Netflix is standing on top of the entertainment industry, but it is not a position that really has much artistic strength. There are some diamonds in the rough, but it isn’t enough. Netflix simply doesn’t have a unique direction to its productions.
Netflix seems to be more interested in remaking the greatest hits and not making anything new or surpassing what came before. Stranger Things remakes the Goonies or any teenage band of misfits movie from the 1980s. Ransom Canyon is basically many rural shows that were shown on various broadcast channels in previous eras. It seems that they want to be a facsimile rather something unique.
Considering that the company began as a way to deliver DVDs and collect your information while doing so, this isn’t surprising to me. Netflix is an information services company providing movies and tv shows in the form of data to your device here. They are still of Silicon Valley not Hollywood or any other studio city on the planet.
They may rent studios to shoot movies, but this is content not art.
Netflix has many subscribers, but does it have fans who like it for more than content?
Network effect really bolsters many of these companies, but Amazon is not Sears, neither is Netflix a new Hollywood which can capture the imaginations of Americans. These two companies have done great at capturing market share and making money but can they really sustain it? These companies are not really interested in America as nothing more than a place to sell their assets here.
Amazon has an easier time as their products are tangible. However, Netflix seems to be on shakier ground here. Their movies are not physical media but, in the cloud, here. Can they really create the same love for their movies as has remained for The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, even Metropolis? These are old movies now but the fact that Netflix is buying Warner Bros show that they understand the importance of these symbols of Americana.
Making money is one thing but having staying power is another.
Fox corporation has launched Fox One, a new streaming service which puts all of the corporation’s entertainment properties. It includes the news, entertainment and sports channels under one streaming service. The price is $`19.99 and it is probably one of the best places for cord cutters or cord nevers because those two groups are growing and have more influence on the culture now.
The Cord Nevers in particular are of great interest to Fox One. Unlike the Cord Cutters, the Cord Nevers have no experience with using Cable TV. Such a group generally involves people who are in the younger generations. They maybe be aware of Fox News but have spent time on the website or even seen clips on YouTube. However, having this app will help to solidify Fox News’ ability to get more of the younger generations as the old TV stations have been ossified for so long and are hemorrhaging their audiences. Fox One has launched at the right time for getting into streaming media. One of their rivals has been around for some time in streaming but it has been stagnant as their brand is seen as stuck in the model of the big three era. While some people may want to return to that, it was always skewed by competent reporters before they began declining into decadence and incompetence.
News Streaming Services
Fox News is Right-Wing or Conservative, but it is among one of the best sites representing the United States’ ideology based in 18th Century ideals. Unlike most news sites, it is not obsessed with baiting its audience about everything just to make a quick buck. Most of their articles and news focuses on stories that the decay media system is unable to report on.
As such they have a news app which will appeal to many types of people in the United States.
Unlike CNN, which is just basically a rage bait channel at this point for siloing people into certain political ideologies, Fox News seems to be angling for a lean but not totally taking that position that is most dominant among its viewers.
Most news streaming services have been not very good in quality. CNN+ was horrible and CBSN and other services have been add-ons to largely stagnant brands that had their best times in the past.
Fox One is going to change that and help Fox News get even more popular.
Who should get Fox One?
Anyone is interested in Fox’s catalog. The entertainment side is sparser so it should be more the people who are interested in the news and the sports.
On the news side, this is very useful streaming service which allows for people to subscribe to Fox News and other local channels without having to pay Cable TV prices. This means that people will saving hundreds of dollars every year and be able to spend it on something else.
The news that is available is basically what one gets in their cable tv news packages.
Every program on Fox News is there. Fox Business is there as well as the local stations other Fox channels.
One advantage this has over YouTube is that you can look at clips of particular sections of a show without having to watch the whole thing. This curation by Fox is one of the best parts of the app, allowing for viewers to not have to focus on endlessly scrolling as one sees on sites such as Netflix.
Their mobile app is also attempting to utilize the Tik-Tok style shorts system. While I have reservations about this, it is important to reach the younger generation with this. Long-form reading, while desirable amongst our populace is not going to be enough to reach everyone. We need to have a platform that make the news enjoyable to people. This is what a lot of the people who scream about news deserts seem to forget about; newspapers in the traditional form, whether they be in print or the old style internet sites are outdated and simply ineffective at reporting the news.
The site is also very smooth and seamless. When I click on an icon on the site, the video loads up correctly without annoying ads slowing everything. The app’s categorization of its news is much better than that of YouTube or any other news app out there. This is of great use to anyone who wants to get Fox entertainment properties without paying for cable or watching broadcast television.
This means that Fox is available in a seamless way for anyone using a mobile app or on their computer.
This may be the most popular news app that is “paid” not free. Unlike CNN’s app, Fox One has something to appeal to consumers.
Fox One is the best News Streaming service right now.
News sites have struggled to get onto streaming services. Much of this is due to the arrogance of many of the people who were in charge of those companies. They had been at the top for so long that they did not believe that they could be touched by those upstart companies on the internet. YouTube began to change this process but there was still much inertia in the entertainment system in the United States. This inertia has been taking time to be changed in our culture.
Fox One is still in its early stages. However, Fox News is making the right investment here in getting Fox News onto a streaming platform. Instead of it being on YouTube and having to deal with constant ads and annoying recommendations, you can get the content on there without any distractions.
In my opinion, this is one of the best News App you can pay for right now on the internet. You will be saving tons of money by using this app instead of paying for cable. This is what cord cutters and nevers should be focusing on, saving money with reliable and affordable services.
So getting the service will help save you money on a whole as well getting reliable even if at times biased news coverage. Such a deal is superior to wasting it on Netflix or any other streaming service
Netflix is making so many reality shows that it is ruining the platform. While people may claim that Netflix is better than the old cable tv channels, the platform seems destined to be taking up the same content that made people want to leave cable in the first place.
Netflix has spent so much money on these shows that the home page, no matter what choices that you make is filled with Too Hot To Handle and Love is Blind. Not only that, but Netflix has making more country specific reality tv shows and it is only starting to fill the entire platform with more slop which is making the site unusable. A decade ago, Netflix had some original programming but it had a much larger library. There were shows from the studios as well as the small but growing catalog made within Netflix.
Now?
It is like a desert in comparison to Netflix of 10 or 20 years ago.
While Netflix did not have streaming services yet, its online catalog was in the area of around 30,000 to 40,000 movies and tv shows 20 years ago. 10 years later in 2015, the catalog of physical movies included Blu-Rays as well and was around 80,000 to 90,000 movies. The catalog is much smaller now and we can clearly see the results of what that means. It means that Netflix is churning out low quality entertainment(slop) in order to prop up the platform. For now, it is working here as Netflix is now putting ads on its cheapest subscription along with having increasing subscriber counts in countries outside of America.
Netflix’s originals are also taking much longer than in the past to make. Stranger Things has been on Netflix since 2016, yet the show has sporadically been on television. The series came online when Netflix was starting to pump out many more originals to replace the licensed shows that were being taken off the platform by the studios and put on their own streaming services.
Reality TV shows allow Netflix to have predicable seasons just like on old TV channels. However, they are not really shows that have any artistry but are there just to prop up its catalog. They are cheap to make and reliable. However, they are a sign that Netflix has sold its soul out for quick and cheap cash.
Netflix in its earlier years, before the subscriber counts broke over a million, had more movies in its catalog than now. While you had to wait to get a DVD and then later Blu-Rays in the mail, you had choices and wasn’t reliant on their originals.
This is why Netflix was better in the past. Delayed gratification is better than instant gratification. That people are spending minutes scrolling through the menu looking for what they want to watch is a clear sign that Netflix simply wants to keep people on the platform and not accomplish anything of note. There is no grandness to their vision, just profits. Studios of the past cared about profits, but they created stars who were avatars of their respective nations.
What is Netflix now but simply a money scheme for the streaming elites? Is there any sense of care for art or beauty anymore?
Netflix will realize that churning out reality tv show will not help the site in the long run. Another streaming service will come about, and it will create competition. That competition is what Netflix needs to return to its roots and give people choices.
My Game Reviews 