Tech News Roundup for October 16, 2020
I’ve had a bit of an erratic schedule for the last week or so, so today’s update actually includes a couple stories from last week I think are still worth mentioning. I hope to be back to regular updates next week.
Netflix Announces Price Increases for Canada
Last week Netflix began informing customers that the price for two of its three streaming plans would be going up. The $9.99 Basic Plan remains at the same price, though that plan limits users to only watching video in standard definition, and honestly I don’t think that is an acceptable plan in 2020 when we all have HD or 4k devices. The price increases come to the plans people actually have. The Standard plan increased by $1 to $14.99 per month, and the Premium Plan increased by $2 to $18.99 per month. The Standard Plan allows users to stream on 2 screens in 1080p HD, and the Premium Plan allows users to stream on 4 screens in 4k HDR.
These price increases sting. Netflix increased prices not all that long ago, and now there is another increase. When compared to its competitors, Netflix is becoming more and more expensive, and is frankly becoming harder to justify. Bell Media’s Crave service starts at $9.99 per month, though it only has up to 1080p HD content. For an additional $10/month, bringing the cost to $20 Crave also has access to the entire catalog of HBO and an expanded library of movies. Crave + HBO is comparable in price, and arguably does have less content, but the HBO content is compelling, and users can always sacrifice some access to content and cut the price in half.
The other big streaming services available in Canada are admittedly services run by huge companies that can be subsidized by their other businesses. But that doesn’t change the price. Disney+ is $8.99 per month, and while it’s library of content is nowhere near that of Netflix, it has all of Marvel, Star Wars, and the Disney classics. And at that $8.99 price also includes access to 4k HDR streaming, there is no higher tier to access that like there is on Netflix. Apple TV+ is $5.99 per month, and most definitely does not have the content library of the other services, and it does include 4k HDR streaming, but only on the Apple TV 4k or a small selection of smart TV’s. Lastly, Amazon includes Prime Video in its Amazon Prime service, which is $80/year. The value of Amazon Prime is insane, and it’s almost not even fair to compare, but it’s there. Even if Prime Video is the only thing you use in a Prime subscription, that is $6.67 per month, and does include 4k HDR streaming. This is easily the most subsidized service, but the value cannot be ignored.
Suddenly, Netflix is looking more and more expensive. In a world where it is super easy to just cancel and re-subscribe to services at will, Netflix suddenly feels like a service I don’t have to subscribe to every month anymore, especially at the $19/month plan I would want. That would be a change for me, as I have literally been continuously subscribed to Netflix every month since it launched in Canada. And, after the latest price increase, that may no longer be the case. Netflix is treading on thin ice here, and risks increasing the churn rate, which would be bad in the long term.
Rogers Jons Bell and Telus, Will Not Charge for 5G Access
When the Big 3 carriers in Canada began rolling out their 5G networks, they all announced that starting in April 2021 they would begin charging an additional fee to customers to access that network. That went over as well as you would expect, and a few months ago Bell and Telus announced they were scrapping those plans, and would let customers with 5G capable phones use the 5G network without any additional fees. Rogers remained the lone holdout, until last week. The company finally figured out that being the only carrier that would charge users for access to a 5G network was a very bad idea, and has reversed course. This was always a terrible idea, so I’m glad to see common sense prevail.
Shaw to Increase Prices….. Again
In what is becoming a yearly tradition for every big ISP in the country, it is time for Shaw to raise prices. Some internet plans are going up by as much as $6. Other TV and internet add-ons are increasing by $1 to $2 per month.
This will not affect customers on locked in contracts, but will affect those on month to month plans and those who will be renewing their plans.
Canadian ISP’s are actually rated very highly in terms of speed and reliability, and our networks usually outperform many US ISP’s. But we certainly pay the price for it.
I think it is time we start talking about regulating Internet Service like we do other utilities. In 2020 internet access is as essential as electricity.
https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/10/16/shaw-increase-internet-tv-add-on-prices/
Twitter Changes Hacked Materials Policy After Controversial Incident
This is a messy one that I won’t go into the politics of. The New York Post published a story about Hunter Biden that was based off of data taken off of a laptop that was obtained via what some are saying is an illegal act. That remains in dispute.
Twitter and Facebook both have policies on the posting of hacked content, and Facebook limited the story’s reach until it could be independently verified by fact checking services that Facebook uses. Twitter took a different tactic, and outright removed links to the story, and restricted the New York Post’s Twitter account based off the company’s policy of not allowing “hacked” content.
The problem with this is that the policy was applied in a very draconian matter. The policy was put in place mostly to prevent Twitter from essentially being the host of a data dump of hacked content. Many do not feel that it should be applied to a news organization publishing a story. In the United States, a news organization does have a First Amendment right to publish stories such as this, even if the content was obtained in a disputed fashion. If Twitter were to apply that policy in this manner, there would be dozens and dozens of news stories, especially about politics, that would have had to be removed. One such example of this is the recent New York Times piece on President Donald Trump’s taxes. An argument to be made that if Twitter was applying this policy evenly, that story should have been removed from that platform, and it was not.
In response to this backlash, Twitter has revised its policy to clearly state that it will only remove “hacked” content that is directly being shared on Twitter. It will no longer remove legitimate news stories referencing such material. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted that “Straight blocking of URLs was wrong”