a very original catching up if they do it from each character's perspective. It will allow for a deeper understanding of their world and when they bring things back into a meld it will be that much more funny because of the conflicts set up in the first few episodes.
- eogas 15y agoThe source article appears to have been modified to imply that it will not be exclusive to Netflix. EDIT: Other sources seem to be indicating that it will indeed be exclusive.
- jasomill 15y agoHopefully they'll buck current trends and offer episodic content for $1 or so per episode to non-subscribers. Content available "exclusively" to subscribers is a customer-hostile model, as, e.g., Apple and Amazon seem to realize.
- tfb 15y agoWhoa that's actually an awesome idea. I've never thought of something like that before. And I'm sure someone else has actually already attempted it but I wonder why it isn't widespread. The only reason I can think of is maybe the networks just don't offer a solid enough deal for it to be reasonable and profitable, at least for smaller startups. I bet the big boys like Netflix and Hulu could work something out though.
- awolf 15y agoDeadwood, anyone?
- davesims 15y agoYes, please! And Firefly...
- chrismsnz 15y agoLooks like those outside US are reduced, yet again, to grey-market solutions.
- corin_ 15y agoJust like standard US shows, it will air to the US first, and international TV stations (or internet streaming services) can bid on the right to air it, nearly always at a later date.
- lurch_mojoff 15y agoWhich is compltely idiotic business model for Netflix. They can sell their original content directly to me. Unlike traditional TV content producers, they don't have to rely on (and split profits with) third party distributors. I suspect you are right, but I sure as hell hope you are not.
- tomjen3 15y agoIt hardly matters - at this point everybody under the age of 30 torrent it anyway (or get it from usenet). The copyright battle has been lost for a long, long time now.
- fauldsh 15y agoThat's like saying Spotify should never have tried because "everybody under the age of 30 torrent it anyway".
- wtvanhest 15y agoOnly a very small subset of the population torrents movies. Look only to redbox, Netflix, Amazon, motion picture producers even cable companies to see they are all posting huge revenues. Your assment seems to be based on your friends, not the market at large. (Notice I said Rev rather than profit as revs show that people are paying.) I'd rather pay 8 dollars a month for hassel free streaming and millions of other people would too. This is big business.
- pykler 15y agoNetflix SUCKS!
- marquis 15y agoWhat is stopping Netflix from offering content internationally? I'm sure there are several layers of bureaucracy here, from Hollywood requirements, syndication etc. It would be interesting to know what steps/changes need to be taken to open this service up for the rest of us.
- SwellJoe 15y agoI predicted this would happen when Starz pulled their programming. Given how much Netflix is paying for content, they can produce several pretty high end shows, which makes them a direct competitor to HBO, Showtime, etc. But, they have a much better delivery method, from the consumer perspective. This was a no-brainer, and good on Netflix for recognizing the opportunity that Arrested Development presents for them. It's relatively cheap to produce, has huge marketing value, and has a cult-like following that will sign up for Netflix specifically for access to these new episodes.
- ansy 15y agoNetflix bought House of Cards back in March bidding against HBO and AMC [1]. Less than a week later CBS, parent company of Showtime, announced it would pull Showtime content from Netflix even though the contract wasn't going to expire until the summer [2]. No negotiation or warning to Netflix, just "FYI, we're out, thanks." HBO just flat out refuses to license any of its content to Netflix or anyone else for that matter. And it's not like Netflix isn't willing to pay. Netflix paid $30 million per movie for exclusive early access with Dreamworks. Previously HBO held the contract for only $20 million per movie [3]. Media companies are just telling Netflix to flat out screw off or at best pay a ridiculous sum that nobody else would be expected to pay. Each one has a different threshold. HBO has zero tolerance. Starz had quite a bit up to a point. But eventually they all put on the brakes to keep Netflix in check. [1] http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2011/03/netflix-locks-down-house-of-cards-exclusive-for-late-2012.ars http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2011/03/netflix-locks-down... [2] http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/23/cbs-will-remove-some-showtime-shows-from-netflix/ http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/23/cbs-will-remove-some-showtime-... [3] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/business/media/netflix-secures-streaming-deal-with-dreamworks.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/business/media/netflix-sec...
- keithwinstein 15y agoTime Warner is trying to sign people up for their subscription service (HBO) -- is it really in their interest to license their content to a competing subscription service?
- plasma 15y agoHow will I get to watch this from Australia? We can't get Netflix here.
- brianbreslin 15y agoI think netflix is expanding to australia soon. Streaming only though, no dvd-by-mail. they recently expanded into south america and europe.
- ptrn 15y agoIf the new Attested Development really takes off, Netflix will have a syndication opportunity to trade with the networks. It reminds me of the patent wars; build up your collection so you can horse-trade when necessary...
- teyc 15y agoThis isn't a good deal for the show though. By doing an exclusive it is going to kill their long term audience, leaving Netflix free to poach another show.
- serge2k 15y agoThe whole "US Member" thing has me nervous. Might end up just downloading it. Not waiting if they decide to screw over Canada.