Pay TV provider SKY has had a monopoly on content in New Zealand for years. iTunes offers a limited selection to its users with no TV content at all. DVD rental stores are disappearing all over the country. Fatso has yet to provide a streaming option to its DVDs-in-the-mail service. Quickflix is entering a challenging market. What kind of impact will it have on the market? More pressing, should we sign up?
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| Quickflix launches in New Zealand |
Bandwidth
Some ISPs zero-rate Quickflix meaning using their service won't suck up your monthly data allowance. This troubles me. While I, like everyone else, can appreciate zero-rated services, I'm worried it incentivizes people to use a website over another thus violating the free and open web. How is this neutral? Also, Quickflix doesn't make it clear which ISPs zero-rate its service.
Content
Simply do a Twitter Search for "Quickflix" and you will find tweets of concern (even anger) over the lack of content in particular TV content. It would take numbers (lots of numbers) for Quickflix to expand its content, perhaps that's a compelling reason to support the start-up early on so it has the capital to strike deals with rights holders and go after the content we want.
Devices
At the time of this writing, Quickflix doesn't work on iOS devices such as iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. I currently own all those devices and it frustrates me that Quickflix won't work with my set-up at home or with me on-the-go.
Pricing
My concern is that the advertised offer of "all you can eat" for $9.99 a month is only temporary, and worse, misleading. The prices are likely to rise. Upon launch, Quickflix stipulated this was an "introductory offer". I assume prices are going to rise. It's questionable how long-term my subscription, if I decide to sign up, will be.
Cancellation
The website doesn't let its users delete their account easily. It was surprising to find that Quickflix, a company that lives on the web, would expect me to ring a phone number if I ever wanted to cancel my account. What I expect to see is a "Cancel My Account" button in an "Account" or "Settings" tab. Within a couple of clicks on a user-friendly web page, I can leave the service if I choose.
Watch Instantly
Trips to the DVD rental store have become a nuisance especially when you are greeted with late fees. Streaming is an irresistible convenience. For a service to come along and promise "watch instantly" streaming content in New Zealand is such a surprise that I will sign up out of sheer curiosity.
Verdict: Yes. (For now. I will give Quickflix a chance with a 30-day trial, hopefully before the $9.99 introductory offer expires, but I remain skeptical.)
Some interesting points here but I feel like you're overcooking the concern around the free and open web in this case especially given that there is currently no real web based alternative for this service in NZ.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the concern has been cooked enough. Net Neutrality is such an important issue, even though I would love to see a Netflix equivalent in New Zealand, I would rather do without Quickflix if it meant protecting the free and open web.
ReplyDeleteI probably didn't make myself clear. Net Neutrality is important and needs to be protected particularly when we're talking about access to information or not. However I don't believe that Quickflix being unmetered is a valid example of violation of net neutrality for 2 key reasons:
ReplyDelete1) Access to content is not restricted to those with unmetered access
2) Currently Quickflix has no competitors
While it could be argued that having an unmetered service will prevent competitors entering the market this also seems a bit of a stretch given that the unmetered agreement is currently with 1 ISP. Similar unmetered service partnerships did not prevent competitors teaming up with other ISPs to offer the same service (tv3/four ondemand with Clear and TVNZ ondemand with Orcon)
In my view of the free and open web, ISPs cannot incentivize users to use one service over another. It troubles me, as a small content creator, that content is prioritized by ISPs based on deals with big content creators.
ReplyDeleteImagine if you offered up your feature film as a 1GB digital download, but you weren't zero-rated by the ISPs, your audience, if they're on Orcon's Home package with a data allowance of 5GB a month would use 20% of that just to see your film while SKY, TVNZ and Quickflix customers enjoy unmetered access to content. Again, how is this neutral?
Quickflix definitely has competitors, iTunes, Fatso, TVNZ OnDemand, BitTorrent, not to mention, behemoth competitor, SKY.
What SKY is doing locking out competition (Quickflix, Netflix) or existing competitors that want to expand into streaming (Fatso). They do this by sowing up content deals with creators (HBO) and making sure its iSKY service is zero-rated by the ISPs.
I put my concern in this post, because if Quickflix is zero-rated or not, it will not doubt factor into people's decision to sign up. They may jump at the chance to watch unmetered steaming video, but buyer beware.
Quickflix is entering a market where SKY has a vice grip so it has no choice but to get ISPs to zero-rate its service to get a foot hold.
This is a problem.
It has been argued already that SKY is anti-competitive, have a read of this article: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10796164
I'm not denying that unmetered access makes it more likely for people to use a service. I am not saying that we shouldn't keep an eye on where and how it is used. I am denying that unmetered access to an offering, most likely as a means to encourage people to engage with a startup with limited offerings, with no real competitors in the market place signals the end of times.
ReplyDeleteIf Quickflix competes with the services you have listed it also competes with DVD rental stores, stage productions, skate boarding, and anything else that might be considered entertaining. The key reason Quickflix is not directly competing with the services you have listed is it is the only one to offer immediate streaming access to film and television programmes that aren't currently playing elsewhere in NZ (and yes, this includes things currently playing on SKY, TVNZ, and Mediaworks but none of that is new).
With the example of a 1GB download of an independent film the offering is fundamentally different. You can keep a download, you can't (without some craftiness) keep streamed content. Also I would wager that those who are interested in independent films typically find the independent badge to be part of what attracts them to the offering. This is something that big content creators cannot have.