Earlier in the week, I promised to write for the rest of the month; maybe 8/mo will be my standard, now? Anyway, I try to not be too obvious or repetitive, but it's worth using this chance to give Netflix some extra attention. First: I've already written about my neighbors to the North, and how well Netflix treated them in the past [7/27 UPDATE: And I will write about this again, too].
I've loved and appreciated a great many Canadians. Natasha Henstridge, Phil Hartman, Wayne Gretzky, Tommy Douglas... Amazing people.
Regardless, I start to wonder whether the home and main market for Netflix isn't getting enough attention. One week ago, Canada got a special update on its kids' show selection. Fair enough, maybe a lot of our northern neighbors have kids who missed a chance to skip commercials to just enjoy Barney, et al.
But 5 days before that, they got a special message about their super-hero movies. The selection alone is maddening to a US viewer: X-Men First Class, Thor, and (get this) Captain America.
Now, they're followed by Transformers 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, and Sky Captain, but those first 3 are movies that would get a lot of attention Stateside. They're obviously available as a fore-runner to The Avengers in May, but why not here, too? What kind of sick, absurd joke are we facing when Cpt. America is specifically not as easy to watch in the US as it is in Canada?
Nice irony that Captain America is available on Netflix in Canada, but not the U.S. It probably has to do with the rights the production companies are willing to sell to Netflix (or the money Netflix is willing to pay for them), or something…one things for sure though, the lack of decent content was a huge frustration for me when I had Netflix. I’ve moved on to greener (or should I say bluer?) pastures now though. As soon as my coworker at DISH told me about the Blockbuster @Home service I signed up and cancelled Netflix. I don’t regret it either, both services have roughly equal streaming, but Blockbuster @Home also includes a bunch of movie channels, and movie and video game rentals through the mail, which is how I’ll end up watching Captain America.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the service, but you're probably dead-on about the rights. I'm checking out my provider situation, too, and considering a switch...
ReplyDeleteNo matter what being from Canada I can tell you that I absolutely love the new movies, they made a great choice improving their services and they can count on me to continue paying the 8$/month. I still agree with you that these movies should be added to the usa service.
ReplyDeleteThanks, sebasadam! As I said above, I have great love for many Canadians (why did Phil Hartman have to die?). And I'm not envious of you folks for getting such a good deal, but it was odd and worth pointing out.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy that you folks are getting a good deal out of Netflix; I just hope they remember to show some love to their home country/biggest customer.
I write a bit about bad/dubious decisions by big-business - the oddities of international copyrights and the availability of media internationally never cease to amaze me.
Thanks for being supportive! I hope we get them, too!
The US has about 9 thousand more selections then canadians, and you're complaining about Kung fu Panda?
ReplyDeleteHaha, I couldn't possibly care about Kung Fu Panda enough to complain about it; it's not worth my passion or writing time.
DeleteI was, however, shocked by what was in the US library versus what was in the the Canadian library just over the border - and that the differences were for American films! One of them is called Captain America, for pete's sake.
Do we seriously have like 9,000 more titles than Canada does? That's a stunning difference. I wonder if they have more access to their native directors, tho (Egoyan, Cronenberg)...
Now canada havr movies like diary of a wimpy kid x2 chipwrecked puss in boots etc america has more titles but canada seems blessed with more newer content
ReplyDeletei recently was in canada, and their list of movies and shows is WAY BETTER. They have way more movies. I saw superbad and rise of planet of apes in canada. One movie i saw and made me mad was that Canada's netflix had fast and furious. Seriously America's netflix blows, and im highly considering switching.
ReplyDeleteYou've gotta really love their service if you're moving to another country for it! Seriously, it's a shame that content rights are so messed up; people tell me old tv series are released with changed soundtracks, and music rights interfere with foreign releases in the US well. The fans are the ones who are being let down by weird contracts...
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