The writer of this article is correct in believing that cable companies and online streaming sites are definitely substitutes of one another. It is true that as technology develops and more options are given when it comes to entertainment, the one with the easier access will dominate. Though I do have to critique on why the writer had to group Hulu and Netflix together. Netflix does have an online base but the main difference between the two is that Netflix charges a monthly price whereas Hulu is a completely free online streaming site. Even though cable companies, Hulu, Netflix, and many more are considered substitutes of one another, when it comes to the choice of money and free; the average consumer will often leans towards the free side. The writer was correct in stating Netflix is dominating the cable company with the amount of subscribers, but even though we all know what Netflix is, the writer never mentioned that Netflix only provides movies whereas cable companies provides movies and TV series.
Because of the differences in the output of the product each of these two companies provide, there will obviously be a difference in the number of subscriptions. Because in this generation, the majority of the population does not have leisure time to catch up on their favorite sitcom or TV series, movies are becoming more popular. Not everyone has the time to follow a series from beginning to the end which usually takes about half a year; a movie is much more convenient to watch during leisure because a person can begin and finish a movie in as little as two hours. None of these points were pointed out in the writings. The writer only mentioned that the cable companies were in fear of being pushed out by Netflix.
If the writer had done a comparison between cable companies and Netflix then cable companies and online sites such as Hulu, the article would’ve been more understandable. Because websites like Hulu are hosting TV episodes online free of charge for the public. Therefore not only are the cable providers competing against Netflix for the movie showings, but also Hulu and other sites for free access to their copyrighted materials. The government itself is able to regulate this behavior by copyright infringement, which has already been put into action, yet it is still being done. Many points like the ones that I have mentioned will make this a better blog. Though overall the writer did a good job of summarizing and using economic terms we were taugh in class, though the blog itself is shorter than expected.
-Tien Nguyen
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.