streaming

Well At Least It’s Done And Quiet

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

I’ve discovered some interesting “minichannels” online, New Ellijay and Retrostrange.  New Ellijay serves a local town as well as carries various shows and music.  Retrostrange digs into weird films, instructional videos, and more.  Both also carry old films and serials that are easy to get ahold of and broadcast due to being public domain, etc.

I find such things interesting because old and historical and odd media fascinate me.  However something else struck me about watching old movies and long-ago-ended television series.

They’re done.

The movies will not be part of a gigantic sprawling cinematic universe that both requires a flowchart and requires you to navigate angry fans wanting a director’s cut.  Oh they might get remade or something, but they’re done.

The television shows are over.  They’re not going to continue forever.  They’re not going to jump from streaming service to streaming service with their future uncertain.  You know what you’re getting, even if it’s frustrated at a sudden stop.

(My friends who are on a Columbo marathon probably appreciate this).

Right now in an age of remakes, cinematic universes, reboots, streaming-jumping, and more knowing something is finished is a great comfort.  You’re getting a certain predetermined experience then you can go on – you can even check online info to find what you’re getting into.

They’re also not being hyped.

You’re not listening to endless commentary about these old shows and films – unless you run into an obsessive fan.  You’re not facing trailers of trailers to remind you of trailers.  There’s no breathless news and updates about the properties dropping into your social media.

It’s refreshing to see things that aren’t being endlessly tossed against my consciousness like fastballs.

I get the other benefits of these channels and other services with older, “finished” properties.  It’s not just history and culture and curiosity, it’s a lack of some very annoying elements of our culture.

Steven Savage

Verizon to take on Netflix

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The Gauntlet has been thrown: Verizon is building a Netflix competitor.

OK I'm skeptical – at this rate the competition is ramping up – but it sounds like they've got a focused plan (movies and kids' shows) and remember they've also got a presence on the new XBox.  So it's not unreasonable – and like Game Stores, it seems we're oddly at a place where people would rather launch a redundant service than miss out.

Takeaways:

  • Netflix is vulnerable, and I think their response will actually be internationalization.
  • OnLive is somewhere in all of this mess, with giant streaming system NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT.
  • Verizon has a big "captive audience" they can leverage (and more with XBox).
  • Verizon is going to have to hire/employ people to do this – which may mean jobs.  If others jump in on this, more jobs.
  • People are still talking big, not small content.  I'm concerned smaller producers may get squeezed out.

(Oh and side note to Netflix CEO Hastings – do not compare yourself to Bank of America.  Man, I'm starting to feel my faith in Netflix is misplaced – but not enough to suggest you look elsewhere for work.)

– Steven Savage

Video Companies: What Keeps You On Top – Or Off The Bottom?

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We've been discussing the video wars here (part of the Everything Wars) for quite some time–indeed it seems we started pretty much around the blogs founding. Now, years later, though Netflix still dominates all there are quite a few services – Hulu, Vudu, Amazon.com, possibly even Facebook, and so on.  It seems a lot of people want a piece of the video market, even if they're not quite sure why, how, or what they want.

Now, as noted, Netflix still dominates, and if I may say, rightly so – they've been at this for years and did a good job.  But nothing is forever and there's a lot of competition, lots of current and future legal battles, and always the chance for people to do stupid or smart things.

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