DirecTV considering taking on Netflix

[Emil]

DirecTV recently asked a subset of its customers to fill out a web survey that was pretty much all about Netflix. The company was interested in Netflix usage patterns, and also proposed the same two options Netflix has for movies: physical discs and online streaming. DirecTV openly asked its existing satellite television subscribers what they think of a DirecTV version of Netflix, according to Zats Not Funny!:

In this next section, we would like you to evaluate a new service that DirecTV is thinking about offering to their customers. DirecTV plans to offer a streaming-only Netflix-like service for a flat fee per month, which would appear as a line item on your monthly bill.

Here are some of the features DirecTV is proposing:

• The service would allow you to stream thousands of movies and television shows over a broadband Internet connection to your television, computer, or tablet.
• The content available would likely be past season of current shows as well as older TV series and older movie released (released more than five years ago).
• You could watch as many programs as you want for one flat monthly fee, similar to what Netflix streaming offers.

Netflix will likely be okay whether or not DirecTV goes through with its plan. It's quite clear that DirecTV just doesn't get it: the only way it could possibly take on Netflix is if it offered such a service at the same price as whatever it currently charges its subscribers. In other words, DirecTV should have a Netflix-like service included within its existing pricing structure. Then again, the company just started offering $30 movie rentals, so we're hardly surprised.

DirecTV is not the only satellite service provider interested in the streaming content market. Dish recently bought bankrupt Blockbuster for $228 million in cash and we speculated that it was interested in the retailer's online content to use as a base for an online product to deliver movies.

This year will be a very important one for Netflix because the company is going to get attacked from multiple sides. The service will get hit by competition that is very similar to its offering as well as alternatives that will likely be backed by much bigger companies. For the sake of the movie industry, we hope Netflix comes out on top.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/43522-directv-considering-taking-on-netflix.html

 

[Guest]

Hopefully someone can come out with a netflix type service with current movies. Now that would be something worth paying for. People paying to watch old stuff...netflixs...who would of ever thought...lol

 

[Guest]

Watch old stuff?
Old or new is perspective. If I have never seen a movie, then when I watch it for the first time, it is new to me. Get it?

 

[lawfer]

Guest said:
Watch old stuff?
Old or new is perspective. If I have never seen a movie, then when I watch it for the first time, it is new to me. Get it?

*Gasps*

 

[Guest]

Sorry but I have limited time..If I wanted to watch old stuff I would go down to my local bargain bin and get a ton of movies for the $9 you are spending or better yet get it for free on the internet. I want new stuff (stuff that at least came out the same year).Like when a DVD comes out it should be on Netflixs too...but its not...they have no new movies...its all old stuff you could see on Directv. And why would I pay for that?? but I guess people do...same as people pay for crappy Anti Virus when you can get better for free.

 

[Guest]

lol, you don't think Netflix would offer movies immediately after they come out if they could? The movie industry would charge ridiculous sums of money for that to happen. Your Netflix monthly bill would jump from $9 to $50. Also, Sony is partially to blame. They are the ones that won't even allow Netflix to send out movies (on DVD/BluRay) for the first 4 weeks of its release. It'a always the movie industry's fault. Seriously.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

It's the movie industry's fault? Well, it's THEIR movie, which they made with the purpose of making money. If they give it to Netflix for cheap they'd lose the money made from other rentals or On Demand. And there's a good chance they can't anyway, they may have a distribution contracts with cable companies, HBO, Blockbuster, etc. Ever wonder why the NFL is on Fox on sunday, ESPN on monday, ABC sunday night and NFL network on Thurs? Contracts. Blame netflix for not outbidding and getting their own.