Arrested Development certainly has risk though. It's impossible to pick up where the show left off six years ago.
Hopefully if this succeeds Netflix will consider following up by reviving Better Off Ted. A similar, critically acclaimed, and more recent show with actors that seem generally available.
I have to disagree with this, Firefly is not the type of show Netflix should be focusing on. They need shows with low production costs with broad - lowest common denominator appeal. Expensive shows catering to a niche market (which they pretty much already have captured) is not what they're trying to do here.
There's a few ways they can go, sitcoms and short form comedies are going to be much more profitable for them at this point so Better off Ted is a much better fit.
Then there's the Showtime/HBO premium market (which folks are already paying for as a premium service). But even here I think they'd play it safe short term - more Sopranos and True Blood type mass appeal then Boardwalk Empire and The Wire (both are great, but much more focused market).
For the first few episodes, each main character is going to get a recap episode of what they've been up to.
(Now my personal opinion:) Of couse, the other characters are going to show up but I think it's a very original catching up if they do it from each character's perspective. It will allow for a deeper understanding of their world and when they bring things back into a meld it will be that much more funny because of the conflicts set up in the first few episodes.
They won't. Their days are numbered.
Building the future is hard and it's messy. Netflix has been taking it on the chin this year as they've passed through a really rough patch.
In the end, though, I'd put money on Netflix existing in 2020 before I would any given broadcast network. TV is dead.
Netflix is trying to redefine distribution. They're not going to win by placating the dinosaurs of distribution's past. If the Arrested Development deal works out, production companies may see that they have new options for financing their projects and might get better opportunities to reach an audience than they'd ever get on TV.
So it's simple: take the issue by the balls and control your destiny or bow and scrape before moronic suits who don't understand technology, hoping and praying that they won't change their minds each time a licensing deal expires.
Netflix's streaming isn't more innovative and Google's streaming or Amazon's streaming. Netflix's advantage used to be to get people DVDs cheaply and quickly. That's not an advantage to take them into the future. Unless they can find a way to stream movies cheaper than Amazon I don't see how they can survive as an independent.
I think Microsoft should buy Netflix and B&N to compete with Apple, Amazon, and Google in the tablet/content space. As an independent company they are dead in the water.
EDIT: fixed typos
Someone is going to have to deal with the question of live sports coverage, somehow, before this can happen.
And I think the thread they're picking up with AD is perfect -- just imagine all of those long-lost fan favorites like Firefly, AD, and now Community getting picked up and streamed on Netflix in a climate where the show's creators are at least theoretically given freedom from network meddling (not to mention the much more realistic "ratings" that would be possible like this). I may even pay for that, and I almost never watch TV and generally hate it, but if Netflix cultivated all of the great content that the mainstream networks regularly threw away, they'd definitely have a much brighter outlook.
The problem I see potentially arising out of this is the conflict of interest for cable companies as online streaming continues to override cable TV viewership. With Netflix picking up shows that had initially been considered by premium cable networks like HBO or Showtime, how much interest will Comcast have in keeping pricing for internet access out of the ridiculous ranges and varied pacakges of cable television?
This is what the future will be - then somebody just needs to figure out how to get Netflix, Amazon et al to work together so that consumers don't pay multiple subscription fees.
This is why the Netflix stock price went so high - because so many analysts wrote reports about how Netflix is new media, and it may well be.
tl;dr networks = dead
And it's not like Netflix isn't willing to pay. Netflix paid $30 million per movie for exclusive early access with Dreamworks. Previously HBO held the contract for only $20 million per movie [3].
Media companies are just telling Netflix to flat out screw off or at best pay a ridiculous sum that nobody else would be expected to pay. Each one has a different threshold. HBO has zero tolerance. Starz had quite a bit up to a point. But eventually they all put on the brakes to keep Netflix in check.
[1] http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2011/03/netflix-locks-down...
[2] http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/23/cbs-will-remove-some-showtime-...
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/business/media/netflix-sec...
Its not much harder to capture netflix than any other live show.
You can buy $100 capture cards and record live gaming. DRM isnt an issue since you dont even need to crack the source.
If Ron Howard wants to throw up a donation button somewhere for all us internationals I'll gladly chip in though :)
I suspect you are right, but I sure as hell hope you are not.
It's Europe, where netflix hasn't launched yet, that is left in the cold.
I hope that the programs they produce will be free of advertising.
Agreed. They should be, right?
Nothing annoys me more than paying for a movie ticket and sitting through 10 minutes of commercials before a film.*
I would hope after the customer backlash over the pricing change that Netflix will be smart enough to stay away from commercials.
* Drivers who camp out in the left lane annoy me slightly more. "Stay right except to pass."
A month of Netflix costs much less than a single movie ticket. Sometimes I wonder how they manage to keep the subscription rate so low without advertising.
Till they keep screwing people outside of US, I'll head over to the torrents.
As much as you'd like to believe that a niche group of American viewers alone convinced the creators that furthering the show would be a good idea, that's just not true.
EDIT: Other sources seem to be indicating that it will indeed be exclusive.
Might end up just downloading it. Not waiting if they decide to screw over Canada.
We can't get Netflix here.
