The entire entertainment industry has been in a painful state of transition for more than a few years now. Consumers are making it clear they want new distribution methods that make use of, and keep pace with, technological development. I posted about the music industry’s struggle back in Baker vs. CRIA, now its the television and film industry under the gun.
Netflix has offered their DVD-by-mail service since 1997, and in fact mailed over 1 billion disks out to customers within 10 years of operation. But DVD-by-mail is old news – electronic distribution is an inevitability. As with the music industry though, the struggle has been over the ability to control copyrighted material when its in 1s and 0s that are easily duplicated. Netflix has been at the forefront of forcing a solution and in the U.S. has made leaps and bounds.
Canadians have not been so lucky. Here in the great white north, television and film studios are not the only ones who own rights to the material they produce – television networks also own a piece. That means they also need to sign off on any contract that would see the material distributed under a new model, and they’re perfectly happy with business as usual, thank-you very much!
Though the first reaction of the studios and networks in Canada was to treat customers who wanted a new model as criminals, we are slowly coming out of the dark ages. On September 22, 2010, Netflix announced electronic distribution had arrived in Canada!
Yes, the content offerings were pitiful upon launch – convincing the powers that be to release their death grip on their beloved content is perhaps not unlike separating a pack of wolves from its kill. And Canadians have been quick to moan and complain like overfed wolf pups. We need to have the foresight to see the victory here – we’re on our way! Netflix launched at $7.99 a month! Compare that to your cable bill, which has steadily risen while the content (at least quality content) has steadily decreased.
At $7.99, would you be willing to at least drop your cable service down to a lower plan to make room for it in the budget and give it a go?