 mrvid join:2007-06-19 Levittown, NY 4 edits | Netflix, not just the net, add a VOD & HD-VOD channel My thoughts is Netflix should stop fighting cable companies and, sort of, join them instead. Offer it online & through the ROKI unit, if desired, but also offer it as a VOD & HD-VOD service over cable.
Will you be alone, I don't think so, but you'll be a choice and if you make the deal great for the carrier, & the quality great for the customer, it can be a home run for you and for cable.
Offering up a new VOD cable channel is a way that gives you the content choice without limits to the customer while not hurting cable, possibly resulting in their service costs going up. Maybe Netflix would offer up the channel and an influx of content at either $3.00/flick to as little as no additional charge if, say, the customer has a "3 or more movie by mail" deal. The carrier could add a $1.00 surcharge for SD or $1.50 for HD, per flick ordered, for the price of carriage. Customers would be able to enjoy movies in HD quality for as little as $1.50 a flick. Since these are rentals, DVR functionality would be disabled but the movie could be watched over and over again for up to 3 days.
Now, no more cap hassles and I don't have to worry about my HBO or Nick at Night being in danger. There are customers who want their HD-VOD but also those who want Nick at Nite, HBO, etc. I can just envision it now, Netflix VOD on channel 130 or HD-VOD on channel 530. Blue-Ray would still be quite desirable since its bitrate is still even better at about 25-30Mbps. With people out there buying up 65" HD displays, there should be a noticeable difference in quality so I don't see Blue-Ray sales getting hurt in this. Please, Netflix, make it a reality. |
 Jmartz join:2000-07-20 Tenafly, NJ | too bad cable companies like Cablevision will play hardball and probably not make deals with netflix. i have to say I played with the netflix service last night on my tivo and it works very, very well. Looks really good too. Much better than anything Cablevision VOD was able to offer... when it worked. |