Netflix/TiVo deal is dead

« Welcome to apps.tv | Main | TiVo launches a blog! »

Netflix/TiVo deal is dead

This morning on Engadget, they carried news that Netflix “indefinitely postponed” their online movie download service due to licensing rights that just about everyone pointed out was going to be an issue (when the rumors started a year ago, that was my first thought). After hearing the news today I wondered "what about the TiVo/Netflix deal?" and Dave got the scoop from Netflix's conference call about it: the TiVo/Netflix deal sounds quite dead.

It's a shame we won't be seeing this, because we have the technology right now to let people watch movies over the internet, streamed down to their TVs instead of having to waste time, energy, and effort mailing out a bunch of plastic discs. But once again, the best interests of copyright holders doesn't mesh with the best interests of their customers. I knew getting studios to agree to movie streaming was a longshot, but I'm surprised they helped kill the project before it ever got a chance to debut. Who knows how popular it could have been and how much revenue Netflix, TiVo, and the movie studios could have made from it.

by Matt Haughey October 20, 2005 in News

Comments

The studios are just waiting until the P2P movie download rush forces them to act. Between 2003 and today 50 million people have downloaded BitTorrent clients. it will not be long until we hear how "horrible" these pirates are, and they try to sue the tens of thousands that could have been their customers.

Dozens of plans for internet delivery of video are being presented to content owners. Maybe some Microsoft/TelCo vaporware has been out bidding NetFlix/TiVo.

One sure thing is that internet video is already here. No way to stop it.

Posted by: TiVoLater at Oct 21, 2005 6:47:45 AM

Green Cine, the Netflix art house competitor, makes quite a few movies made by indies available as divx downloads. I wonder if they have any tivo plans in the pipeline.

Posted by: akb at Oct 21, 2005 6:50:11 AM

I have to agree with akb. It seems like there is a lot of alternative video out there that TiVo could tap into. I guess the only downside is that most of it isn't compelling enough for someone to pay for it. But it would certainly give TiVo the opportunity to fine tune the downloading capabilities for a time when the studios are ready to jump in!

Posted by: tedbill at Oct 21, 2005 9:54:39 AM

That is so ridiculous. They had a system where they could've delivered movies directly to the TV from the internet through a relatively closed system. Tivo definitely could have made it so that you won't be able to download it to your computer easily.

They are definitely stuck in their business model and unwilling to change which will lead them to more P2P piracy.

Posted by: Johnie at Oct 21, 2005 11:04:20 AM

This is totally a control issue, the IP owners don't like this type of setup because they don't own enough of the pieces and thus can't maximally screw everyone out of enough extra money. They rather wait until they can run the table and take take money from everyone at every step.

Dam shame, maybe will see this on Vista though through MCE. I'll site Akimbo coming to mce on the 25th as example.

Posted by: Griffon at Oct 21, 2005 11:25:38 AM

I made a number of comments over here: http://www.livejournal.com/community/tivolovers/212332.html

Posted by: MegaZone at Oct 21, 2005 2:54:36 PM

I don't understand this development. Today, I can go to www.movielink.com rent a movie and then have that movie delivered to my laptop. Then I have to take my laptop and hook it up to my TV with the RCA cords to watch the rented movie on my big screen. I would love it if TIVO said forget NetFlix and go right to movielink.com and say he let's work out a deal. I will be more than happy to rent movies... Regards, Gary Shelton

PS. Long live TIVO

Posted by: Gary Shelton at Oct 21, 2005 4:16:18 PM

So why can Apple pull this off and not Netflix?
http://www.apple.com/itunes/videos/

Posted by: Jeff Macdonald at Oct 21, 2005 4:31:15 PM

Gary, couldn't you use tivo's remote viewing capabilities to watch your movielink movies?

Posted by: Susan Carley Oliver at Oct 25, 2005 4:25:18 PM

I think this blog is dead.

Posted by: Tyson at Oct 26, 2005 1:10:38 PM

"Apple could do it" because, as Steve Jobs noted at the publicity event debuting iPod video, Steve knows Disney (since he's the CEO for Pixar) and Disney owns indirectly (via ABC) the shows that are available at this time.

Posted by: Dave Smiley at Oct 29, 2005 9:05:19 PM

I know plenty of people who continue to pirate movies even before they come out in theaters. My dad is 64 and copies more Netflix movies than he watches. My brother downloads every feature film the minute it hits the pirate bit-torrent networks. There's a huge hassle involved with this pirating, but it's not a hurdle millions aren't willing to jump. Now how much easier would it be if you could get unlimited movies for $10/month delivered to your high-def TV over your broadband internet connection? You enter your movie titles, letter by letter, and select the film(s) you want to view tonight. Hit download and it is delivered to your local hard disk, encrypted and all that jazz. At the point where you can get as many movies as you want for $10/month, you won't _want_ to go through the hassle of pirating them. Why? What's the point when you have every movie you'll ever want at your fingertips?

I claim that if you deliver movies on demand for a flat reasonable fee (again, $10/month), you'll see a LOT of those pirates becoming customers. It's fun to pirate movies when you're younger, but when you're older it's so much easier to get the 10 extra miles on your credit card and click one button to have your movie delivered to your home theater system.

Posted by: Van Wilder at Nov 10, 2005 9:51:47 AM

It's because big media has lost touch. They don't care what people want, and thusly, some of them are losing money. Others aren't making what they could and should. It's pathetic.

Posted by: Becky at Jan 1, 2006 7:05:44 PM

Netflix/TiVo deal is dead

Comments

Post a Comment

On this site

Recent Comments

Advertising