I’ll add an additional frustration: Most of these streaming sites (Netflix excepted) aren’t licensed in other countries. And Netflix’s international content is not as good as what you can get in the US. So our choices overseas are either to not watch anything (unacceptable!) or to pirate everything over a VPN. Which is what we do. But it drives me nuts, because surely the lawyers could work out licensing deals in other countries very quickly if the companies cared at all. Which they don’t. So we continue to watch illegally on our VPN.
This is such a great piece - and so true to my experience over the past decade or so, too. Or I mean, it would be, if I pirated television, which I obviously don't because I would be in violation of the 1977 Stockholm INTERPOL thing. I'm glad I randomly restumbled upon your Substack after first seeing it a year ago and then forgetting its name. :P
Two idle thoughts here:
1) I've bought a couple DVDs for recent television shows, and they're so sad compared to even 10 years ago, when they'd be loaded with special features and commentary tracks and easter eggs. Why, for instance, did the DVD of "Madagascar" come with a scavenger hunt that unlocks a penguin-themed Metal Gear Solid for small children? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdluauxG4Ko) No idea. But I get the sense that for a brief moment in the '00s people thought of DVDs as a medium in and of themselves for a while? Hence Scene It! and crap like that.
2) Does widespread piracy mean the end of streamers/channels having their own meaningful brand identities, distinct from IP? Disney+ comes the closest to having one: it's the one geared towards children (and manchildren - apologies to Andor fans). And they can mostly do that because they have the controlling stake in Hulu and can dump their racier stuff there. It's possible that's totally unimportant to the streamers (see: HBO Max losing the "HBO"). But I think it's to, e.g., NBC's benefit that they can make a show like The Good Place that is subtly but deliberately invoking their past forty years of TV history as a metatextual thing. It's hard to imagine Netflix ever doing that.
This is a fantastic piece. You paint a clear picture of the streaming landscape and it’s potential future state. I’ve given up on pirating years ago, but who knows, a pirates like might one day be in store for all of us.
I’ll add an additional frustration: Most of these streaming sites (Netflix excepted) aren’t licensed in other countries. And Netflix’s international content is not as good as what you can get in the US. So our choices overseas are either to not watch anything (unacceptable!) or to pirate everything over a VPN. Which is what we do. But it drives me nuts, because surely the lawyers could work out licensing deals in other countries very quickly if the companies cared at all. Which they don’t. So we continue to watch illegally on our VPN.
This is such a great piece - and so true to my experience over the past decade or so, too. Or I mean, it would be, if I pirated television, which I obviously don't because I would be in violation of the 1977 Stockholm INTERPOL thing. I'm glad I randomly restumbled upon your Substack after first seeing it a year ago and then forgetting its name. :P
Two idle thoughts here:
1) I've bought a couple DVDs for recent television shows, and they're so sad compared to even 10 years ago, when they'd be loaded with special features and commentary tracks and easter eggs. Why, for instance, did the DVD of "Madagascar" come with a scavenger hunt that unlocks a penguin-themed Metal Gear Solid for small children? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdluauxG4Ko) No idea. But I get the sense that for a brief moment in the '00s people thought of DVDs as a medium in and of themselves for a while? Hence Scene It! and crap like that.
2) Does widespread piracy mean the end of streamers/channels having their own meaningful brand identities, distinct from IP? Disney+ comes the closest to having one: it's the one geared towards children (and manchildren - apologies to Andor fans). And they can mostly do that because they have the controlling stake in Hulu and can dump their racier stuff there. It's possible that's totally unimportant to the streamers (see: HBO Max losing the "HBO"). But I think it's to, e.g., NBC's benefit that they can make a show like The Good Place that is subtly but deliberately invoking their past forty years of TV history as a metatextual thing. It's hard to imagine Netflix ever doing that.
I'm not part of this world but you make it vivid.
This is a fantastic piece. You paint a clear picture of the streaming landscape and it’s potential future state. I’ve given up on pirating years ago, but who knows, a pirates like might one day be in store for all of us.