TIL Netflix ad tier blocks some shows and movies unless you upgrade your plan
All 155 Movies and Series Blocked in The Advertising Tier of Netflix in January 2025
It really was nice while streaming lasted. Shame these companies continually allow greed to drive me back into the arms of piracy.
The open, loving arms of the 7 seas.
¯(ツ)/¯ piracy is better anyway, I want full bitrate digital copies not compressed garbage.
Such a shame high bitrate full quality movies/TV shows will semi fade away as these asshole companies only stream their movies at 7 gigs an hour and never release physical media.
If you stream torrented films from your computer to your TV you can get a much nicer bitrate
I remember when an older netflix ceo talked about never having ads on the platform, there was some high and mighty principle about it... But then money!
So far, BitTorrent hasn't blocked anything for me.
Example
Devil's Advocate here, but I wonder if that could be a choice made by the creatives or the production company - like, "we hate advertising and don't want it shown during our show, so that's the kind of licence we will agree to".
I think a lot of people would applaud that sentiment of refusing to have ads in their show.
Unfortunately the result would be that for noble, purity of the art, reasons they end up accidentally screwing people in your situation.
No idea if that's plausible, but maybe?
Yeah, I feel like there is a lot at play even in terms of how the content is paid for. Maybe netflix only gets the ad money and not the creatives, in which case they don’t want their content on the ad version. Either way, the customer suffers.
As the article states, this applies to Netflix originals too so I don't know how true this is.
So not a real loss in this specific case.
I was able to watch all of those movies and shows on the Usenet tier of Netflix.
What's this skull and cross bones flag doing here???? Oh, right. It's mine. I fly it often....
It's a licensing issue. They don't have the rights to show every movie or show ad supported.
Do you have a source for that? Because some of them are Netflix originals.
For one you can read the article. But it's a long standing thing. When you license a film or show for streaming, you don't inherently get the right to show ads during it. Some studios specifically exclude the right, some charge more, some don't care. The deals made for some of the Netflix originals don't even allow it, so they can't show their "own" shows with ads. The reality is often times streaming services aren't even making their original shows, they're just paying a bunch of money for exclusive distribution in one or more markets. So, older deals especially, Netflix didn't negotiate for ad rights because they weren't showing ads back then. Some production companies don't want ads running during their prestige show.
Netflix originals.
"Netflix Originals" are content that is produced, co-produced, or distributed exclusively by Netflix. Note that last type. Anything they have exclusive distribution rights for can be labeled an original, even things they didn't make.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_Netflix_exclusive_international_distribution_programming
It's greed issue.
That somehow makes it less terrible?
It's just facts. Explaining, not excusing, not defending. A statement of facts.
I went back to sailing 6 months ago and dropped Netflix and Prime. I can get free shipping most anywhere now, but it's usually slow to get here. When I tried to watch a show on Prime and got ads as frequently as basic cable I was done.
Cancel your subscription now.
Download Stremio Install Torrentio plugin
Never see an ad again, every movie and show ever made
I may or may not have done this but even with a 1Gbps fiber connection sometimes it still buffers a lot. :(
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I don't really know why I still have a netflix subscription
Inertia.
I dropped Netflix last year and haven't missed it at all. There's been maybe two shows/movies that I've had to torrent.
While I don't think this is a news channel, I cannot condemn any rage against the machine.
lol. "upgrade"
Is there a reason why people won't buy blu rays?
Because a single movie costs like 3 months of ad-tier Netflix.
They're not on ad-tier because they're flushed with cash...
I would rather buy the movie and own it than pay netflix money.
Brand new, maybe. But second hand markets exist for this reason.
Because a single movie costs like 3 months of ad-tier Netflix.
Have you looked at blu-ray prices lately? Shit is cheap af. I've been amassing a collection of Criterion Collection blu-rays, usually $30-50 each, on Amazon for ~$15 a piece, on sale consistently. Sometimes even cheaper (Blue is the Warmest Color Criterion Collection Blu-Ray was just on sale for $12.49 on Amazon). The sales seem to change regularly, so I just check every few weeks. And you get a ton of really cool extra shit on top of an amazing film transfer.
And that's for Criterion Collection. Regular blu-rays are often $7-10
Players can be expensive, but the most significant reason is probably having to get up and switch discs to watch something else. The vast majority of consumers have no idea how to rip a disc, nor the know-how required to set up a media server.
fair enough.
I've got a PS5, otherwise I'd have no way to play my blu-rays and 4k blu-rays... Definitely getting my moneys worth from it.
You mean the technology Sony just discontinued?
Waiting 20 minutes through unskippable trailers, 4-5 different 30s logos, a 2-3 minute menu intro then a menu that takes 2-3 seconds to respond per arrow press?
Enshittification will continue until Chapter 7 bankruptcy improves.
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I watch them the other way. Even then there's barely anything to watch
The ads are really what get me. I’m fucking paying you and you still show me ads?!