CBS Is Right To Make Us Pay For 'Star Trek: Discovery'

[GeekUSACarl]

I'm not missing your point; I'm rejecting it.

There are very few things in this world that are actually "free".

lather rinse and repeat

most people know the difference between paying for a tv set, and not paying for a tv show.

just as people know the difference between not paying for a movie ticket, but paying for your car.

 

[BillJ]

Netflix is going up two bucks a month.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

Netflix is going up two bucks a month.

I just read from 10 - 11 ?

for the non 4k one?

 

[BillJ]

I just read from 10 - 11 ?

for the non 4k one?

I'm going from $11.99 to $13.99 per month.

 

[Paul Weaver]

Inflation adjusted I spent over $450 watching season 7 of ds9, buying the tapes when they came out. Discovery is $156 for the year even if I don't cancel when it's not on, and I don't watch anything else. Bargain.

 

[ralfy]

They may in small doses like if a character is popular bring them back but on a broader scale they are going to tell the story they want to tell. In fact IMO a lot of times what fans think they want are not would actually work the best on a TV show with the classic example being when shippers whant two characters together. In most cases, when it happens it doesn't work well.

I don't think producers tell stories they want to tell. Rather, they tell what will attract the most audiences to satisfy corporate sponsors.

What's notable in this case is that viewing carries an additional cost based on subscription.

 

[mattman8907]

i was just on netflix and didnt see it

 

[Zod]

Inflation adjusted I spent over $450 watching season 7 of ds9, buying the tapes when they came out. Discovery is $156 for the year even if I don't cancel when it's not on, and I don't watch anything else. Bargain.

Bargain for you maybe. I don't think so. We are also not the average Sci fi fan or trek fan. We post at a trek message board, buy merchandise and go to conventions. I watch each episode multiple times, watch the talk show and then post here and on YouTube. I'll watch trekyard videos on the episodes which are longer than the episodes themselves. We are not casual fans.

I think about the fan like my buddy. He likes trek and will watch it if it's on. He already pays for Netflix which is going up in price. He laughed when told he would have to pay, with commercials, to watch one show. That's the reaction I saw from my co workers as well. This all access thing is all about shaking down north American super fans.

 

[BillJ]

i was just on netflix and didnt see it

That would be because you are in the US. It isn't on Netflix in North America. CBS All-Access in the US, Space and Crave in Canada.

 

[fireproof78]

Bargain for you maybe. I don't think so. We are also not the average Sci fi fan or trek fan. We post at a trek message board, buy merchandise and go to conventions. I watch each episode multiple times, watch the talk show and then post here and on YouTube. I'll watch trekyard videos on the episodes which are longer than the episodes themselves. We are not casual fans.

I think about the fan like my buddy. He likes trek and will watch it if it's on. He already pays for Netflix which is going up in price. He laughed when told he would have to pay, with commercials, to watch one show. That's the reaction I saw from my co workers as well. This all access thing is all about shaking down north American super fans.

Shaking down? O_o

 

[BillJ]

This all access thing is all about shaking down north American super fans.

Pretty much any business decision comes down to which path generates the most revenue possible. Welcome to Corporate America. They ain't doing it for any other reason than to make money.

 

[seigezunt]

I think TOS was the only show I ever watched that wasn't on cable. By the time TNG arrived, it was only on channels that I could barely get reception on where I lived. The only way to see subsequent Trek was via cable ( which I have long since abandoned ) or home video/DVD.

Were Discovery to air only on broadcast television, I wouldn't be able to see it, as I don't get reception of the nearest CBS affiliate.

 

[Krandor]

Yeah whatever, I never wrote a check or had to break out my credit card to watch Star Trek in the past. Thus, I got it for free... Sure, there were commercials, but I didn’t pay for them. I probably took a bathroom break when they came on.

I’m giggling (and so are the executives at CBS) at the comment about “directly showing support” by paying to watch Discovery. That is exactly what every $23 Billion corporation wants to hear.

Honestly are you happy about this? Do you truly want to pay to “directly show your support”?

As I stated before there is ZERO value in paying to watch one program on a crappy app with crappy programing that if I wanted to see (that programming) I could watch it for free on broadcast CBS.

As a Star Trek fan I hope Discovery is great, but I won’t be held hostage to purchase CBS All Access while every other country on earth gets to see Star Trek on a superior service.

Here is the difference. Streaming is actually the reverse business model from network TV.

For Network TV, we may think we are the customers consuming the product of the TV show. We are not, The Viewer is acually the product being sold to advetisers. The show is a means to get eyeballs that can be sold to the advertisers. They are the actual customer of CBS/NBC/etc... we were never their actual customer. That is why it was free - they were selling us to an extent.

Streaming has not flipped that. Now the TV show actual is the content that is being sold to us as the custoemr. Yes, AA has some ads but that is maybe 1/3 of the revenue not all of it. This is a better way really to pay for TV by paying for the content we want and not paying for what we don't want. That is why to an extent (certainly not totally) viewing figures are not as important. If I'm paying my $10/month they don' really care if I don't want a single thing. Enticing more people to pay that $10 (or $6) and keeping the churn low are the numbers that matter more now and not as much number of views per episode.