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Comment by assblaster | Hacker News Reader

I think long term, Netflix needs redundancy, especially when the primary supplier is a competitor in the same space.

Perhaps long term, that would be an issue. But short term and even medium term, I don't see Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube Red as competition. Their real competition is cable/satellite and as long as Netflix helps round out a cord-cutting bundle that convinces people to ditch cable, it's a net benefit to Google/Amazon. And as cable dies, especially given the recent FCC direction, you can expect them to start to play more games with the internet connections they also provide to customers. I think Google and Amazon realize that Netflix will be much more sympathetic in that fight than either of them will be. So it makes sense for Amazon/Google to support Netflix as much as possible so they can use them as a proxy in the upcoming fight against the cable companies.

Honest question - is Amazon really seen as a competitor here? Every time I've attempted to use Prime video, I'd scurried away terrified of their awful ui. I guess it's hard to gauge subscribers since it's 'thrown in', but I'd be curious to know how many people really use the service.

I use Amazon Video constantly now that Netflix is mostly/hugely populated with Netflix Originals only.

Not even that, but because Amazon has a history of not playing nice!

Google also may have a competing service if they ever figure out what they want YouTube Red to be.

Cobra Kai is a pretty good example of the future of YouTube Red: actual Hollywood talent and directors, instead of YouTube stars with higher production values.

I'm as much a fan of Karate Kid as the next guy, but calling both Johnny and Daniel-san 'hollywood talent' is questionable. I'd not seen either of them in anything from Hollywood since the 1989 Karate Kid part 3

If they ever figure out what they want any of their products to be...

Yeah. It might only be a matter of time until, to avoid "customer confusion", Amazon decides to no longer have Amazon services provide things to Netflix customers?

No one would dare try to sell a set top box in the US that didn't support Netflix.

And the standing problem now is that their secondary supplier they're considering is also a competitor in the same space. It's a wonder Netflix isn't testing the waters against Azure, since Microsoft just closed their video sales offerings down.

Microsoft pulled out of the music space, they're still selling & renting movies/shows and content services are a core feature of azure. Netflix uses its own POPS for of its content delivery.

Ah yes, I mixed that up. :/ Though who rents movies from Microsoft? And they don't have a subscription-based service for it, like both Amazon and Google do.

Xbox owners.

I rent movies and tv shows from Microsoft all the time. They have some great sales.

Isn't it better to be in bed with your competitor so as to have a solid claim against being declared a monopoly?

Depending on the details, that could be considered a trust and then you'd be in the same boat as if you were declared a monopoly.

Couldn’t YouTube also be seen as a competitor?

Original YouTube content is really not a huge part of YouTube's offerings. Even if it were a larger component, Google wouldn't jeopardize a large hosting account just to score points against a competitor.

Amazon, on the other hand, will partner and make nice with competitors until they're ready to abandon them. Amazon is planning on supplanting FedEx and UPS and already has its own fleet of cargo planes. Amazon is great for business until they decide they don't need you anymore.

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