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Netflix and Starz have decided to end their partnership in bringing us, the viewers and subscribers, collective content for us to enjoy. Currently as of the writing of this essay, the partnership is projected to end on February 28, 2012. This means that approximately one thousand movies will no longer be available via Netflix. To view a few more details, go here: http://www.screened.com/news/starz-ends-relationship-with-netflix/2832/ and here: http://paidcontent.org/article/419-why-netflix-subs-cant-stream-sony-movies-from-starz-for-now/ While this is a small matter in the scheme of things for most people, it is disturbing for the same reason so many other events and situations are disturbing: greed. Starz wants more money for the streaming content it provides Netflix, and Netflix doesn't want to pay that much. That's the whole issue in a nutshell. Perhaps you don't care about this development in streaming content. I use Netflix streaming, and I'm not even all that upset about it. I view it as just another inconvenience foisted upon me by the 'powers that be.' But what does make you angry? The price of gas? The price of food? The price of basic utilities and other necessities? The unjustifiably extravagant lives of CEO's, movie stars and professional athletes? Identity theft? Robbery? Rape? Murder? War? Do the harshest of these things compare to a financial dispute between two business entities, in terms of how it affects us? No. Does the Netflix/Starz dispute remind us how little we actually matter in the decisions made by the powers that be? Yes. Despite our feel-good mantras and delusions, human beings are ineffective when it comes to proving to the universe that many of our most shining examples of successful people are more worthy than spiders; creatures that cunningly spin webs and drain hapless victims dry. Follow the money. Watching a Starz movie on Netflix at midnight on February 28, 2012 is very much like watching our own world develop year after year: Because of the decisions of the few, that we didn't make but still condone, it will end unsatisfactorily mid-stream, with no proper resolution. |