Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Cheats - Bloomb… 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.
The text in the middle of the show idea will lead to tons of pissed people. You'll have people that will have their show shut off if they don't happen to have the phone handy. Then you get people in the same household watching and won't be able to enter it due to the person who gets the text might not be home. The password change this is more viable. Of course nothing to stop people from just telling their friends the new password. While they could in theory limit to the same IP home that won't account for people that legally use their own account wherever they go.
This will be the easiest way for me to cancel my subscriptions, that's for sure. Streaming is almost already more hassle than it's worth. Limited libraries and rising costs just make it cable-lite, and just about every month I have to justify to myself why I still have Netflix when I feel like I hardly watch it. Now it's going to harass me mid-show when I don't even share my account with anyone? Maybe if they focused on improving the quality of their services they'd see less lost revenue. Also what a state of the world where lending a friend your Netflix password is considered "illegal." Netflix already has it where multiple people can watch at once, (with higher priced subscriptions giving you more "screens") it's not like giving out your password to a friend breaks or abuses this system, it's the same number of watchers regardless.
Brilliant idea, really, making it more difficult to watch it legally than just typing something into a torrent client and streaming right from there. The moment you start making paid services require all sorts of nonsense is when even the people currently paying for it tell you to go screw yourself and start outright pirating. "Hey dude you should be getting a code in the next 5 mins, forward me it so i can watch dipdrip season two." "Sure bro"
It really shouldn't be hard with modern data collection and analysis technology to determine who is egregiously taking the piss without ever bothering people that aren't, but that would of course actually cost money for a system and at least some people to operate it instead of just unloading the hassle onto customers.
Streaming is doing the same thing cable did, they're becoming too much of a hassle. Used to be there was just Netflix, maybe one other service, but now everything's spread out among a dozen different services and the prices just keep going up and there's restrictions and hoops out the ass. It's like companies still don't realize that the best way to make money is to give your customers what they want, and that what they want is convenience. Take that away and everyone will just pirate it instead, because that's more convenient.
They also don't want the subscription prices raised so that Netflix can make more original shit that no one cares about.
These streaming companies are about to learn the same very hard lesson that the music industry already did. In their desperation to "combat" piracy, the music industry thought it would be brilliant to add copy protection to CD's so that no one could rip them to digital format. Because of course that would fix ALL the problems. Well, the ONLY people that it affected were the ones that actually still paid for the music in the first place. Sure enough, once those same people were told they can't do what they want with the tangible product they bought and now own - make digital versions for easy listening on computers, MP3 walkmans, etc. - they said fuck it and just started "illegally" downloading the stuff like everyone else. Everyone on the planet EXCEPT the morons running the show saw that coming a mile away, and it could not have played out any more exact than it did. Bottom line: once you start penalizing customers who are actually STILL PAYING FOR your shit rather than pirating it, you're fucked. Doing that is damn near like sending glitter coated invitation request for everyone TO go pirate instead, and people absolutely will RSVP it in kind. Bite the hands of the people still supporting you and it's game over. And in this 'streaming war' climate, these guys literally can't afford to take that risk.
Meh. There's always something else better to do (and spend money on) besides watch TV. Yeah, nothing will good come from penalizing your paying customers.
The only logistical way to do it is force everyone to use 2-factor authentication. Which again the codes can still be shared but it definitely would be extra work in doing so.
I'm sharing my account with 3 people and I guarantee they will lose money. If they can't use my account anymore, they won't make their own account. And I will downgrade to the 1080p thing, as I don't need 4k for my 1080p TV. I only upgraded so that 4 people could watch simultaneously.
Posted this before it works here too. They just want more of your money, they always have a scape goat......
This is dumb. With all the free streaming like Tubi and... I can't remember the other two that I use, I RARELY use the streaming services that are behind a paywall. I've already cancelled my netflix because the original shows on the service are terrible, and there are only so many times I can watch TNG and DS9. I still have Amazon Prime, though. The pirate sites are going to love the nonsense.
This reminds me when Microsoft launched Xbox One and its exceptional policies about DRM to keep gamers from lending their games to friends, and the Kinect constantly linstening to you.
