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Title: CBS Badly Misplayed Their Hand By Making 'Star Trek: Discovery' A Paid Streaming Exclusive
Source:
Forbes
URL Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/insert ... eaming-exclusive/#3f36b6cd1318
Published: Nov 1, 2017
Author: Paul Tassi
Post Date: 2017-11-01 14:18:20 by Willie Green
Keywords: None
Views: 3731
Comments: 46
I was excited to watch Star Trek: Discovery last night, CBS’s return to a “true” Star Trek show in the age of JJ Abrams blockbusters. I set my DVR and gave it viewing priority over Fear the Walking Dead, because all the early buzz I’d heard was stellar. But while I really did like the show, the process of watching it was a total disaster. Though I’d set the recording earlier, football pushed all of CBS’s programming out of whack so that 20 minutes of some Oprah special aired during the Star Trek: Discovery recording. I watched anyway, as there was extra time in the recording, so I thought maybe cable had adjusted according and squeezed in the full show by slimming down commercials or something. It did not. The last quarter of the episode had not recorded. While I knew that Star Trek: Discovery was a CBS All Access streaming exclusive, a service you have to pay for, I thought that CBS.com would at least have the episode of Discovery they had literally just aired available to watch so I could see the ending. But no, even the pilot that had just been broadcast was locked behind a paywall. You can sign up for a “free trial,” but one that will immediately start billing you when that period ends. I am not signing up for a CBS paid streaming service, so the only way it appears I’m going to be watching Discovery is if the show goes up on Amazon or iTunes to be purchased directly (I have no idea when or if that is happening). Others may just resort to flat-out piracy, and given my experience last night, it’s hard to blame them. CBS really misplayed their hand with Star Trek: Discovery. While I understand that aging networks want to get their own piece of the Netflix/Hulu pie and have people pay them directly for programming, making Star Trek: Discovery an All Access exclusive misunderstands the market and their own viewing audience. Even without the ridiculous viewing hiccups last night, Discovery being a paid exclusive was never going to fly with me. Why? Am I just a cheapskate who can’t afford $6/10 month? No, but I am someone who already subscribes to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO and for some reason, actual cable still, having not yet cut that cord. If I’m going to add anything else to that list, you had better be damn sure I’m going to get value out of it, and I cannot see that happening with one CBS show they’ve decided to make impossible to view elsewhere. The Star Trek issue is frustrating because this is the first time I’ve actually been interested in a CBS show since Supergirl (which was later taken off CBS for underperforming and moved to The CW). CBS may still put up big numbers for many of its shows, but their audience is aging quickly. A few years ago, reports said the average CBS viewer was 55. Soon, that will be 60, if it isn’t already. Star Trek was a chance to get younger viewers watching the channel for the first time in ages. I was hooked by what I saw of the first episode, and knew immediately it was a show I wanted to continue to follow if I could. The production value is fantastic, the cast is great and it really does address that Star Trek itch that we’ve been waiting years to scratch. But it’s hilariously boneheaded to me to finally have a show that appeals to a younger demographic, and hide it behind a paywall. Yes, the younger crowd is used to paying for streaming services, but almost no one ever signs up for one for one show. Oh, and did I mention that the $6 tier of CBS All Access still includes ads? Sure, Netflix and HBO are a bit more expensive than CBS All Access, but I’m watching many, many exclusive shows, miniseries and movies across those services every year, making the price worthwhile. For CBS, there is literally nothing else I care to watch on All Access (the complete collection of The Big Bang Theory and Two Broke Girls episodes just aren’t doing it for me) nor do I have any idea if the future will provide more All Access-only shows I want to watch like Star Trek: Discovery. In short, there is no way in hell I’m going to pay $72/120 a year to a channel I never watch for one exclusive show that finally managed to catch my interest. Will I ever watch Discovery in full? I have no idea. If it’s ever for sale by itself, I’ll pick it up, and I know international viewers are actually getting the show on Netflix. But CBS really took a wrong turn here, taking one of their most promising shows in ages and locking it into one of the most unappealing subscription services I’ve seen. And they even botched the “teaser” debut so I couldn’t even finish watching the damn pilot without having to subscribe. There are ways for old media companies to adapt to the new media landscape, but CBS is doing it poorly, and I will be amazed if Discovery gets anything even approaching a respectable viewership locked in a tower like this. This was a bad call, and I hope it’s reversed down the road. Poster Comment:
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 12.
#1. To: Willie Green (#0)
It's virtually an all-girl cast. The star is a black woman who was disgraced and in prison but pulled out of prison by the captain. Only three males on the show: the captain and the doctor and chief engineer (but Doc and "Scotty" are gay lovers). The Klingons are badly imagined and break with previous shows in many ways. Now they eat humans for fun and nourishment after killing them. The series is set about ten years before the original Star Trek series. Yet they have a biologically-based star drive that can transport them anywhere in the universe in a split-second. When it's working. It's all a big disappointment, possibly worse than Deep Space Nine and Voyager which I didn't like. I did like Enterprise and the original series and ST:TNG. Another good reason to use VPN so you can route your internet connection overseas.
No... the chief of security is a guy also... and it looks like he might be developed into a "love interest" for the black gal...
I use PrivateInternetAccess.com. It is a premium VPN. No person has ever been traced via them. They keep no logs at all. They've been around for a number of years. You subscribe to it and they email you a user name/password. You download their VPN client program and install it and enter the user name/password. Then you just select where in the world you want to connect via. It's quite easy. They also have clients for various platforms (Windows, Mac, iPhone/iPad/AppleTV, Android phones & Android TV boxes. I've used it on my Mac and my iPhone and iPad and AppleTV and on my Android Kodi box. You do have to update the client program every 2-3 months, it seems. They update it when they detect that someone is finding a way to penetrate it. PIA's client also has an option to lock your internet connection if the VPN is compromised or drops. This is so you don't "leak" your info even if their servers go down, like if you're torrenting so you don't get exposed and traced. My guess is that PIA and other VPNs are not secure against NSA and CIA. Some of them are almost certainly CIA fronts, just like some of the supposed secure encrypted email programs turned out to be. But probably these VPNs are secure against FBI and other police agencies and MPAA/RIAA snoops. When you read reviews of various VPNs, they often compare themselves to PIA's service. Sometimes they have a feature or two that PIA doesn't, may offer more VPN endpoints in various countries, etc. From using USA VPN endpoints, my 2Mbps connection generally can do 1.5-1.8Mbps downloads. So that is a pretty good rate, considering the latency of any VPN connection. Right now, I'm connected via an IP address in Elk Grove, IL. I also use a Midwest connection or a Texas one now and then. If I go overseas, it does slow a bit but once you establish a streaming connection or download connection it still runs pretty fast once you get past the latency of starting the connection. About 10 endpoints here in the States, a few in Canada, a few in England and a few in Australia, one each in the major EU countries, India, Turkey, Israel, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand. PIA is weakest at offering Asian endpoints.
It is a premium VPN. No person has ever been traced via them. They keep no logs at all. They've been around for a number of years. Thanks for the info 2Con. I'll look into this stuff in detail soon, as college basketball season is nearly here and I want to see some games of interest that ESPN seems to have a monopoly on. I cut my satellite/cable about 5 years ago. Thanks again.
PIA is pricey at $40 a year. Hardly any other service costs as much. But it gets consistently high marks from sites like Lifehacker and ArsTechnica. They also have payment via gift cards. So you can go buy a $40 gift card at Dollar Store or Walmart with cash and use that to pay for PIA. Pretty hard to trace you then as there is no financial trail back to you for the account. They also include other extras like proxies and adblocking if you want that.
Yeah... but that's cheap if it helps circumvent subscribing to a bunch of other overpriced crap... Don't get me wrong... I don't mind paying for what I actually watch... I just don't like buying a subscription that also includes a pile of worthless crap that I wouldn't want to watch even if you paid ME...
It's a lot cheaper than paying off DMCA notices, that's for sure. Not that I ever have, just sayin'. You should never torrent without a VPN. It's just not safe. BTW, PIA is one of the few VPN companies that makes a nice VPN client for Linux.
I haven't done any torrents for at least a dozen years... except to occasionally download a new linux iso... but for file sharing? I vaguely recall apps like Napster, Gnutella, Limewire.... but I don't know if any of them are still out there, or if they're defunct or evolved into something else.... LOL! Lost track of all that when I was hospitalized a few years back... It just keeps getting harder and harder to keep up in my old age...
#13. To: Willie Green (#12)
Torrenting is dying out, at least the public sites are. Big sites like KickassTorrents are gone. Only PirateBay and a handful of others remain that are public. Demonoid got busted and came back but is a ghost of its former self. I belong to some private torrent sites that are very impressive but I half-expect them to disappear over the next year or so. At any rate, everyone uses VPNs now if they torrent. If they don't, they get DMCA nastygrams from their ISP very shortly.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest If it’s ever for sale by itself, I’ll pick it up, and I know international viewers are actually getting the show on Netflix.
#2. To: Tooconservative (#1)
Only three males on the show: the captain and the doctor and chief engineer
Another good reason to use VPN so you can route your internet connection overseas.
Any recommendations?
#3. To: Willie Green (#2)
Any recommendations?
#6. To: Tooconservative, Willie Green (#3)
I use PrivateInternetAccess.com.
#7. To: Fred Mertz (#6)
#10. To: Tooconservative (#7)
PIA is pricey at $40 a year.
#11. To: Willie Green, All (#10)
#12. To: Tooconservative (#11)
You should never torrent without a VPN. It's just not safe.
Replies to Comment # 12.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 12.
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