The content licenses are a real pain. Maybe one of the aggregators will just power through and have so much more content available that it will squeeze out everything else until new content only signs up with the winner, without strings attached.
The other day I was trying to binge watch a season of a broadcast TV show, so I tried the On Demand thing on the FIOS cable box. Just 5 latest episodes available. Fine, this dinosaur is dead anyway, so I go to Hulu Plus; surely they will have the whole season, that's why you pay the sub, right? 2 latest episodes available! WTF.
These incumbents are not competing with Netflix et al, they are actively burning the subscriber base and encouraging them to switch. I think if they put up a huge banner saying "Please don't use this site and go to Netflix instead" I would probably spend more time there than now. Sad panda is sad.
" so I go to Hulu Plus; surely they will have the whole season, that's why you pay the sub, right? 2 latest episodes available! WTF. . . . These incumbents are not competing with Netflix et al, they are actively burning the subscriber base and encouraging them to switch."
As far as I know, Netflix doesn't have current season of TV shows at all. So Hulu Plus and the cable 'on demand' services are mostly complementary to Netflix, purely complementary if you buy Hulu Plus for access to current season shows.
Good point, but still; the experience is so frustrating that it's actually worth waiting until the entire season becomes available on Netflix, Amazon, etc. so you can watch it in peace.
And yet you can find all the latest episodes for free from many sources via bittorrent.
When enough people find piracy convenient enough to use as their full-time solution the market will evolve a reasonable monetized solution. Until then there is not enough incentive for the content producers.
The other day I was trying to binge watch a season of a broadcast TV show, so I tried the On Demand thing on the FIOS cable box. Just 5 latest episodes available. Fine, this dinosaur is dead anyway, so I go to Hulu Plus; surely they will have the whole season, that's why you pay the sub, right? 2 latest episodes available! WTF.
These incumbents are not competing with Netflix et al, they are actively burning the subscriber base and encouraging them to switch. I think if they put up a huge banner saying "Please don't use this site and go to Netflix instead" I would probably spend more time there than now. Sad panda is sad.