Google Might be Working on a Movie Streaming Service to Compete with Netflix

[kodiak799]

A couple things regarding this post. I make $90,000 a year. My wife makes $110,000 per year.
Combined household income of $200K. This does not even include my rental properties.
My cable bill + internet just got reduced when I called to cancel by a few dollars. $133.
This is NOTHING to me.
I STILL want to cut the cord and I DON'T EVEN CARE if it costs me MORE to do so! My #1 motivation here is to send a message to the Cable company: I want ala carte pricing.
I want it NOW.
Dish, DirectTV: I don't want 2 year contracts for Television.

More people need to do this. Even if it costs a few dollars more. Even if it's not as convenient.

Good for you. Really great. Don't get me started on the fool's gold that is ala carte pricing - you literally get what you pay for, and most won't be too happy with it. HBO charges $16/mo...what do you think other popular channels will charge knowing the average consumer has $60 or so to spend? You'll end-up paying the same price for 10 channels instead of 100, and maybe that will lead to better content, but probably not.

There are already tiers of service, starting as low as $25/month....but you know what? Most people don't want the lower tiers because it doesn't have channels they want. If you're paying $15 more to get into the next tier to get AMC and ESPN, then what do you think the ala carte price AMC and ESPN are going to want to charge you?

Contracts? So what. If you give me a good deal I'm more than happy not to have to worry about shopping for cable for 2 years.

 

[cr6]

Honestly I don't believe this is the case. I think google is just testing people who use the rewards app to make sure they are being honest in answering questions. .

This. I don't do the rewards app but quite a few members I know have mentioned this, so this could very well be the case.
That said, I don't think this would be a stretch at all considering who is offering it.
I don't see myself subscribing though, unless they offer something the others don't. I'm perfectly content with Netflix & Prime. We rarely use VuDu anymore since Prime offers new releases for 4.99-5.99. But the good thing about VuDu is, oftentimes they will have a new release available weeks before anyone else. We don't mind paying it since it's more of a "spur of the moment let's rent a movie" convenience thing. We still rent BluRays from Redbox for new releases.

S5 tap'n

 

[pc747]

This. I don't do the rewards app but quite a few members I know have mentioned this, so this could very well be the case.
That said, I don't think this would be a stretch at all considering who is offering it.
I don't see myself subscribing though, unless they offer something the others don't. I'm perfectly content with Netflix & Prime. We rarely use VuDu anymore since Prime offers new releases for 4.99-5.99. But the good thing about VuDu is, oftentimes they will have a new release available weeks before anyone else. We don't mind paying it since it's more of a "spur of the moment let's rent a movie" convenience thing. We still rent BluRays from Redbox for new releases.

S5 tap'n

I rent digitally every time. The gas I burn going to a red box as well as forgetting to return it, I save myself the time by hitting play on my device. Plus Google throws in a free rental every now and then. But even if the didn't the cost is between $4-$5 so for me it is not worth saving $2 or $3 to go through traffic for Redbox.

Wow we have come a long way. We use to drive across town to a blockbuster either every weekend or every other weekend to rent a movie. How convenient that next door was a little Caesars. Now we order a pizza from an app and have it scheduled to arrive at about the time we get home, sit on our couches in front of a large display and surround sound, and just have to choose which streaming service you want to use to rent the latest DVD.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[PereDroid]

Good for you. Really great.

I was exaggerating a little bit. It is the internet after all. Point still stands: $130 isn't killing me.

you literally get what you pay for, and most won't be too happy with it. HBO charges $16/mo...

It's $15 and I'm not convinced yet that HBO is going to kill it at that price. I think that's too high and won't be buying it.

what do you think other popular channels will charge knowing the average consumer has $60 or so to spend? You'll end-up paying the same price for 10 channels instead of 100, and maybe that will lead to better content, but probably not.

I don't think AMC will charge $15. Or Lifetime. Or the History Channel. Or Discovery. Rather, I think they will combine with other channels and offer groups of channels for around $20.

Sort of like this:
https://www.sling.com/package

AMC, one of the most popular channels on TV during the winter (thanks to TWD) and they are part of this? Along with the notoriously greedy ESPN. Really? This is full of win.

There are already tiers of service, starting as low as $25/month....but you know what?

They suck?
TWC's $20 package* (*not including equipment rental, taxes, install charge or additional fees) is crap. But ah the heck with it. I can call AT&T and see what they offer. Or Comcast. Or Wow. O wait, no no no I can't. Because ONLY TWC offers service where I live. ONLY TWC.

Well, I guess I could call Dish\DirectTV and sign one of those

Contracts? So what. If you give me a good deal I'm more than happy not to have to worry about shopping for cable for 2 years.

I don't have a REAL problem with Contracts, per se. But I DO have a serious problem with the way BOTH these companies run their contracts.
I don't get WHY I should have to sign a contract. For a 12 month reduced price that goes up a lot in year 2? For a "free" sat dish? Average it out then, charge me one guaranteed price and don't make me sign a contract.
Not to even mention, this is how it works: your contract starts the DAY they install the equipment at your house. You don't get a trial period. If you discover later that VERY SAME day you hate satellite??? You have to pay an ETF. Seriously. Is that even remotely fair? Not even a 3 day window to cancel?

Most people don't want the lower tiers because it doesn't have channels they want.

And you don't think that will change? If no one is purchasing your channel groups, then you WILL reorganize them and find groups people will buy.. This is how the market works.

If you're paying $15 more to get into the next tier to get AMC and ESPN, then what do you think the ala carte price AMC and ESPN are going to want to charge you?

$5. I'll buy AMC for $5.00 while TWD is on. I know people will pay $5.00 for ESPN. People are already paying that indirectly through their TV provider...whether they want to watch ESPN or not.
I'm tired of my high cable bill so you can watch the Denver Nuggets.

"If you watch sports, millions of pay-TV households who never click on their ESPN channels are subsidizing your habit. If you don't watch sports, you're one of the suckers paying an extra $100 a year for a product you don't consume.
TRUE. Here's how your cable bill works. You pay $80-ish each month for cable (just talking TV here, not Internet, which is often included in the bill). About $30 are the programming costs -- the wholesale price of all the channels. ESPN gets about $5 per household per month. MTV gets about $0.39.

If You Don t Watch Sports TV Is a Huge Rip-Off So How Do We Fix It - The Atlantic

And finally... about contracts. As fast as this market is changing today...are you REALLY going to be OK with a 2 year contract? You KNOW as soon as you sign that deal, something better is going to come along. It's changing DAILY.
If SlingTV figures out a deal to get those channels to allow OnDemand, I cancel cable the very. next. day. Because that $20 +$5 for the Kids package package HAS everything I want.

Sling TV: $25
Netflix: $10
Amazon: $10
Hulu+: $9
+ Free Antenna on my roof
= $55/month
+ $60 for Internet
$115/month
Saving me $18 month and giving me more stuff then I have RIGHT NOW (because I don't have Hulu and I may not add Hulu which would save me even more money.)

Ala carta, please. NOW.

 

[PereDroid]

But even if the didn't the cost is between $4-$5 so for me it is not worth saving $2 or $3 to go through traffic for Redbox.

Geez, man, how far is your Rebox? I could walk to mine in about 4 minutes. Redbox rentals.

Thanks for reminding me. I need to get to my Redbox more often instead of renting digitally which is pretty much all I do. Because: lazy.
Saving $3 may not be much. Something...

 

[kodiak799]

Saving me $18 month and giving me more stuff then I have RIGHT NOW (because I don't have Hulu and I may not add Hulu which would save me even more money.)

You can save a lot more demanding promotional rates or leaving and get a promo rate with someone else. That's what I've done to save $600+ a year on my bill.

Your saving $18 a month, I wouldn't really call that a savings but a different tier of service since you're missing many sports and other shows as they air, not to mention other sacrifices in conveniences. You've carved out a tier of service that is less money but not more value.

And maybe HBO isn't worth $15 a month to you, but it's been that way for years and they have tens of millions of subscribers. It's just to illustrate you won't save what you think you save on ala carte - you've pieced together your own bundle to save a few bucks, which is basically the same concept as the shared savings cable delivers. True a la carte will cost you more, it's simple supply & demand.

 

[PereDroid]

You can save a lot more demanding promotional rates or leaving and get a promo rate with someone else.

I already explained I have 3 options. TWC/Dish/DTV. That's it.

That's what I've done to save $600+ a year on my bill.

I WAS Paying $160 until I called TWC and worked out a better deal. Like I do every 6 months. Tired of doing that, too.

Your saving $18 a month, I wouldn't really call that a savings but a different tier of service since you're missing many sports

Sorry if I didn't make it clear: I DON'T WANT SPORTS.

You're seriously making a lot of assumptions about my viewing habits.

and other shows as they air,

I don't watch shows as they air now. Ever.

not to mention other sacrifices in conveniences.

DVR. The only convenience I would miss. But if Sling puts AMC on demand so I can watch the latest episode of TWD when I want??? I don't even need a DVR. I never thought I'd say that.

You've carved out a tier of service that is less money but not more value.

That's WAY more value to me. Every show I want. (Assuming Sling offered everything ondemand after it aired). Any time I want it. What "more value" am I missing? 200 channels I don't watch? ESPN which I cannot even remember the last time I watched? (but is in the SlingTV package anyway, so....)

How am I losing value? Not sure what amazing value you think I get from Cable TV today...

 

[cr6]

I rent digitally every time. The gas I burn going to a red box as well as forgetting to return it, I save myself the time by hitting play on my device.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

That makes sense. I go grocery shopping every Friday after work and they have two Redbox kiosks side by side where I shop, so it's really convenient for me.
That said, the convenience of streaming is worth it to us as well, especially if our decision to watch a movie is spur of the moment. There's no point in making a separate trip when you can simply click a button. [emoji106]

S5 tap'n

 

[Ollie]

Im in, but eventually with these streaming services the cream needs to rise. Right now as a cord cutter we have a list to choose from and combined can become more expensive than cable.

1. Netflix $7.99
2. Hulu Plus $7.99
3. SlingTv $25
4. HBO Now $14.99
5. ShowTime $10.99

We are at $67 and when you factor in the price of high speed internet ($40.00) we are back where we started with $100 cable bills.

Right. That's why I laugh at the cord cutters, but most of them are getting by using pirate sites and friends passwords to subscription services.

It's also funny how much more people cry about their $100 cable bill vs. hundreds for cell phones for the family despite cable delivering more and superior content.

I pay $215 a month for home phone/internet/cable.

$100 sounds like one hell of a deal to me. Next month we are cutting the cord. I will be looking at $75 before taxes after the cut.

 

[xeene]

Has anyone here tried Popcorn time? It's available for Android, ios and Windows.

 

[kodiak799]

How am I losing value? Not sure what amazing value you think I get from Cable TV today...

You've given up service and conveniences for a lower price. Of course that's value to YOU, but to the average person it's not really value it's a trade-off or preference, selection of a lower-tier service priced equivalently. Not to mention, but DirectTv's package is like $65....but you don't want to sign a contract, so I don't see what value you created it's just a choice of service. I just switched to AT&T for like $90 a month (including internet)....maybe should have gone to DirectTv (especially since I'll pony up another $200 for Sunday Ticket).

And as that relates to your point about a la carte, I think it's been pretty clearly demonstrated in your example and ones I gave that you would not be getting value but simply cheaper options - everyone taking less pie is not going to make the pie bigger (i.e. an increase in consumer surplus).

If two people were each paying $2 for two channels, and then each choose 1 channel in a la carte you can be reasonably certain they will each pay something close to $2 for their channel, because that's where the channels make the same revenue and the consumers have already demonstrated an ability or willingness to pay it. And the crazy thing is if both choose 1 channel, the other channel dies and the other will now cost a lot closer to $2 than $1 because that channel knows there's more pie to be had.

 

[cr6]

Has anyone here tried Popcorn time? It's available for Android, ios and Windows.

PT it's basically pirated movies & tv shows...But something we condone. It's only available through sideloading.
Just an FYI to anyone using PT, it was found out a few months ago that malware was included in this app, so you may want to delete it and do an FDR. (if that's something that concerns you) None of the A/V or malware apps like MalewareBytes picked up on it. One more reason to stick with Play Store, Amazon etc only content.

S5 tap'n

 

[Jeffrey]

The app your referring to is Time For Popcorn which is a clone of Get Popcorn Time. TFP has been associated with malware, though there is no proof it actually contains any malware.
GPT is the office app from PCT and malware free.

 

[cr6]

That's not what I read or experienced... it was specifically "popcorn time". (Though it could be both) I'll find the link I saved and post it.
The reason I mention it is because I had experienced with the problem on my tablet. Ever since this happened both of my email accounts have been flooded with spam everyday, where I never get spam in my personal account. 7 years of being spam free down the drain. I know it was specifically PT.

S5 tap'n

 

[LoneWolfArcher]

A couple things regarding this post. I make $90,000 a year. My wife makes $110,000 per year.
Combined household income of $200K. This does not even include my rental properties.
My cable bill + internet just got reduced when I called to cancel by a few dollars. $133.
This is NOTHING to me.
I STILL want to cut the cord and I DON'T EVEN CARE if it costs me MORE to do so! My #1 motivation here is to send a message to the Cable company: I want ala carte pricing.
I want it NOW.
Dish, DirectTV: I don't want 2 year contracts for Television.

More people need to do this. Even if it costs a few dollars more. Even if it's not as convenient.

Not sure you (or I) are a good gauge of this. Those with disposable income, while still being frugal, will be willing to pay for service. However, for many budgets these days $60 for broadband plus more for services like this is just too much.