Sony Movies Pulled From Netflix Streams; Because Customers Just Love That Kind Of Thing
from the contract-disputes dept
Apparently, Sony Pictures films have been pulled from Netflix. Netflix claims that it’s a temporary issue due to a contract dispute between Sony and Starz (a Netflix partner from which it gets many of its streaming movies). Other reports, however, say that there’s no contract dispute, but that Starz just pulled the plug on those films. Either way, this kind of thing is never a good idea, because it’s treating consumers as pawns. One of the reasons why Netflix has been so damn successful all these years is its focus on making the customer experience top notch. Removing content like this is never a good idea. These companies have to realize that they’re still fighting to convince people that these services are worth paying for and that jerking them around by removing content isn’t going to convince the people who were on the fence.
Comments on “Sony Movies Pulled From Netflix Streams; Because Customers Just Love That Kind Of Thing”
Thanks Sony for making it more convenient for me to pirate the movie than to get it through legitimate channels.
At this point it would be more believable that lulzsec/anonymous had removed the movies than Sony itself.
Re: Re:
Oh Mary, you did NOT just go there!!!!
It’s time for studios to realize that Netflix is in control now. With 200 movies in my queue, I won’t miss any Sony titles. I’ll just watch something else.
Re: Re:
Yeah, I have about 250 movies and tv series in my watch instantly queue. I don’t think I am starved for entertainment anytime soon.
Re: Re: Re:
I just saw Monty Python’s Flying Circus is on there. I think I am set for a long time.
Re: Re:
It would only be recent (Starz) movies from Sony that are on Watch Instantly. Honestly, things come and go all the time, so I doubt I would have noticed either. The only ones I’ve had bump out recently are “Legion” “The Other Guys” and “Resident Evil: Afterlife”.
Re: Re:
Not only am I NOT starved for entertainment, I am (even more) miffed at Sony (than I was before).
Way to go Sony!
How do I know which movies are unavailable? I checked both my rental and instant watch queues and have not seen any signs next to titles. Maybe I never watch Sony movies?
Re: Re:
they go down into your saved section at the bottom of your instant queue. when they free up again they should move back into your queue. you’ll probably have to resort them.
Awesome I hate Sony anyways. Now I can be sure I’m not watching anything Sony is affiliated with.
If this means Sony does not get any of the money I pay to Netflix, I’m happy. Can they pull the DVDs too, please?
just one more step in the long journey to irrelevancy. you have to hand it to them, though. this is probably the most thorough corporate turn-around since apple. except in the opposite direction.
i wonder if they are using the newspaper industry for inspiration.
I’ve never seen a company rise so fast in my league tables of ‘companies I try to avoid doing business with’
Kudos to you Sony, total win at failing.
No Sony movies... gasp
Actually I consider the lack of movies from Sony to be more of a feature than a problem.
considering that i was just laid off due to netflix theycan kiss my ass.i had a good job at my personal friend’s videostore for the last 18 years.i also have medical issues.i hate the digital file download technology because of what it is doing to the good people who try and make a living owning a store of some kind.
first it was music stores
second the videostores
third the book stores fourth the retail small stores as no one goes out but clicks on amazon or they go to the MALL.
here in downtown portland maine if you live here just watch over time and see how 9 out of 10 times when a store closes a restaurant or coffee shop will open.it appears that the idea or trend will be to open a business doing something you can not get on the Internet or by clicking on some TV screen.
It is a shame not for me but for the many folk who now are on the dole.
Die Netflix Die.The sooner you go the happier I will be.
Re: Re:
You have to realize how backwards your perspective is. You worked for 18 years in a retail position and are upset because the field of retail you were in became obsolete . . . not overnight, but slowly over the last 6 years.
Re: Re: Re:
“You have to realize how backwards your perspective is. “
Actually you have to realize how backwards your perspective is. He spent 18 years working in a video store. Next time someone comes crying about this, tell them they can always go work in a mail room for the next 18 years.
Re: Re:
considering that i was just laid off due to netflix theycan kiss my ass.i had a good job at my personal friend’s videostore for the last 18 years.i also have medical issues.i hate the digital file download technology because of what it is doing to the good people who try and make a living owning a store of some kind.
You’re lucky your job lasted this long. All the privately owned video stores in this area closed at least a decade ago due to competition from the big chain video stores like Blockbuster.
Why don’t you hate the movie industry? If it wasn’t for their obsessive hated of new technology, your friend could have adapted and opened up a site offering streaming video rentals, just like Netflix. Of course the movie industry would never allow this. They never even liked physical rental stores.
Die Netflix Die.The sooner you go the happier I will be.
The genie is never going back in the bottle. You might as well wish for the return of 8-track tapes, laserdiscs and Atari cartridges.
It sucks that you lost your job, but people have been getting laid off due to their businesses becoming obsolete ever since people started inventing new technology. Scribes didn’t like the introduction of the printing press because it put them out of a job. Should we go back to the days of hand-copied books? Should we remove the buttons from all modern elevators so that elevator operators can have their jobs back?
Re: Re: Re:
“8-track tapes, laserdiscs and Atari cartridges.”
Laserdiscs still exist, they call them CD’s and DVD’s …. oh wait, never mind 🙂
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yeah, exactly 🙂 8 track tapes still exist – they just got called cassettes, then CDs, then Minidiscs then MP3s. People who depended on the original technology went out of business. Atari cartridges still exist, they just get called digital downloads and game discs now – the manufacturers of Atari carts followed their E.T. product into the desert landfill if they didn’t adjust their business accordingly.
Video stores still exist. They’re just called Netflix, Redbox, Lovefilm, YouTube, etc. Those who depend on just lining a shelf with boxes and waiting for people to come and collect them are going the way of the dodo. Nothing fundamentally wrong with that.
Re: Re:
Sorry you’re laid off, but how is it Netflix’s fault? The market created a situation where customers were better served by a new product. This is a problem in many industries and has been talked about at length. I have degrees in web and print design and the internet has allowed web design to be off shored and there’s not much around for the print design. No one in the far east is at fault because they are able to offer the same product for cheaper, that’s capitalism.
Re: Re:
it appears that the idea or trend will be to open a business doing something you can not get on the Internet or by clicking on some TV screen.
And that’s a bad thing how?
Re: Re:
Its a horrible thing to lose a job, especially one you liked.
I was myself very saddened by all the music and video stores closing down, because as a kid I spent countless hours in these stores just browsing, with the added bonus of actual physical social interaction with other real human beings.
But as these shops were failing, I realized that – unfortunately – this was absolutely necessary. The old must die to make way for the new.
Just like Blockbuster put a lot of mom and pop video stores out of business; now the new digital age is putting Blockbuster out of business as well, and eventually someone else will put Netflix out of business the moment they put their guard down, and the cycle will go on, and on, and on, and just like the Universe’s expansion, the cycle will only Accelerate with time.
Its nothing more than memetic evolution taking hold.
Re: Re:
“considering that i was just laid off due to netflix”
You weren’t. You were laid off because your employer failed to compete with Netflix. A big difference. Netflix didn’t move into your area and cause your store to close like a WalMart might have done. People simply preferred to use Netflix instead of your employer’s service. Whether that was due to a poor business model, an outdated product people didn’t want or the surly jackass behind the counter, I can’t rightly say.
“i also have medical issues.”
So what? So does a guy working at my office who can hardly walk without a stick. Doesn’t stop him from working – why is a store the only work you can do?
“the good people who try and make a living owning a store of some kind”
Won’t somebody PLEASE think of the buggy whip makers, the music hall owners, the sheet music printers and the portrait painters! If ONLY the car, cinema, recorded music and photography were not here, they would still have jobs!
Bottom line: if someone is trying to run a store that offers an unpopular product, they will go out of business. DVDs that you have to collect yourself in person are currently an unpopular product. Deal with it.
“see how 9 out of 10 times when a store closes a restaurant or coffee shop will open”
So, you live in an area where coffee shops are more popular than video stores. Sorry, but your opinion clearly does not match that of your peers. Maybe it’s time to move, or accept that you are in such a small minority that it doesn’t allow your chosen industry to thrive. Again, deal with it.
“third the book stores fourth the retail small stores as no one goes out but clicks on amazon or they go to the MALL.”
OMG! Shut down all the malls! Then people will just go to the small stores. If you believe that, I have some Nigerian money you might be interested in.
“The sooner you go the happier I will be.”
But what about all those good people employed at Netflix, people employed by the ISPs who deal with their increased traffic, the mail sorters and carriers who have jobs purely because Amazon and Netflix’s volumes make it necessary? Why is your job worth more than theirs?
Re: Re: Re:
Kind of harsh Paul, but there are a few things I think a person can do to compete with Netflix.
1) Become a niche market
DVDs can still be great for collections. Something that Netflix isn’t really competing with. If you can muster it, I would highly suggest highly collectible items that people will love to pay for, depending on the area.
2) Internet presence
You HAVE to be on the internet and accessible to millions. Just start small.
3) Community features
Sure, it’s small, but find some way to build up a presence and implement CwF + RtB.
Just a few things I can think of that may make the transition to digital media a lot easier. 🙂
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Harsh, perhaps. But gorehound seems to be making some classic errors that he finds a single scapegoat for and then doesn’t think about the wider picture, and I have little patience with that.
I agree with your solutions though. I can only guess as to how the store in question was really run, but if he was just watching the store crumble around him instead of altering to compete, then he only has himself and/or his employer to blame.
Re: Re: Re:
Wow, what a way to make a point in the douchyist possible way. Congratulations.
Re: Re:
Uhm… Why not open your own streaming site? Other than the new S968 bill making that impossible, you could probably do something similar to Netflix for games, movies, or other media depending on how you market yourself.
Re: Re:
shouldn’t you be blaming electricity instead of netflix?
if it weren’t for electricity the internet would not have been possible and there would have been no netflix, so it would seem the real reason you lost your job is because of the water wheel.
Do the right thing stop seeing Sony movies and pirate the hell out of their so called IP.
Sony make movies?
Let me get this straight: I can’t watch Sony Movies via the Netflix app on my Sony PS3. And Sony wonders why it’s in trouble. Right hand meet left hand.
Wow. Sony is completely intent on driving all customers away. Totally awesome.
Had a conversation with a co-worker today...
I have a co-worker who loves talking about how fantastic his new sony this or that is. I explained to him I hated the company and everything that they had done to ensure my experience with them was below sub-par. The root-kits, the aggressive lawsuits, multiple data breaches, etc. and he kept saying how great they were because they were going to be taking away resale of games with their next platform. I really hope this kid wises up because otherwise he’s a really nice kid, but he always picks abusive partners to love.
I can’t even use Netflix in my computer which runs GNU/Linux.
Local Jobs Created By The Internet.
In the first place, to download movies and suchlike, you need good and cheap broadband internet access. Money is going to have to be spent to upgrade the telecommunications infrastructure. In Maine of course, the telephone company, Fairpoint, is a spun-off, ineffectual monstrosity. As high-grade telecommunications service becomes more and more essential, Fairpoint will be subjected to breaking strain, and will have to be taken over by the state for the public good. As I have pointed out previously,
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090713/1916365532.shtml#c105
sewers are the primal public utility, the Alpha and Omega of public utilities. When the dust settles, the sewer districts will wind up owning all the telecommunications subscriber loops, and the state highway department will own the trunk lines. Construction and operation of essential public infrastructure is too important to be left to the stock market.
In the second place, physical objects ordered over the internet have to be delivered. The Post Office will do some of the delivering, especially to the places where UPS and FedEx don’t want to go. The Post Office is the carrier of last resort. Incidentally, I find that many things I buy from Amazon, especially non-book items, are not extraordinarily cheap, once delivery charges are included. Amazon makes sense for these items mostly because I don’t drive, and finding them on Amazon is less bother than going on a shopping expedition, visiting multiple stores to find things. What it comes down to is that I choose to spend money on mail carriers instead of store clerks.
So the internet creates jobs for street construction crews and for postal carriers. They are all better paid than nearly all retail workers.
People will just watch other things
When will the content produces get it. When they make things unavailable, people will just watch the things that are available.
No loss to us. Only a loss to them.
Sony and Netflix
Mike, I am ashamed of you. Your column normally has a higher quality than so-called “professional” journalists, but here you say someone’s wrong in taking action in a dispute, but don’t appear to know WHY they did it!
There may be very good reasons for what they did. Until you know WHY, you should limit your comments more than you do.
Re: Sony and Netflix
It’s hard to imagine how anybody could benefit from this move. If nobody benefits, it can’t possibly be a good idea, no matter what the motivation.
“Sony? Where we’re going we don’t need… Sony.”
Sony - Netflix = Crackle
If I am not mistaken, Sony owns Crackle. What is Crackle? From what I have seen, it is an app you can download for your iPhone and iPad and probably other mobile devices along with a slick app for your laptop.
What does Crackle do? It streams films and TV episodes to your mobile device.
Hold on…Doesn’t Netflix do that too?
Maybe I don't need Sony movies
Sony uses it’s music CDs to put rootkits on PCs.
Sony sues Playstation owner for daring to restore advertised functionality.
Sony fails to apply reasonable security recautions to Playstation network data.
I’m not very impressed with Sony right now. Maybe I don’t need their movies.