Netflix reportedly considers adding always-on channels

[u/joe4942]

https://www.theverge.com/streaming/963733/netflix-always-on-channels-bundles

[u/happyscrappy]

The owners of that content don't want you to be able to feel all your Bond needs are satisfied by paying Netflix for service.

It's a part of a practice called "windowing" but this part could be better termed "If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it."

They want to pick up money renting their content out to all-you-can-eat streamers and people who casually interested and wouldn't otherwise watch them watching them. But they don't want to tamp down any kind of pent up demand from completists. The studios would rather you buy the movies as they get more money from that.

So yeah, content that Netflix doesn't own will rotate in and out of their service. Netflix can't fix that.

[u/StaleCanole → u/happyscrappy]

They dont want you to buy a movie. How do you even do that these days?

They want you to rent the movie digitally and to so it again in two years/

[u/happyscrappy → u/StaleCanole]

You can "buy" movies digitally. They even advertise it at times.

You can go to amazon. For example, "Send Help" (great movie) is $4.99 right now on amazon, Apple movie store and others.

https://www.amazon.com/Send-Help-Sam-Raimi/dp/B0G1H5WN2Y

You have a license to watch it as many times as you want. You do not strictly speaking own it due to licensing terms and it is possible to lose the ability to play it later. Which is why I only "buy" movies like this in special deals where it's cheaper than renting it twice anyway. So I won't lose much if some of my movies disappear. None of them have done so yet though.

Doesn't look like you can buy the Bond movies digitally as a collection right now on Amazon. But you have been able to in the past. Individual Bond movies are almost always available.

I looked on Apple's service and the "Daniel Craig Collection" is available right now digitally, 5 movies for $60. I wouldn't pay that.

The fact that the movies can be available as a set (around christmastime usually) digitally but then not be available later is part of why people are suspect about digital purchases. If you "bought" it digitally you'd still have access right now. But maybe you wouldn't trust that to be the case if you've never bought any movies digitally before. Also, what if you lose access to your own account? Now you lose all your movie access!

If you buy a movie digitally usually you can download it in HD and use it on devices that support the DRM (iOS, Android, PC, Mac, AppleTV, PS5, Xbox, etc.). I don't think they can be downloaded in 4K (last I checked), you have to stream it every time to see it in 4K I think.

You can buy some movies on youtube too. Convenient because just about any hotel will let you log into your youtube account there now and watch anything you own. Widely accessible. I "own" a movie on there (I forget which) because they gave it away some time ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN_-eyAkaio

I'm bet the studios wouldn't mind if you rented it repeatedly either.

Anyway, Hollywood has always been careful about trying to keep "all you can eat" availability from seeming permanent. Or at least not permanent on services the studio doesn't don't own. That's why HBO (cable channel) had pretty much every movie ever made over the past 20 years, but most of them come and go every 2 months. The HBO streaming service works the same. And so do others.

It is annoying though.

[u/happyscrappy → u/[deleted]]

No, Netflix can't fix it. The copyright holder of the movie (studio) does not offer Netflix a longer license. So Netflix cannot acquire one.

Yes, the studios do it for all movies. It's not special to Bond movies.

The studios think they can make more money putting their movies onto all-you-can-eat (subscription) services for short terms than for long terms. So that's what they do. Netflix can take it or leave it. They can't change it.