Epix Provides "Free" HD Studio Content Via TV and Internet 68
It looks as though the movie studios are at least trying to learn from past failures and others' success with the upcoming launch of Epix (beta starts today), an HD television channel and accompanying online 720p service. The good part about this service is, if you are lucky enough to have a television provider who decides to become a partner, you wont have to pay extra to get it. The main downside, of course, is if your cable company decides not to plug this service in you will have no way to subscribe. "Like Hulu, the Epix movie service is a joint venture formed by the content owners; in this case, the service is powered by the movie studios Lions Gate, Paramount, and MGM. The Epix TV network will air movies that are in the "pay-TV" window — those weeks before a film appears on DVD in which it is available on pay-per-view or HBO, among others."
Only for already subscribed users, not free. (Score:0, Insightful)
I don't see any good parts about this service.
Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Why would they do this? This is going to compete against both pay-per-view/HBO and DVD sales/rentals, both of which bring in real revenue. Are they really betting the ad revenue from Epix will offset that loss? Or are they simply trying to attract attention without a business model?
Learn from past mistakes? (Score:3, Insightful)
I think not. This is the content providers selling access to their cable arms. This is just another attempt to turn the internet into AOL.
If they had learned anything the films would be available to anyone with the cash in hand and would be in an unDRMed format.
No chance (Score:4, Insightful)
1. Cable companies make money on pay-per-view. This product would provide the same movies for free to subscribers, and would probably cost cable companies themselves to offer it. Given that cable companies are in the business of making money, it would seem like they have every reason to avoid this.
2. The article says that Netflix isn't a viable outlet for the studios because it doesn't have many new releases.
"the real question is why the studios would launch their own distribution network instead of just offloading the films to partners already equipped to handle them? Rensing insists that the services are just too different. While Hulu does offer some films, it's focused almost exclusively on TV at the moment and is ad-supported. Netflix On Demand doesn't have access to the same super-recent hit titles." [FTFA, no edits]
How is that a reason? The studios don't let Netflix stream the new movies. That's not a distribution system issue, it's a policy decision by these very studios. It's just sloppy reporting, I guess. It should just say "The studios don't want to use Netflix On Demand."
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
The cable company pays them for the right to carry the service/channel. By bundling the paywall in with your cable, they (in all fairness) open up a cheap and legal means for a large number of people to watch network shows online. On the downside (and more cynical side), this is now being bundled with your cable bill whether you like it or not, essentially forcing all cable subscribers to subsidize the program.
Re:binary in their HTML code (Score:4, Insightful)
Think about it: there are numerous folks on places like /. that would never DREAM of visiting a page like this under normal circumstances.
However, let one geek work out what that binary is and post it, and suddenly a large fraction of those folks will thunder over there to confirm it for themselves.
AAAAANNNNNND, those folks will be amused, and thus will be in a more receptive frame of mind to accept the sales pitch.
if you can't subscribe... (Score:3, Insightful)
"The main downside of course is if your cable company decides not to plug this service in you will have no way to subscribe."
So, about half the internet population heaves a sigh and says to themselves, "well, I guess I'll just have to go back to torrenting".
Re:Seriously? (Score:3, Insightful)
I disagree.
How about the movie studios stop being raging assholes and allow Netflix to stream the new releases?
No need to create a new model, if you want it you can subscribe. Everyone is happy.
Plus I dont have to make the old lady down the street pay for my movie subscription with their trickle down pricing pyramid scheme.
Re:if you can't subscribe... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd like to think that one would stop torrenting the moment a reasonable substitute becomes available at a reasonable price.
Potential providers have to realize what their competition is. Common codecs that play in many different players on practically every platform. Total lack of DRM (or total DRM transparency). High quality video and sound. A huge, easily searchable library of immediately available content. Seamless integration into your media center.
What legal services I've seen so far are:
Movie downloads that cost more than buying the DVD, and can't be backed up to DVD.
"Online" video with artificially reduced resolution, using proprietary players that only work on one operating system, and do not integrate with any media center package.
In general, just real piss-poor tries at providing online content, demonstrating an overriding take-it-or-leave-it mindset that's no better than the pay-for-view available for a decade on cable, and in some cases more expensive. Here, this is what we're offering. Deal with it. Is there any surprise that so many people decline?
The competition (in this case torrenting content encoded with standard, non-DRM-laden codecs) unquestionably has better quality and a better selection and better integration and better functionality. The practice of downloading content illegally doesn't even have to compete on price -- it can compete successfully on every other aspect of home entertainment.
For instance, it's so bizarre to me that Windows Media Center excels at playing illegal content seamlessly with a conventional remote, (I've seen it work -- download, drop in Movies folder, and it magically shows up in the menu) but when I try to go the legal route, with Netflix video on demand, I have to dink around with a wireless keyboard trying to play the movie in a browser. It's so incredibly inconvenient, I don't know why anyone would bother with it.