Netflix: Why Watch “starvation video games” When you can Watch Our original movies?

On Sunday morning, Netflix’s film aficionados obtained some disappointing information: one of the crucial most popular motion pictures on Netflix will probably be taken down at the shut of September because the streaming carrier declined to renew its contract with a movie distributor. Epix, the cable network that gave Netflix get entry to to Transformers: Age of Extinction, starvation games: Catching hearth, and many different titles, has as a substitute inked a non-exclusive deal with Hulu. the choice seems to be a ploy to prioritize and promote Netflix’s unique content material, on the way to quickly include motion pictures.

In a blog publish, Netflix made the case for its upcoming slate of original motion pictures, claiming its personal content would function a necessary different for customers which are upset by way of its choice. “it’s going to take us time to build a powerful slate of authentic motion pictures, but we’re onerous at work on it with such nice stars and administrators as Brad Pitt, Ricky Gervais, Judd Apatow, Angelina Jolie, Sofia Coppola, and Adam Sandler,” the company wrote.

Netflix has made up our minds, it appears, that its future lies in producing restricted amounts of authentic content material fairly than offering an infinite library of titles for streaming. the money that would were used to obtain exterior content material is as a substitute being funneled toward producing a smaller library of in-house content. As we now have seen, Netflix has produced both compelling content material—home of cards, Orange Is the new Black—and, smartly, the likes of Hemlock Grove.

On the one hand, Netflix’s choice is sensible; many customers find its movie offerings severely missing and switch to the service for its catalog of tv series, authentic and otherwise. but the streaming platform’s trajectory is also a lesson in the risks of disruptive expertise. the upward push of Netflix’s DVD-by using-mail supply service obliterated the retail version utilized by Blockbuster Video, regional shops, and independent video outlets. apart from a limited number of video outlets catering to cinephiles or smaller communities, the retail video retailer is an endangered species. through ditching its deal with Epix, Netflix has made clear that it does now not care to serve people who want streaming get admission to to traditional films.

That leaves viewers in a little of a bind. Netflix’s selection of streaming movies is contingent on the whims of lawyers and rights acquisition teams, and the company sees itself more as an web-age hybrid of a Hollywood studio and tv network reasonably than as a streaming provider that provides viewers get admission to to current content material.

meanwhile, users who need their fill of flicks can flip to both Hulu—which used to be more than pleased to snap up the rights to all those movies—or Amazon, which made a take care of Epix a couple of years back.