Streaming giant Netflix announced it had hit an important number the other day. As Andrew Wallenstein of Varietyreports:
Netflix reported 29.17 million domestic subscribers in the first quarter of 2013, surpassing HBO for the first time.
Netflix, which ended 2012 with 27.15 million domestic subs, added just over 2 million subs, according to first quarter results issued Monday.
HBO ended 2012 with 28.7 million subscribers, according to data from SNL Kagan.
With HBO’s popular Game of Thrones series the most pirated show of all time, seems like a stand-alone streaming service like Netflix provides is a matter of when, not if.
The online streaming game — currently dominated by Netflix and Hulu — is about to get more crowded, as Verizon and DVD kiosk rental service Redbox have announced a new partnership. As Sinead Carew and Yinka Adegoke of Reuters report:
The venture will combine the Redbox DVD rental kiosk business with an Internet video offering from Verizon, including mobile offerings, in the second half of the year.
With the SOPA/PIPA bills aimed at curbing online piracy currently on hold, Gautham Nagesh of The Hillreports on a new study from the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) that finds piracy concerns by the entertainment industry may be overstated:
The report notes box office revenues grew 25 percent from 2006 to 2010, increasing from $25.5 billion to $31.8 billion. Meanwhile, spending on entertainment as a percentage of household income rose 15 percent from 2000 to 2008, and entertainment-sector employment grew 20 percent during that same decade.
The report says growth in employment for independent artists was especially strong during the last decade, at 43 percent, suggesting the Internet has actually made it easier for content creators to support themselves.
In response, the Recording Industry Association of America, argued the effects of piracy are very real:
“Trends in the United States have been clear, with a market less than half as large as it was 10 years ago and 60% fewer employees in the music business. Virtually every neutral academic study has concluded that there is real harm to the music community when people download music illegally,” [RIIA vice president for data analysis Joshua] Friedlander said.
As part of our participation in this year’s CES, we asked visitors to the IIA booth to write out their thoughts on the importance of broadband. Here’s the winning entry, from Michael Kilgore. For his efforts he will receive a new iPod.
As the Net Neutrality debate foments in Washington, I find it unfortunate that the primary stakeholder, the user, has little representation there. Hopefully, some progressive voices can help maintain our wildly productive status quo. At CES, a non-profit called the Internet Innovation Alliance is calling attention to the fact that broadband internet access saves normal household users serious money.
As Lawrence Lessig explained in The Future of Ideas, the reason that the internet fostered so much creativity and economic growth is that it was set up using the same end-to-end model as voice telephony. Just as AT&T and its descendents were not allowed to discriminate on the content of calls, internet application developers were free to use the IP-based infrastructure to communicate with distant customers without worrying whether their uses complied with any guidelines or restrictions from the companies that owned the intervening segments.
If cable systems, for example, are allowed to restrict unapproved, free video content, home users will be forced to pay more for entertainment and news. New IP-based TV services such as Hulu, Netflix, and ivi.tv can make it easier for households to “cut the cord” and pay for only those services that they really use.
A study by the IIA claims that the average US household can save $7700 per year in various ways by using a broadband connection. I’m unconvinced on some of their numbers, but it’s easy to believe the largest: over $2700 saved on entertainment. While broadband access might require usage tiers at some point, it’s vital that broadband providers deliver their public service without favoring their own content over what’s free from anywhere around the world.
Read Write Web reports that online movie giant Netflix isn’t content with leading the pack when it comes to movies by mail and streaming video services. They’re now looking to bring the cinema to a smart phone near you:
Recently, Netflix sent out a survey to select subscribers in order to determine interest in an iPhone application for streaming movies via mobile phones. According to the survey’s wording, the proposed app would be Wi-Fi only and would offer the same content that the Netflix “Watch Instantly” service provides.
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