The Silver Screen Oasis

I think streaming is just different than television. You can't really "surf" through streaming. You start a movie at the beginning, commit and that's it. Whereas television, what's on is on, and sometimes you catch something in the middle and figure "I might want to watch this sometime". I find it a lot friendlier and relaxing in a way. There's also the curation factor. Streaming platforms will most likely suggest to you something similar to what you've already seen but not enlighten you to something completely different. But television often fails at this anyways because most channels are positioned towards a mass audience.

I don't mind an ad now and again, properly placed. The FAST channels just place them randomly (as was previously alluded to). But I'm not convinced that streaming won't just become television or a worse version of it. Once they've run the well dry, they'll bump the price up until you relent to ad-supported, have yearly lock-ins etc. People will act like "they'll cancel", but once that domino falls so will all the others, as they'll all do it at the same time. Cable providers didn't do themselves any favors by being absolute garbage to deal with, people drop them out of spite.

That being said, who wants LaserDisc to return? I'm not against physical media at all, simply that blurays can be pricey, which is unfortunate, I wish they came out sooner before the streaming boom made them a niche product.

NotAnAnimal!! wrote: ↑July 17th, 2023, 8:38 pm I think streaming is just different than television. You can't really "surf" through streaming. You start a movie at the beginning, commit and that's it. Whereas television, what's on is on, and sometimes you catch something in the middle and figure "I might want to watch this sometime". I find it a lot friendlier and relaxing in a way. There's also the curation factor. Streaming platforms will most likely suggest to you something similar to what you've already seen but not enlighten you to something completely different. But television often fails at this anyways because most channels are positioned towards a mass audience.

I don't mind an ad now and again, properly placed. The FAST channels just place them randomly (as was previously alluded to). But I'm not convinced that streaming won't just become television or a worse version of it. Once they've run the well dry, they'll bump the price up until you relent to ad-supported, have yearly lock-ins etc. People will act like "they'll cancel", but once that domino falls so will all the others, as they'll all do it at the same time. Cable providers didn't do themselves any favors by being absolute garbage to deal with, people drop them out of spite.

That being said, who wants LaserDisc to return? I'm not against physical media at all, simply that blurays can be pricey, which is unfortunate, I wish they came out sooner before the streaming boom made them a niche product.

I believe LaserDisc would be a similar novelty to vinyl.
I enjoyed LaserDisc over Video Cassette by far.
Even the RCA CED videodisc was kind of fun.
I was in customer service with cable TV before anyone out here in California knew what Comcast was.
I also like the linear feel to cable. Never had satellite TV.
To use streaming, I'd prefer linear channels there too.
In my home, we only watch news on the broadcast networks. Can stream that for free.
Otherwise, we watch channels available to stream on Philo or Frndly.
It is sports channels that drive the cost of any TV service through the roof.
Philo and Frndly have no sports or news channels.
Lately, we are ignoring SF Giants baseball and didn't watch all of the All-Star Game.
Philo is $25/month with 70+ channels, a year of DVR, and On Demand.
For now, we only have cable TV.
Therefore, I can't claim having experienced Philo or Frndly.
Frndly is 40+ channels with On Demand and DVR.
Price is $6.99/$8.99/$10.99.
Even with duplication of some channels, some believe the two services go well together.
What that leaves me hanging with is TCM.
I don't use the Watch TCM app, which leaves me with the Eastern feed as it has always been.
Could use Xfinity On Demand but don't.
Some here, at least a couple of people, argue with my ideas about TCM and steaming.
Similar to the Good/Better/Best idea from Frndly, TCM might be able to survive as a stand alone.
I'd be happy to pay a lower price for the same TCM Eastern feed I get via cable. (No DVR - No On Demand).

I'd only understand the Laserdisc thing from a movie art perspective, the picture quality of the film, not so much. Vinyl is somewhat different in that often times old masters sound better than newer ones where they've just cranked everything to top volume. Though you might be able to find pressings of old masters on CD, with streaming you're left in the dark about what master you're playing.

I can say that I like watching VHS quality stuff of bad films. There have been bluray pressings of bad films in 2k/4k widescreen and it just doesn't do it for me as much when I know this thing was meant to be watched in 4:3 for Straight to Video distribution.

NotAnAnimal!! wrote: ↑July 18th, 2023, 7:06 pm I'd only understand the Laserdisc thing from a movie art perspective, the picture quality of the film, not so much. Vinyl is somewhat different in that often times old masters sound better than newer ones where they've just cranked everything to top volume. Though you might be able to find pressings of old masters on CD, with streaming you're left in the dark about what master you're playing.

I can say that I like watching VHS quality stuff of bad films. There have been bluray pressings of bad films in 2k/4k widescreen and it just doesn't do it for me as much when I know this thing was meant to be watched in 4:3 for Straight to Video distribution.

I have a VHS copy of Babe, the pig, not the baseball star.
Video Cassettes had previews of new movies, which was really cool.

What's going on at TCM? Insiders detail the fight to protect the network — and why it matters
https://ew.com/tv/tcm-insiders-detail-f ... s-network/

ziggy6708a wrote: ↑November 16th, 2023, 7:14 pm

For anyone interested, Alicia Malone co-hosts (with Tom Myers) a podcast discussing episodes of The Gilded Age series on HBO Max. I enjoy the series and I'm enjoying their commentary. They have good chemistry; Tom is knowledgeable about the era but Alicia has been doing her homework too and adds a lot.

I just watched a 2004 documentary recorded from TCM called Z CHANNEL MAGNIFICAN OBSESSION
I had never heard of this early Los Angeles cable station but it struck me as the "pre" TCM. "Art" movies, no commercial breaks in films, newsletter of month's themes/schedules, etc.
This has been a winning formula ALL ALONG and helps perpetuate the business...it was like UCLA Film School TV.

The future of TCM?
It's OBVIOUS to me and I'll bet everyone in this group that TCM running itself as it's own subscription paid channel would be a winner.

I think any one of us would gladly subscribe to TCM for more than any other subscription channel, $15/month? $25/month?
Hell yeah.
I bet many would even be willing to pay more, considering we used to pay $75/month for "cable" only for one or two stations we loved.

We wanted "a la carte" and TCM has the opportunity to regroup & do so.
Duh.

TikiSoo wrote: ↑November 18th, 2023, 8:32 am I just watched a 2004 documentary recorded from TCM called Z CHANNEL MAGNIFICAN OBSESSION
I had never heard of this early Los Angeles cable station but it struck me as the "pre" TCM. "Art" movies, no commercial breaks in films, newsletter of month's themes/schedules, etc.
This has been a winning formula ALL ALONG and helps perpetuate the business...it was like UCLA Film School TV.

The future of TCM?
It's OBVIOUS to me and I'll bet everyone in this group that TCM running itself as it's own subscription paid channel would be a winner.

I think any one of us would gladly subscribe to TCM for more than any other subscription channel, $15/month? $25/month?
Hell yeah.
I bet many would even be willing to pay more, considering we used to pay $75/month for "cable" only for one or two stations we loved.

We wanted "a la carte" and TCM has the opportunity to regroup & do so.
Duh.

As much as we'd like to see it, it probably won't happen as long as WB owns it, as the financials won't work for WB to make it a standalone service. TCM is currently a very profitable arm of the corporation.

Currently, TCM props up the bottom line in whatever division they're placed among the WB Discovery empire. But even that profitability didn't make them immune from the horrible budget cuts we saw this past summer. Some of that damage has been undone with a few rehires, but you can imagine if they were reliant upon a standalone streaming financial model at the time, TCM probably would have been axed.

No one on the outside knows with certainty (the financials are obscured by amalgamation with other WB units) , but the best estimates are that TCM pulls in about $200M per year or so in cable fees, and spends around $20-$40M per year.

To maintain that level of income as a standalone streamer, they'd need approximately the following subscriber base, at different price points:

1.67M subscribers at $10/month
833K subscribers at $20/month
667K subscribers at $25/month

Filmstruck, the TCM/Criterion collaboration, reportedly had about 100K subscribers when AT&T/WB shut it down. It had a couple of price points, as I recall, but they were around $10/month.

I'd imagine Filmstruck would have had more subscribers had the TCM linear channel shut down when they started Filmstruck, but it's a big jump from 100K subscribers to over a million, at comparable price points for subscribers. The Criterion Channel, the closest thing we have to a streaming TCM at the moment, doesn't publish its subscriber numbers, but it's been estimated at numbers similar to Filmstruck - around 100K.

Just to cover a budget of $40M would require 333K subscribers at $10/month, which might be achievable and sustainable. But the bottom line in corporate USA is profit...

Interview with Ben for Newsweek....

https://www.newsweek.com/2023/12/22/tur ... 51111.html

Basinger is a terrific writer. All of her books are extremely well handled. The love of classic films leap off every page....

HAPPY 30th, TCM!!