The Future of Streaming?

[Barry]

   We might be at the height of the “Golden Age of Streaming” right now.  I am no authority, but I do read the business sections of the paper.

When doors open in media there is a big burst of new companies and activity, then there are mergers that shrink the industry.  For example, the “CW” is a merger of Time Warner’s TV network and CBS. Many of the cell phone companies have also merged.

The start up and running costs of streaming is incredibly high. Aided by people staying home the industry grew in 2020-21.  But I just read that Netflix, the leader in the field, had their stock go down nearly 50% from the beginning of the year. Paramount also had a big loss.

HBOMAX’s executives originally thought that they would need 15 “new” unique shows on the network for it to bring in new viewers. But they will only produce 10 now because of the costs.

Platforms are now looking for advertising to boost their income.  This may mean two pricing levels, as a few already have, one with commercials and one without. Or it may mean paying and getting commercials. It’s hard to remember but cable started out without commercials in the 1960s-1970s and then went to commercials.
 
         But I can be totally wrong and Streaming may take another route.
 
Streaming may replace movie theatres.  In my neighborhood, more than 50% of the movie theaters I have disappeared over the last twenty or so years.  Streaming gives the movie companies the opportunity to bypass theatres, completely control their product,  and keep all the profits for themselves. This could mean the end of huge big budget movies. Or, fewer theaters may exist for the fewer big budget movies.
 
Streaming will change, but I suspect it will change a great many things along the way.

[AVSCraig]

" Streaming gives the movie companies the opportunity to bypass theatres, completely control their product,  and keep all the profits for themselves. This could mean the end of huge big budget movies. " - I'm afraid that will mean movies that may not be as fun or interesting - at least to me. The other problem trend I see is each studio limiting movies to their platform and raising pricing. 

[David Vaughn]

Streaming used to mean sacrificing quality, but as compression has gotten better (H.265) and bandwidth has improved, the quality has gotten a lot better and is close to Blu-ray now in regard to 4K streams (4K disc is still better, IMO). The audio isn't as good, but like the video, is getting better. The Adam Project has outstanding sound quality (best I've heard on streaming). If that level of quality can consistently be attained, I wouldn't want to be in the disc manufacturing business, that's for sure. 

That being said, I don't think discs will go away anytime soon, but if sales drop too much, we will see it become even more niche and pricing will go up (similar to Laser Disc pricing from the early 90s). 

[AVSCraig]

Streaming used to mean sacrificing quality, but as compression has gotten better (H.265) and bandwidth has improved, the quality has gotten a lot better and is close to Blu-ray now in regard to 4K streams (4K disc is still better, IMO). The audio isn't as good, but like the video, is getting better. The Adam Project has outstanding sound quality (best I've heard on streaming). If that level of quality can consistently be attained, I wouldn't want to be in the disc manufacturing business, that's for sure.

That being said, I don't think discs will go away anytime soon, but if sales drop too much, we will see it become even more niche and pricing will go up (similar to Laser Disc pricing from the early 90s).

And that will just encourage the streaming services to raise their pricing higher - no doubt. 

[Barry]

                                  NEWS ITEM: SPORTS AND STREAMING
 
This broke today in New York.
 
Some people hate to hear this but sports has always been a business first and a game second. But Sports is always after the dollar first and the ball second.
 
For the last 20 Years, the YES network has carried almost all the Yankee games.  A few, every year went on FOX (Channel 5 here) and a few were on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Traditionally, Channel 11, which before cable televised 100 Yankee games, broadcasted about 20 on regular TV.  But both Channel 11 and Yes were available to everyone in NY.
 
Amazon bought 15% of the Yes Network and now 21 games will be televised on Amazon on not on cable. Amazon now has the exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football.
Apple TV bought streaming rights and will be televising many games on Friday night, unavailable on cable.
 
So at least  20% of the Yankee games will not be available to people who have paid for it in our cable bills.
 
Further, if this works for the Yankees other teams will follow. We will be paying more money for the same products.

[TRainH2O]

As David stated, streaming video quality has come a long way. Disney Plus has convinced me of that but the audio still has a way to go.

Luckily, we have no cap on our data through our ISP. However, bandwidth has been an issue at times. I think it might be related to the modem, but I don't think I have many options with AT&A.

[Paul Heroy]

With respect to sports, I've become mostly a football fan. Aside from my college team's games I check a few other (mostly SEC rivals) games and "big" games. Then the NFL on their increasingly broad range of nights. But the big thing for me is I don't watch any games live, and frequently make use of my DVR's ability to skip commercials. I even use the 30 second skip feature in game at times b/c of the time plays take. I am not interested in spending 3 - 3 1/2 hours watching the vast majority of games. 

So with respect to football the question for me becomes, will Amazon (or others) A) Allow me to start watching a game after it has started but before it's done; B) Skip thru any commercials or other "dead" time in game? 

If either of those is "no" then streaming will be a negative that makes me watch less, not more.

[AVSCraig]

                                  NEWS ITEM: SPORTS AND STREAMING
 
This broke today in New York.
 
Some people hate to hear this but sports has always been a business first and a game second. But Sports is always after the dollar first and the ball second.
 
For the last 20 Years, the YES network has carried almost all the Yankee games.  A few, every year went on FOX (Channel 5 here) and a few were on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Traditionally, Channel 11, which before cable televised 100 Yankee games, broadcasted about 20 on regular TV.  But both Channel 11 and Yes were available to everyone in NY.
 
Amazon bought 15% of the Yes Network and now 21 games will be televised on Amazon on not on cable. Amazon now has the exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football.
Apple TV bought streaming rights and will be televising many games on Friday night, unavailable on cable.
 
So at least  20% of the Yankee games will not be available to people who have paid for it in our cable bills.
 
Further, if this works for the Yankees other teams will follow. We will be paying more money for the same products.

That's the problem as I see it in a nutshell. They are going to take the pie that used to be free on network TV ( or paid for on cable ), divide it up into slices, and charge as much as traffic will bare for each slice. I expect things to get even more fragmented - not less.

[Barry]

The answer may be No, but games on Amazon may not have commercials.

[David Vaughn]

With respect to sports, I've become mostly a football fan. Aside from my college team's games I check a few other (mostly SEC rivals) games and "big" games. Then the NFL on their increasingly broad range of nights. But the big thing for me is I don't watch any games live, and frequently make use of my DVR's ability to skip commercials. I even use the 30 second skip feature in game at times b/c of the time plays take. I am not interested in spending 3 - 3 1/2 hours watching the vast majority of games.

So with respect to football the question for me becomes, will Amazon (or others) A) Allow me to start watching a game after it has started but before it's done; B) Skip thru any commercials or other "dead" time in game?

If either of those is "no" then streaming will be a negative that makes me watch less, not more.

As it stands now, you won't be able to skip through commercials. Like you, I won't watch the game unless my team (49ers) are playing. 

[randman]

All Netflix programming is 4K, and the quality is surprisingly amazing. When I upgraded my Netflix subscription 3 years ago, I was pleasantly surprised how good their 4K streaming looks. Looks better than lots of Ultra HD discs (particularly those that don't go through an all 4K path from start to finish, such as those that are created with 2k digital intermediate).  

Netflix losing subscribers is probably due to having so many more competitors in the streaming business. 

I hope good movie theaters continue to do well and recover from the pandemic. While most of my movie watching is at home, I still enjoy going to a good movie theater for blockbuster films. I live 20 minutes from an IMAX. I also live near a Movie Tavern, which has great recliner seats and really good food and service.