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Lensloking your netflix - new tactics to stop credential sharing

williamcll

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Multiple paid online streaming services may be increasing authentication need for a person to watch their content in order to stop unauthorized account sharing.

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A coalition that includes Netflix Inc., HBO and cable-industry titans is stepping up efforts to crack down on password sharing, discussing new measures to close a loophole that could be costing companies billions of dollars in lost revenue each year. Programmers and cable-TV distributors are considering an array of tactics to cut off people who borrow credentials from friends and relatives to access programming without paying for it. The possible measures include requiring customers to change their passwords periodically or texting codes to subscribers’ phones that they would need to enter to keep watching, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

Some TV executives want to create rules governing which devices can be used to access a cable-TV subscription outside the home. While someone logging in from a phone or tablet would be fine, someone using a Roku device at a second location could be considered a likely freeloader, one person said. If none of those tactics work, pay-TV subscribers could someday be required to sign into their accounts using their thumbprints.

 

“I feel like I’m beating my head against the wall,” Tom Rutledge, the chief executive officer of Charter Communications Inc., said during an earnings call last month. “It’s just too easy to get the product without paying for it.” But taking more aggressive measures poses risks. The people using services for free — especially younger consumers — may never agree to sign up for a subscription, no matter how many hassles they endure. That means companies would mostly just be alienating paying customers, who could get frustrated and stop using an app or cancel their service. In other words, there’s plenty of downside and possibly little upside. “If you ask any cohort of young people if they will ever pay for Netflix or video services, the answer is unequivocally no,” said Mike McCormack, an analyst at Guggenheim Securities

 

The pay-TV industry is projected to lose $6.6 billion in revenue from password sharing and piracy this year, according to Parks Associates. By 2024, the number could grow to $9 billion, the research firm said. Two years ago, some of the biggest names in entertainment and technology formed a group called the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, which was devoted to reducing online piracy. Last month, the group announced that it’s turning its attention to password sharing. Participants include Netflix, Amazon.com Inc., Walt Disney Co., Viacom Inc., AT&T Inc.’s HBO, Comcast Corp. and Charter.

A representative for the alliance said it won’t be involved in enforcement related to “casual password sharing among friends and relatives,” an issue that’s the jurisdiction of content providers. “ACE remains focused on its core mission of protecting the legal marketplace for creative content and reducing piracy.” Consumers can access streaming programming via apps from both distributors like Charter and programmers like Fox. As a result, both sides of the industry need to work together to solve the problem. Charter, which sells cable-TV service under the Spectrum brand, has said its recent distribution deals with Fox and Disney will help them address password sharing, but didn’t specify which measures they’d be taking. While industry executives widely agree password sharing is a problem, there’s no consensus on where to draw the line. Programmers and distributors blame each other for being too lenient in how many people can simultaneously stream from one account. DirecTV and Comcast allow five streams. Fox and ESPN generally allow three. Online TV services also vary in how generous they are about password sharing. Apple TV+, which launched Nov. 1, allows up to six people to stream from one family plan. Two upcoming services — AT&T’s HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock — aren’t ready to announce how many streams to allow, according to representatives for both companies. A spokeswoman for Disney+, which launches Nov. 12, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

 

Netflix allows just one stream for its basic plan and four streams for its most expensive service. Three years ago, CEO Reed Hastings said password sharing is “something you have to learn to live with, because there’s so much legitimate password sharing — like you sharing with your spouse, with your kids.” Recently, there have been indications that the company may be reconsidering its tolerance. On an earnings call last month, Netflix Chief Product Officer Greg Peters said it is “looking at the situation” and seeking “consumer-friendly ways to push on the edges of that.”

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-08/netflix-hbo-and-cable-giants-are-coming-for-password-cheats

Thoughts: Many years back the only way I had access to most western cartoon shows were through cable television, and these days it's entirely possible that you can watch all paywall shows without paying using a myriad of methods. And considering the increased competition between media empires on broadcasting their own paid streaming service I can only imagine these new restrictions will only push people back to piracy

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Same old same old.  “We can make a tiny bit more money if we make our product worse.”

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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Its a ballsy move considering there is a much much better alternative using P2P connections.

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Just now, Bombastinator said:

Same old same old.  “We can make a tiny bit more money if we make our product worse.”

They don't make any money. They've been in massive debt for years.

Make sure to quote or tag me (@JoostinOnline) or I won't see your response!

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3 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

They don't make any money. They've been in massive debt for years.

“Generate more revenue” then.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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10 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

They don't make any money. They've been in massive debt for years.

Netflix had net profit of $1.2 billion last year. All the others were making big profits too, though their revenue streams are more diversified.

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2 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

Netflix had net profit of $1.2 billion last year. All the others were making big profits too, though their revenue streams are more diversified.

They also have $12B debt.

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for one there's 4 different profiles you can use it you can use it to give it to 3 other members, how are they gonna stop that? the feature itself designed that way, and they are losing nothing, those people will never buy netflix anyway and rather pirate, this is the same old lost sales = lost money argument game companies use, they are losing jack shit. if any they are gonna lose more by making their product more strict. 

 

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35 minutes ago, williamcll said:

The pay-TV industry is projected to lose $6.6 billion in revenue from password sharing and piracy this year, according to Parks Associates. By 2024, the number could grow to $9 billion, the research firm said.

This sounds like they're either pulling numbers out of their ass or assuming people who pirate and/or use their family/friends' accounts would pay for those services themselves, which is an idiotic assumption to make. Such a nonsensical claim.

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I see this as an excuse to collect more data.  The number of people that share accounts is small, but they want to do it to everyone.  The entire effect needs to be examined, not just the rationalized bit.  There is a sort of implicit assumption that viewers who share would each buy their own accounts.  It would happen some of the time but not all of the time and individual viewership numbers would drop.  
 

if this was what they were actually after there would be much easier ways to do it.  I smell a rat.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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As long as I can have 4 devices paired at a time without a need to verify anything that's fine.  If I find myself having to verify for the sake of Netflix' bottom dollar than Ill have to find convenience elsewhere.  Netflix is only a small portion of the Entertainment industry in my house.

 

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20 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

And $26B assets... they're definitely making money.

Unless they sell those assets, they aren't making money.

Make sure to quote or tag me (@JoostinOnline) or I won't see your response!

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37 minutes ago, Levent said:

Its a ballsy move considering there is a much much better alternative using P2P connections.

  Reveal hidden contents

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"But that doesnt have any protection against pirates!" (<- like those protections prevented anything lol, IMO it ended up quite contra-productive)

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1 hour ago, JoostinOnline said:

Unless they sell those assets, they aren't making money.

That’s not quite how it works. You seem to be switching between measurement systems.  Debt requires debt service.  Interest.  If the profit number includes that debt service the amount of debt doesn’t matter.  If it doesn’t the interest on that debt becomes important.

 

there is another way to approximate that number by comparing asset value to debt value.  Their assets are over twice their debt.  At least according to the numbers given.  How good those are I don’t know

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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Serious question. If netflix bought a rival streaming service, or IP, or content, would that come out of their operating costs too? Hence the "profit" be a much lower, or even minus amount for the profit calculation?

I know for sure that has happened in the UK, where company X made millions in profit, but bought stuff to make that number significantly lower to pay less taxes.

 

I know for sure I have seen in the news a few times about netflix paying very little tax, or even getting millions in rebates, in years where it was actually making substantial profits.

 

Please quote my post, or put @paddy-stone if you want me to respond to you.

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Hey, I've got two TV's, 4 iPads, a Samsung and Windows tablet, a few phones, and 3 computers. 

 

I'm a single user and each of those devices are mine and no one else's. If they start pestering me over "guesses", I will cancel my account after a complaint goes unheard. I see this as another example that these schmucks have to be broken up for the sake of competition and the overall economy. 

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First Netflix doesn't deliver even half of it's library, then they have the balls to raise prices for that library which is already bad, then they even think to make some verification and other shit systems to make things even inconvenient. Yeah, the reason clearly is that the people are stingy for Netflix losing their customers.

I share my Netflix with my parents and my sister, I would be 100% fine to just pirate everything and watch the world burn because securing my privace when I'm pirating is a lot cheaper than Netflix and more convenient and delivers better quality (have you ever looked how scares the 4K/HDR content on the Netflix is? And they ask more money for you to be able to view it) and most likely isn't going to shit itself when something bigger comes out (like how many services did the GoTs last seasons premier bring down? HBO Nordic at least was down and I remember reading that other HBO services were down and people being angry, well that where your money is going, excellent service would pay for that shit). If I need to take my phone out and type even one character of a code to in the middle of a movie or TV series, that's fucking it, that is a service that I won't pay a dime for especially if they start their normal rhyme of "piracy is killing us, it's the pirates that kill us, it's all pirates fault"-song while they themselves are the ones putting the stick into their bikes spokes.

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39 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Serious question. If netflix bought a rival streaming service, or IP, or content, would that come out of their operating costs too? Hence the "profit" be a much lower, or even minus amount for the profit calculation?

I know for sure that has happened in the UK, where company X made millions in profit, but bought stuff to make that number significantly lower to pay less taxes.

 

I know for sure I have seen in the news a few times about netflix paying very little tax, or even getting millions in rebates, in years where it was actually making substantial profits.

 

Specific to the laws of specific taxation systems in specific places.  In general in the US  costs are deducted from revenues.  Buying something, even another company, is cost.  If that company produces revenue though, that revenue also becomes part of revenue so both numbers change.  Additionally costs can be spread across time to a limited extent.  An international company can move Some assets to different tax systems though to take advantage of different things.  It gets quite complicated.  This is why CPAs make the big bucks.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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8 minutes ago, Thaldor said:

First Netflix doesn't deliver even half of it's library, then they have the balls to raise prices for that library which is already bad, then they even think to make some verification and other shit systems to make things even inconvenient. Yeah, the reason clearly is that the people are stingy for Netflix losing their customers.

I share my Netflix with my parents and my sister, I would be 100% fine to just pirate everything and watch the world burn because securing my privace when I'm pirating is a lot cheaper than Netflix and more convenient and delivers better quality (have you ever looked how scares the 4K/HDR content on the Netflix is? And they ask more money for you to be able to view it) and most likely isn't going to shit itself when something bigger comes out (like how many services did the GoTs last seasons premier bring down? HBO Nordic at least was down and I remember reading that other HBO services were down and people being angry, well that where your money is going, excellent service would pay for that shit). If I need to take my phone out and type even one character of a code to in the middle of a movie or TV series, that's fucking it, that is a service that I won't pay a dime for especially if they start their normal rhyme of "piracy is killing us, it's the pirates that kill us, it's all pirates fault"-song while they themselves are the ones putting the stick into their bikes spokes.

Assumes availability of pirated content.  That is getting very very hard to find in my experience.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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1 minute ago, Bombastinator said:

Assumes availability of pirated content.  That is getting very very hard to find in my experience.

 

 

Even the pirates who are ripping stuff for the challenge for free are generally going to focus on content they think people will be interested in. If there's no demand for somthing they won't bother. And demand is going to be heavily driven by a combination of financial and ease of access pressures. So if entflix makes things harder there will be an upswing in people looking for content from there leading to more availability.

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1 minute ago, CarlBar said:

 

 

Even the pirates who are ripping stuff for the challenge for free are generally going to focus on content they think people will be interested in. If there's no demand for somthing they won't bother. And demand is going to be heavily driven by a combination of financial and ease of access pressures. So if entflix makes things harder there will be an upswing in people looking for content from there leading to more availability.

there are private trackers that still seed stuff that was released in 2006. Most of the newer more hip trackers are like that.

mY sYsTeM iS Not pErfoRmInG aS gOOd As I sAW oN yOuTuBe. WhA t IS a GoOd FaN CuRVe??!!? wHat aRe tEh GoOd OvERclok SeTTinGS FoR My CaRd??  HoW CaN I foRcE my GpU to uSe 1o0%? BuT WiLL i HaVE Bo0tllEnEcKs? RyZEN dOeS NoT peRfORm BetTer wItH HiGhER sPEED RaM!!dId i WiN teH SiLiCON LotTerrYyOu ShoUlD dEsHrOuD uR GPUmy SYstEm iS UNDerPerforMiNg iN WarzONEcan mY Pc Run WiNdOwS 11 ?woUld BaKInG MY GRaPHics card fIX it? MultimETeR TeSTiNG!! aMd'S GpU DrIvErS aRe as goOD aS NviDia's YOU SHoUlD oVERCloCk yOUR ramS To 5000C18

 

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6 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Assumes availability of pirated content.  That is getting very very hard to find in my experience.

Haven't seen any problems, more or less the availability has been getting better and content quality even better when all the wannabe-sources with their potato quality cams and 0-efford releases have gone to streaming. Older stuff might be a bit harder, but still haven't seen anyone really prove the old saying "If you can't find it from the internet, it doesn't exists" wrong either.

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