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Netflix planning multiple-stream accounts

Netflix has announced plans for a new subscription plan for multi-user households. Set to be available later this year, the new plans will allow streams of content to multiple devices within the house.

As Netflix has become more and more ubiquitous, more multi-user homes have been subscribing, causing headaches all around. Families have had to purchase hybrid Blu-ray Discs in order to provide individual user account access.

Personally, I have a stream on my PlayStation 3 and one on my MacBook simultaneously. It’s only an issue with two non-browser devices.

This isn’t a new concept for Netflix. They have offered multiple DVD queues so my wife and I could have separate queues. It seems like a no-brainer to just provide a user setting.

But it’s not so simple. The new plans will have new pricing structures. So if there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s Netflix still doesn’t care about the customer.

Netflix original programming: they’re on to something good

The online streaming behemoth Netflix has recently forayed into new territory: exclusive, original programming. With content licensing fees continuing to climb and cable networks frightened of Netflix cannibalizing their bread and butter (pay TV subscriptions), Netflix has been prudent to explore alternative content acquisition options.

It’s no doubt that creating good content can be a pricey proposition, but if you requisition your own content, you get the bonus of exclusive availability, with the content only being available to Netflix customers. This situation, in effect, puts Netflix head to head with other entities seeking content, such as the cable TV networks. Netflix is even outbidding some of these networks on acquiring the rights to this new exclusive content.

I was intrigued and curious about the new exclusive content, so I checked out Netflix’s first offering, the show “Lilyhammer”.

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Kaleidescape to release online retail store

Kaleidescape has been under the gun on the legal front lately, and they’ve also been beaten up by online streaming services too. The former problem is up to the court system of California, but Kaleidescape is tackling the latter by getting in on their own online retail store. The store will be accessed at store.kaleidescape.com.

The details are not in yet. All I know so far is that the storefront is being tested for release soon. But based on my knowledge of Kaleidescape Systems, I think I can make some safe predictions.

Kaleidescape is a very emphatic supporter of owning content. I can assume with great certainty that the store will provide purchases of movie titles which will be stored on the local hard drive of the Kaleidescape System.

The service will probably have the same limitations Amazon and Vudu has as it relates to obtaining titles. A few new titles will be available, but most of them will be lesser-known catalog titles.

The video quality will be high-def, and the cost will be slightly more than a similar purchase from Vudu.

I’ll have more information on this online storefront soon.

Hulu may require cable subscription authentication

With all this talk about cutting the cable subscription out of our lives for good, the cable conglomerates seem to be trying to claw back some of that business. The New York Post has reported that Hulu may require users to authenticate their accounts to prove they’re a paying TV subscriber of cable or satellite.

This change would follow a larger trend asking for consumers to authenticate their subscriptions. Recently, NCAA March Madness was available online only to cable subscribers. Cable operators have also been pushing a new model that would provide “TV Everywhere” (as Comcast calls it) as long as you pay for your cable subscription on top of your internet package. Comcast is expected to use this model with the upcoming Olympic Games, and they’re in talks with media providers such as Fox to bring more content to TV Everywhere.

The cable operators are very powerful forces holding natural monopolies in many markets. They’ve been lobbying Congress to allow them to throttle certain web content to the end user, or sell these channels as an add on deal to the internet. Over the past decade, cable operators have been quickly turning into internet service providers while the cable subscriptions have been fading. Instead of adapting to the new reality, they’re trying to hold onto their cable profits and also take internet profits.

Time Warner Cable and Comcast have asked to sell tiers of service where basic internet is one price, but accessing unlimited streams of video from Hulu or Netflix would be premium services much like HBO, Starz and Showtime are for cable television. There has been immense consumer push back on that idea, not to mention from Silicon Valley who sees it as a way to squash innovation and kill upstart companies. This new move to require authentication seems like a backdoor approach, requiring their subscribers to pay for a cable service they otherwise wouldn’t get in order to receive the content over the internet that is also available on cable television.

I don’t want to seem alarmist. All of the inside sources indicate this migration for Hulu would take years to implement, and then may only provide different levels of service – perhaps providing TV shows just after air date for authenticated subscribers, and a longer wait time for unauthenticated subscribers.

Hulu is a joint partnership between NBCUniversal (owned by Comcast), News Corporation (parent of Fox), The Walt Disney Company (parent of ABC), and Providence Equity Partners. Providence Equity Partners has asked the other partners to purchase their shares for $200 million recently. While the buyout of NBC by Comcast came with restrictions concerning Hulu, the negotiating between content providers and cable operators has grown increasingly tense in the previous several years as subscriber fees have fallen and content owners ask for greater retransmission payments while ad revenue is also falling.

Business requires risk, and these companies are simply looking to minimize risk. Of course they could just put pilot seasons on Kickstarter and fund new show development off of niche audiences (seriously, if that happens I hope I get my royalties).

Internet connected TVs now in 38% of households

We have previously talked about replacing cable or satellite television with internet streaming on-access video. While the majority of households aren’t ready to replace their traditional television service, new research from the Leightman Research Group has found that 38% of households are now streaming video to their TV via the internet. This is up from 24% just two years ago.

The most commonly used device for video streaming is a video game system, totaling 28% of households. (That’s how I deliver internet video to my TV.) Only 1% of households use Roku or Apple TV, while 4% use internet-capable TVs.

Netflix is far-and-away the leader in streaming video, with 35% of Netflix subscribers streaming video from the Internet weekly – totaling 16% of all adults, compared to 5% weekly use among all non-Netflix subscribers. Two year ago, only 4% of adults used Netflix’s Watch Instantly.

So is America ready to cut their cable? Not quite. Only 13% of Netflix subscribers would consider cancelling their TV provider, which is down from 21% last year.

Have you cancelled your television provider?

I have cancelled my provider. The reasons are varied, but came mainly through life changes in the form of three preschool-aged children. I don’t have time to watch very much television anymore, so it was a waste of money to continue paying for a service I don’t use. And the shows I enjoy watching the most are available on Hulu, Amazon or Netflix, so I can watch on my computer or through my PlayStation 3.

I haven’t felt like I’ve missed out on current TV programs at all. I’ve kept up with all the new episodes of the shows I love: House, White Collar, Fringe, and 30 Rock are all on Hulu. Mad Men and The Walking Dead are available on Amazon for a charge, but combined are much less than a cable subscription. Netflix provides me with past shows I’ve missed further out, and more movies than I can shake a stick at so I can’t really complain about the lack of choices. Generally, new releases are something I want to see in the theater anyway, and if they’re not I don’t need to watch them right away.

But the biggest advantage I’ve had using Netflix instead of cable is for the children. Netflix has a children’s menu that allows my kids to pick which shows they want to watch, and there are no commercials and they don’t have to tune in on the top of the hour. They’re so spoiled in this regard that when watching normal broadcast TV they get upset when a commercial breaks in, and they start asking to watch their show.

As far as live events, I’m not much of a sports guy, but I do watch the occasional football or soccer game over-the-air with rabbit ears.

I own a 46″ Sony HDTV powered by Google TV. I love having the web on my HDTV and I love being able to control my TV with my Android smartphone. Google TV is great, it has a lot of potential, but it’s just not fully polished, even after the latest major overhaul that upgraded it to a new version of Android.

My experience this past weekend is a typical example of how Google TV just doesn’t have its act quite together.

While using my smartphone, I often see an interesting video posted on Facebook or Twitter. If the video sounds interesting enough for me to watch, I’ll typically send the video link to my Google TV using the “Share with Google TV Remote” option on my Android device. This works great for “beaming” video content to the big screen in our living room.

I tried this twice this weekend, and both times, I got a big fail from Google TV.

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Trouble in Amazon Prime membership-land

If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you probably know all about unlimited Prime Instant videos. If not, here’s your wake-up call: you’re missing out on tons of awesome movie, television & documentary film content that’s available to you for free as part of a paid Amazon Prime membership.

When Prime Instant videos first launched, it essentially fell into my lap as I was already an Amazon Prime subscriber for the 2 day shipping benefits. More recently, I’ve found that I don’t really need Amazon Prime for the shipping benefits, as they have a warehouse here in Phoenix and I get deliveries from them very quickly, with or without Prime 2 day shipping. With that in mind, the Prime membership is really only valuable to me now for the additional benefits; unlimited Prime Instant videos, Kindle book loans and other such perks.

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