RUSENSITIVESWEETNESS

September 04, 2011 at 5:05am

Streaming is just a new gateway to stronger copyright management.

Insurgence

September 03, 2011 at 6:07pm

Even though Starz is not going to renew its contract with Netflix it does not mean that those movies will never appear on Netflix again. That is, as long as Starz is not the sole exclusive licensor to the digital distribution of the movies that they essentially licensing to Netflix. It is entirely possible that Netflix may end up signing deals with Sony and Disney, and for any other companies library they lost when Starz canceled the deal. It may also be possible that this is more of a game of chicken to renegotiate the contract. I honestly feel that Starz is being pressured by the movie companies so that they can either get more money from the deals, or to strengthen their position when it comes to making a deal with Netflix and any other subscription service.

szore

September 03, 2011 at 3:39am

Can't believe they walked away from 300 Mill for no good reason. Boadrooms don't work like that, their has to be more to the story...

vrmlbasic

September 02, 2011 at 10:52pm

With this loss goes another potential reason for me to jump on the Netflix bandwagon with my friends and millions of other users as now they are deprived of not only HBO programming, but soon Starz as well.  That's several extant above-average show franchises they've lost, as well as (IMO) promising future content. I couldn't get into the bad CG and borderline 300 (movie) plagiarizm of Spartacus, but the rumored Sam Raimi adaptation of Noir could be interesting, possibly.  If it were on Netflix I'd check it out, but that's not going to happen.

Perhaps Starz will renege when Netflix offers them cash proportionate to their obscene levels of income.  Netflix is only offering Starz an order of magnitude more now then they did in the past, and Netflix is making far more than that.  300 million is paltry for Netflix, and I can't really fault Starz for seeing this.  I'd feel slighted as well were I in their position and a company which makes a beaucoup of cash off of my content were to offer me such a pittance as Netflix has offered Starz.

If Netflix were to be anthropomorphzed, 300 million dollars is what the resulting man would drop into a beggar's cup without a second though; if he were to drop that sum on the ground, he'd value his dignity in stooping to pick it up more than the money on the ground.

Netflix--I want to support you as you seem cool, but you keep giving me reasons to save my money.

Red Ensign

September 02, 2011 at 4:43pm

I'm fine with this. Never needed Starz before Netflix had them and I rarely watched anything from them once Netflix did have them. I can't believe anyone at Starz is dumb enough to think they will make the same revenue from other sources that they are walking away from with Netflix. People are only going to pay for so many streaming services. Even without Starz, Netflix still has a better catalogue than any other competetor. With that and Crackle for free thru my iPad->HDTV, + Redbox, I haven't gotten a movie on demand from Brighthouse in over 3 years. If Starz wants to take the side of the cable providers and stay with an increasingly obsolete business model, it's their company to ruin.

kagai

September 02, 2011 at 2:58pm

That will take care of most of the movies in the crappy SD format. Goodbye Starz!

Andacious

September 02, 2011 at 2:20pm

HA! I bet that press release was bullshit. They must be developing a proprietary streaming service to try and rake in some of that tasty streaming dough. 

(Unless there already is a Starz streaming service, and I'm too ignorant to know about it...)

someuid

September 02, 2011 at 12:58pm

Yeah, that sucks, but I'm not going to chase after Starz and some "we got a cool big brand that deserves extra $$$" - I'll live with what NetFlix has and be happy.

As for Sony, they keep pissing me off more and more so they can go fly a kite somewhere else. I bought a bluray of thiers yestresday and the title screen has ads on it - wtf sony.

AGrose

September 02, 2011 at 12:33pm

I thought Starz was annoying on netflix anyway.  I'd always put a movie in my que to watch it later and then it would inevitably get pulled before I had the chance to watch it.  I'd rather them just have content that stayed the same rather than content that only stays on for a certain amount of time.

igoka

September 02, 2011 at 12:08pm

Without Starz there is no Netflix . So many of my friends got Netflix because of Starz. 

Trooper_One

September 02, 2011 at 11:42am

Wow, talk about artificially hiking up oldie movies...  Most of the oldie movies are worth $5 in bargain bins at Wallyworld.  Netflix is a great way of reviving these movies most people don't care to watch it over twice - they've just lost a large marketshare.  For those who really want the movies but don't want to pay a dime more, well, you know where they go.

AnglicDemon00

September 02, 2011 at 11:36am

So it seems all the cable-cuts thanks to These streaming services are really cutting into these componies bottom line. Though with this, Netflix selection will now get smaller. Though i hope that people continue to cut cable instead of going back to it.