Roxanne Powell
Senior Content Editor
Netflix is threatening the live television world, what with its thousands of movies and television shows, all ready to stream ad-free with the touch of a button–and all for the low cost of $8 a month.
Well, that’s only if you have a single, standard definition screen. High definition screens cost a dollar more, and there’s an extra cost for every screen you want to grant streaming access to.
With the Emmy nominations announced on Thursday, HBO came out on top with 99 of them. This year marked the fourteenth (14th) in a row where a cable network has garnered more support than its rivals. The ever-popular Game of Thrones won a grand total of 19; it’s not only one of the most popular shows on television, but also one of the most pirated TV series on the internet.
Of the shows nominated, Netflix came away with 31 more nominations than previous years, with Orange is the New Black coming out on one of the top tiers. Even though it isn’t technically classified as a TV network, Netflix is elbowing its way into the ranks, grabbing the seventh (7th) slot in the line of networks. Although it is still behind channels like ABC and CBS, numbers don’t lie: if the other stations don’t bring their viewership (and therefore their numbers) up soon, Netflix will pass them and leave them in the dust.
If you think that’s impressive, wait until you hear the real numbers. HBO’s 99 nominations came from a combination of love for 26 shows, miniseries, and movies. Pretty impressive, right? Well, Netflix’s 31 nominations came out of love for only 5 shows, specials, and movies. That’s 21 less, and they still more than doubled their numbers from last year’s 14 nominations.
Although HBO is older than Netflix (the titan is 42 to the site’s 17), the website is catching up. With more site-exclusive content being produced (Arrested Development, s4; Hemlock Grove, s2; and others) it won’t be long before people turn primarily to the internet for their programing.
Even with Netflix’s recent price increase, it’s still less expensive than HBO. With three HD screens streaming content, Netflix charges about $12 a month. Now compare that to $15-$20 depending on your cable provider, on top of the cable fees you already pay. It’s no contest.
But people will pay good money for good content, and right now the two reigning champions of that good content are HBO and Netflix.
Who will win out in this “Battle For The Viewers”? Only you, the viewers, can decide.
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