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Comment by cylinder | Hacker News Reader

Do you remember how new releases were $5 at Blockbuster? In the 1990s? I don't see why you expect unlimited new releases to now stream to you for $8/month. If you want to stream a new movie, you have to pay for it. The physical DVD wasn't the expensive part of the $5, it was the content.

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Of the AFI's top 100 movies of the last 100 years, only 14 are on Netflix. It's not the new releases I'm worried about.

I can't find a list cross-referenced with Amazon's catalog and I'm not going to do it myself right now, but I suspect the success rate is similar. I'd love to see data on this.

It used to be complete overlap [1], I don't think it's that way anymore but Amazon is still worse by a lot.

[1] Circa Sep 2012: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YEwtLdSs6cc/UFUeVg1WMiI/AAAAAAAAAA...

Netflix already has my credit card, why not Netflix "on demand" for U$ 5 for new releases?

I can't believe they're not trying to secure this already.

If you want to stream a new movie, you have to pay for it.

How exactly do I do that?

By paying more for it than all you can eat for $8/month on Netflix. Want a brand new movie that just came out on DVD via streaming tonight? Pony up and pay $15 to buy it digitally, or $8 to rent it via on demand etc.

IE: Brand new content is more expensive and always will be.

He didn't say why, he said how. Do you know somewhere I can pay $15 to download or stream new release movies?

http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/ondemand

http://www.dish.com/entertainment/vod/

http://www.directv.com/technology/on_demand

http://www.amazon.com/s?rh=n%3A2858905011%2Cp_drm_rights%3AR...

http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/xbox-video/buying-and...

http://us.playstation.com/playstation-store/moviestv/

http://www.apple.com/itunes/charts/movies/

I just looked at a random new release DVD - "We're The Millers" - in iTunes in Australia (the only one of the above options that seems available to us downunder) and the buy price (HD movie) of $29.99 is more expensive than the physical disc from a local retailer: http://www.jbhifionline.com.au/dvd/newreleasedvd.htm ($24.98)

$6.99 rent price is substantially cheaper if you only want to watch it once though I guess.

Not sure if GP meant "new release movie" as in still in cinemas as opposed to "new release DVD"

To take this further... Why are we stuck in this business model?

if i can watch action movies on a 20 feet screen with a $100k audio system for $8 to $12 at my local theater, why would i want to watch it on choppy netflix on my cheap tv a lame stereo?

people who download that don't care much about the movie. they would be watching commercials on cable tv and be likely entertained. there is no sale lost to the studios there.

the lost sales are people looking for classics or hard to find titles. and those are hard to find in pirate sites, and nowhere to be found on netflix, amazon.

edit: the comment from ChuckMcM bellow describe why that happens.

Because you might be married with kids?

Spending $100 on a night out after hiring a baby-sitter vs an evening after the kid's 8PM bed-time spending $5 to $10 at home in front of my nice speakers and 60" TV? When I've got to wake up at 6AM in the morning to get the kids to day-care?

Maybe you'd look down on it, but yeah, Married With Children is a big market, and a legit reason not to want to spend several times the price going out to a theatre where there's a good chance other obnoxious viewers will sour the experience anyways. I never have to worry about that at home.

Also, I can pause the movie, not miss anything, and take a bathroom break. Or let the dog out. Or get a drink.

Reading the rest of your comment I'm not really sure what you're trying to argue for/against.

I don't have access to streaming movies, but I imagine it has to do with the fact that the movie going experience has deteriorated over the years. I for one really like the big screen as well, but the projection quality in theaters is not seldom poor. I can also see that people are fed up with the smell of nachos and fake-butter popcorn in the theater, with overpriced drinks, with others making phone calls during the movie, or spoil your experience in other ways.

Now, luckily, this doesn't happen every single time, and the movies I like usually have a more adult crowd. But I do fancy the testosterone-ridden braindead Hollywood blockbuster every now and then too, and then I can see why some people would enjoy watching a movie in the privacy of their home more than in the theater.

Plus, you can pause when you have to go to the fridge :-)

Blockbuster did that price with brick and mortar stores and a limited number of my physical copies of a movie. Netflix has lower operating costs and an unlimited number of downloads it can make available to customers, so they don't need to buy in 100 copies of a film which will be next to useless after 2 weeks.

Near the end, Blockbuster was getting the new release DVDs literally for free from the studios in return for a piece of the revenue.

New Release rentals became another line item in a movie's total income.

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