Streaming Services (business / market / service, not content-focused)

[Rhom]

On the one hand, I do completely understand why Netflix is doing it.  My step-daughter and her friends pass around online passwords with each other like a disease.

On the other hand, Mormont is absolutely correct that "household" is not defined as clearly as they would like.  

I will readily admit that we don't use the password the way it is intended.  My dad uses my password (and good on him!  Teaching a 76 year old who lives in a place that is lucky to even have DSL internet wasn't easy!!!) and I know that is outside the parameters of what I agreed to with the subscriber TOS.  It just feels like there is a more readily accessible middle ground that should be sought.  

I do routinely go more than 30 days without logging in, and I hate it when I have to use my password again with a service out of the blue.  So I anticipate it will be a hassle.  Will it be enough for me to cancel?  We will have to wait and see.

[kairparavel]

They really need to go 'family plan' like cell phone service. Up x devices per plan. Need more devices? Here's our next tier. 

One thing about sharing passwords is that the cost of the service is seldom shared. I share my password with you, but are you sharing the $10.49*/month with me? 

That's my Paramount subscription. Naturally other services have other pricing.

[mormont]

59 minutes ago, Rhom said:

On the other hand, Mormont is absolutely correct that "household" is not defined as clearly as they would like.  

It's defined very clearly. That's not the problem. The problem is, it's defined as one physical location, and that is a, not the definition of a 'household', b, not the definition used by Netflix up to now, and c, not a workable definition for providing the service customers want even if nobody shared a password ever again.

Customers of streaming services want that service to be attached to them, not to one physical location.

44 minutes ago, kairparavel said:

They really need to go 'family plan' like cell phone service. Up x devices per plan. Need more devices? Here's our next tier.

They do this now and will continue to do it. It's additional to the physical location. If you want to use two devices in one household (in future, in one physical location), you pay extra.

Edited February 2, 2023 by mormont

[Rhom]

45 minutes ago, kairparavel said:

They really need to go 'family plan' like cell phone service. Up x devices per plan. Need more devices? Here's our next tier. 

One thing about sharing passwords is that the cost of the service is seldom shared. I share my password with you, but are you sharing the $10.49*/month with me? 

That's my Paramount subscription. Naturally other services have other pricing.

Nah, usually someone is freeloading.

[Rhom]

7 minutes ago, mormont said:

It's defined very clearly. That's not the problem. The problem is, it's defined as one physical location, and that is a, not the definition of a 'household', b, not the definition used by Netflix up to now, and c, not a workable definition for providing the service customers want even if nobody shared a password ever again.

Customers of streaming services want that service to be attached to them, not to one physical location.

When I had DirectTV Now as my streaming service, they were limited to just two simultaneous log ins.  (I now have YouTube TV with five.)  Feels like the better way to limit this would be to limit how many can be on at once to something like two at a time.  With an option for a nominal fee to add an extra "line."

That would probably hit most "households" just fine.  

[Derfel Cadarn]

On 1/27/2023 at 2:40 PM, Heartofice said:

It is actually very interesting just how popular something like this is with children. It's incredibly simplistic, the songs are bad and annoying, the animation jarring.. but it taps into kids minds like nothing else. It's hypnotising to them.

It certainly has made my life easier.

Certainly useful when wife is backshift and I need to prepare child’s dinner, do dishes, run bath and skip youtube adverts. Simultaneously.

Tho she moved on mostly to the Coconelon rip-offs, to weird Russian-American familes, to Peppa Pig.

Wharever crap is on youtube. While uninterested in the entire Disney library available through Disney+

Edited February 2, 2023 by Derfel Cadarn

[mormont]

2 hours ago, Rhom said:

When I had DirectTV Now as my streaming service, they were limited to just two simultaneous log ins.  (I now have YouTube TV with five.)  Feels like the better way to limit this would be to limit how many can be on at once to something like two at a time.  With an option for a nominal fee to add an extra "line."

That would probably hit most "households" just fine.  

Again, Netflix already do this. They just decided it wasn't enough, and that they need to lock your account to one address too.

[Heartofice]

14 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Certainly useful when wife is backshift and I need to prepare child’s dinner, do dishes, run bath and skip youtube adverts. Simultaneously.

Tho she moved on mostly to the Coconelon rip-offs, to weird Russian-American familes, to Peppa Pig.

Wharever crap is on youtube. While uninterested in the entire Disney library available through Disney+

Hahaha. I feel exactly the same. We have Disney plus and Netflix, yet they are not interested in that when they can just watch hours of unboxing crappy cheap toys on YouTube , or  some horrible spoilt kids living in UAE playing with their millions of toys. 
 

Maybe I would have enjoyed this crap when I was a kid but I doubt it.

[Heartofice]

I’m not sure I understand exactly what this change means for different devices. Of course I have Netflix on my phone and maybe I go away for a weekend and I watch a movie or something? Does the new rules change this? Do I regularly need to verify the device in a certain location? 

[Rhom]

1 hour ago, Heartofice said:

I’m not sure I understand exactly what this change means for different devices. Of course I have Netflix on my phone and maybe I go away for a weekend and I watch a movie or something? Does the new rules change this? Do I regularly need to verify the device in a certain location? 

My reading is that this is exactly right. You need to log in while physically at home periodically on your phone.

[Corvinus85]

I tried to get my parents on Netflix, but they haven't used it that much so not a big deal there. The problem is going to be when I go to their house, or as mentioned, when traveling somewhere and wish to login on a hotel smart TV or my mobile device. I consider this move by Netflix piss-poor management. Unlike credit card companies who used to block expenditures when you were somewhere else to protect you, the consumer, along with them, Netflix is doing this to protect just their pockets.

Anyway, Netlfix has been on my streaming rotation for a while now, as I only watch about 5-10% of their content. (currently not subscribed)

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

3 hours ago, Rhom said:

My reading is that this is exactly right. You need to log in while physically at home periodically on your phone.

What if I watch Netflix on my TV's app?

[BigFatCoward]

8 hours ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Certainly useful when wife is backshift and I need to prepare child’s dinner, do dishes, run bath and skip youtube adverts. Simultaneously.

Tho she moved on mostly to the Coconelon rip-offs, to weird Russian-American familes, to Peppa Pig.

Wharever crap is on youtube. While uninterested in the entire Disney library available through Disney+

The day when that changes is a good day.  The first time i got my daughter to sit through the whole of Moana was a fucking joy. 

[john]

2 hours ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

What if I watch Netflix on my TV's app?

Then your TV will define your main location. The location is either set by the account holder or Netflix detects it based on activity. Then any other devices on the same network have to log in once a month (launch the app and, according to some news sources, actually watch something).

If you’re travelling and using a device that hasn’t logged in then you can access with a verification code sent to your account contact details.

So it’s not really a problem for account holders (well, if you watch through a VPN I suppose you can’t do that anymore) but for kids living away from home you’d need access to the verification code and for people at a further remove it would probably be too awkward to log in anymore.

My brother in law uses our account but if he can’t get access he’s definitely not going to buy Netflix, he’s just going to download what he wants to watch from somewhere.

[Derfel Cadarn]

2 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

The day when that changes is a good day.  The first time i got my daughter to sit through the whole of Moana was a fucking joy. 

Tried her with thr Lion King, Aladdin and Toy Story last year. Not much interest.

Tried her with the live action Lion King, thinking the talking real animals(!) would amaze her. Got to thr hyenas and she asked for Baby JJ :/

[Rhom]

3 hours ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Tried her with thr Lion King, Aladdin and Toy Story last year. Not much interest.

Tried her with the live action Lion King, thinking the talking real animals(!) would amaze her. Got to thr hyenas and she asked for Baby JJ :/

I don't know what the difference is, but even before he had access to a tablet or anything like that, my son wouldn't sit through a full movie.  When he was little, we'd watch the opening scene of Cars where Life is a Highway is playing and as soon as the music stopped and Lightning is dumped on the side of the road, he lost all interest.  We'd watch Tangled up to the bar scene where they sing I've Got a Dream and then as soon as the flooded canyon hits, he'd turn to me and say "I dream daddy."  And I would go back to the DVD chapter for the bar...

Meanwhile, my stepdaughter who is seven years older would sit and watch Dumbo and other movies from start to finish over and over and over.  

He's 12 now and I still struggle to get him to sit through an entire movie.  Asking him to watch something with his mom and me is like asking if he wants to be strapped into a torture rack.   

[Luzifer's right hand]

Netflix is just far too expensive for a single user I feel. The lack of 4K for the single user plan just means that I will get rid of it if they go through with it. I could add apple+, paramount+ and something else for what they charge here for the 4 user/4k plan and those don't gatekeep the higher resolutions.

[Derfel Cadarn]

3 hours ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

Netflix is just far too expensive for a single user I feel. The lack of 4K for the single user plan just means that I will get rid of it if they go through with it. I could add apple+, paramount+ and something else for what they charge here for the 4 user/4k plan and those don't gatekeep the higher resolutions.

Kids today…

I still recall sitting engrossed with my parents through the original Star Wars on TV (video rental maybe) when I was 5

[Luzifer's right hand]

1 hour ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Kids today…

I still recall sitting engrossed with my parents through the original Star Wars on TV (video rental maybe) when I was 5

Tales of the last millennium are always amusing.

[Corvinus85]

So apparently Netflix's new policy is only applicable in Costa Rica, Chile, and Peru. The news about the change to this policy hadn't been meant to be published elsewhere. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/feb/02/netflix-accidentally-posts-guidelines-for-cracking-down-on-password-sharing

Of course, we all know that's what they'd like to do everywhere.