We actually started S1 of Party Down on the stream last night. Totally a show I could see watching a whole season in one sitting like an Entourage...we ended up watching the first four eps.

So now they've removed Party Down from the ranks of the streamable. Thanks Failflix!

But I did start watching The National Parks this weekend and it's fucking excellent.

I just added...

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Red Balloon
Black Dynamite
Art & Copy
180° South

Heard that was a STARZZ directive

i really wish they would add more PBS children shows. Séb loves Sid the Science Kid, Dinosaur Train, Super Why!, etc.

That is the staple of our house in the morning.

Supposedly you can watch it here, but it looks like something you might have to sign up for: http://www.casttv.com/shows/party-down

it works without a sign-up but you're limited to 3 hours per day.

right on man. i love those shows. probably the best TV for kids atm.

Yeah, Martin Starr mentioned this on his twitter acct. He didn't even know it happened and was kinda surprised. I think he popped the link up for that casttv site himself. Weird. First they cancel it, then when ppl can enjoy it via nf, they rip it down.

I think so too. I especially think Sid the Science Kid is great.

Nothing says rock music message board like discussing children's tv programming!

Good news for those of us who use Netflix Instant:

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/netflix-to-stream-films-from-paramount-lionsgate-mgm/?hp

Netflix to Stream Films From Paramount, Lions Gate, MGM

Updated: 4:52 p.m.: At a cost of nearly one billion dollars, Netflix on Tuesday said it would add films from Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate and MGM to its online subscription service.

It was a coup — albeit a costly one — for Netflix, which knows its needs to lock up the digital rights to films as customers stop receiving DVDs by mail and start receiving streams via the Internet. The deal will commence Sept. 1.

Ted Sarandos, the chief content officer for Netflix, said he is essentially taking the “huge pile of money” that Netflix pays in postage for DVDs by mail — about $600 million this year — “and starting to pay it to the studios and networks.”

Wall Street analysts estimated that Netflix would pay about $900 million over the course of five years to Epix, a fledgling competitor to HBO that holds the rights to the film output of Paramount, Lions Gate and MGM. Those payments are expected to help the money-losing Epix break even in the next fiscal year.

The Epix deal will add new releases like “Iron Man” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” to Netflix’s catalog, greatly enhancing the “Watch Instantly” streaming service that the company markets to subscribers as part of an $8.99 package that also includes DVD deliveries. It was the second film deal for Netflix this summer, coming a month after a pact with Relativity Media, the firm run by Ryan Kavanaugh.

Netflix’s open checkbook demonstrates that Internet streaming is clearly coming to the forefront in Hollywood, but in a carefully controlled manner. Mr. Sarandos said in an interview Tuesday that the content deals were part of “our continued commitment to making streaming a better and better proposition for our subscribers.”

Netflix’s future depends in large part on cutting financial deals that keep those streams in place.

The company first took on the likes of Blockbuster with DVDs by mail. Then, in 2007, it set its sights on online streaming, but existing deals with pay TV operators like HBO made it impossible to stream many of the biggest film releases. These deals preserve what is called the pay television window, which opens up about a year after a film is first released in theaters and gives HBO, Showtime or Starz about 18 months of screening (and, more recently, Web streaming) time.

Pay TV arrangements are important contributors to the bottom lines of Hollywood studios, helping them wring more money out of both blockbusters and flops. These arrangements rely on cable and satellite carriers to collect monthly payments.

Accordingly, the movies that were initially available on the “Watch Instantly” service were mostly ones “you’ve never heard of,” Mr. Sarandos said. But the company in 2008 cut an important deal with Starz that allowed access to high-profile films from Sony and The Walt Disney Company. Now it is adding more films through the payments to Epix.

In doing so, it is essentially creating a brand new window for movie viewing, one that does not depend on cable or satellite carriers. “If you own content, you want to sell it to as many people as possible without blowing up your existing revenue streams,” said the Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne.

At the same time, having Netflix in the marketplace puts pressure on cable and satellite providers “because you’ve got another bidder out there,” he said.

The 2-year-old Epix is invisible to most consumers because it has had trouble gaining space on those carriers’ systems. But it is preserving the deals it does have by carving out a three-month TV window for films before they are available to Netflix subscribers.

Jon Feltheimer, the chief executive of Lions Gate, told analysts Tuesday that “by creating this groundbreaking new window for their streaming service, we both protect our traditional MSO customers and create a significant and guaranteed new revenue stream for our service.” MSO is an abbreviation for cable and satellite carriers.

The Los Angeles Times first reported the pending deal on Monday.

Netflix says it prefers to be a distributor for pay TV — not a competitor to it — and wants to license content from HBO and Showtime. HBO has the rights to Fox, Universal and Warner films for at least the next four years.

Asked about the giant amount of content that Netflix was lacking due to HBO’s deals, Mr. Sarandos seemed to take a long-term view. “Every deal expires,” he said, “and every deal has to be renewed.”

I'm not sure if that deal is good news or not given how much they paid for access to those catalogs. I'd have to imagine that the free aspect of the instant viewing might go away soon or that overall subscription rates might go up. I'm already really paying more for netflix than I get out of it.

I think they can keep sub. rates the same (or heck, even lower them) because if they keep trending in this direction...

A. It will allow them to cut their biggest expense, postage. (They spend $650 million a year on it. Shit, they keep the USPS in business)

B. In the last couple of years since they introduced streaming (and also increased their selection) they've more than doubled their number of subscribers.

Stands to reason that with the revenue line going up and their main expense line potentially going down, they can afford the investment in more content.

Advantage: America

I'm pretty sure that when they first started the instant viewing, it was free to subscribers at certain tiers and above because of limited selection and the questionable streaming quality. I'm thinking at some point, its not going to be a free extra.

I know that their postage costs are high. I just wonder how much they save by offering both. I doubt they mail less to me for example just because I can stream movies as well. The instant viewing replaces regular tv more than it replaces the dvds for me. I'm sure they save money but probably not as much as would be required to justify the cost of the content on postage savings alone.

And yeah, they've increased subscribers but I'm sure that they've spent a ton of money on marketing to do so.

I hope I'm wrong but I've witnessed my rates going from $9 to $18 over the last couple of years. I keep my subscription because I really like netflix in theory but I don't really get my money's worth out of it.

I just started doing this and love it. I just use the 8.99 level and that's fine for me. I'll probably drop movie channels from my cable now, which will pay for the netflix. The selection is just so much better. I haven't feel like I had access to this good of a movie catalog for years and years.

Their warehouses are kinda high dollar too, I think. At least the security and cleanliness has gotta be pricey. There's one on the same street where we're building our new one, and there's a lot of "unmarked" trucks around. I would guess they wouldn't mind not having to build any more of those bad boys.

Hadn't been following this thread, but just wanted to add...

"Sid the Science Kid" IS great!!!

That epix deal went into effect September 1. If you look at the new additions tab of instantwatcher you'll see they've added a ton of stuff on September 1 presumably as a result of that deal.

Perhaps more importantly though, Intervention and Silk Stalkings are now available. I'm not sure if I'll ever watch anything else. SHWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPP

My parents inquired about my netflix acct this weekend. Asking me how much I paid, how the streaming worked, etc. I think they might be jumping on--and lemme tell you, if they are jumping into it, that means middle-America is too. They'd be amazing Nielsen folks if it wasn't for my dad's obsession with the History channel.

recently wrapped up Veronica Mars, Pushing Daisies, Green Wing, and a bunch of movies, including that doc about making Exile

stalled out on Dead Like Me and Weeds

Just started Friday Night Lights, which has been great so far (2 episodes).

I was watching some of the first season of SVU last night, and it's among the funniest shit I've ever seen.

Refurbished Netflix Roku HD-XR Player for $70 on WOOT! I bought a second one for my other TV.

http://www.woot.com/

You can get them for roughly the same price new on ebay.

I may need to do this this year. I dig the mailed flicks, but it seems like streaming would be pretty kickass in addition. So it just needs a good intgernets connection and that's it?

I've never had problems with my dsl.