For reasons of consumer convenience and marginal purchase costs. Right now, I believe the reason iTunes is so competitive with Netflix has less to do with a la carte's strength as a model, and more to do with Apple's strength as a platform and ecosystem. I would not be shocked to see more subscription-type offerings from Apple, especially with the whole migration toward iCloud.
Here is where I'll put on my Purely Speculative Futurist hat, and I'll wade out a little bit into the choppy waters of broad generalizations. But I think that a la carte purchases, especially for entertainment products, are in many ways a relic of physical media. That's the way you had to buy physical media, for the most part. But it's a relic that cloud technologies and streaming services are obviating the need for. From a consumer standpoint, I experience zero marginal cost to watch an episode of Breaking Bad on Netflix (whereas I very much experience the feeling of paying $2.99 for it on iTunes).
Netflix is in a tough spot because it has lost a lot of great content, as well as competitive windows against services like iTunes. iTunes is (currently) a much better place to get the new stuff while it's new, and that's a big liability for Netflix or other subscription services. All other things being equal, subscription is a better value proposition than ownership for many categories of goods. It's also more convenient.
Here is where I'll put on my Purely Speculative Futurist hat, and I'll wade out a little bit into the choppy waters of broad generalizations. But I think that a la carte purchases, especially for entertainment products, are in many ways a relic of physical media. That's the way you had to buy physical media, for the most part. But it's a relic that cloud technologies and streaming services are obviating the need for. From a consumer standpoint, I experience zero marginal cost to watch an episode of Breaking Bad on Netflix (whereas I very much experience the feeling of paying $2.99 for it on iTunes).
Netflix is in a tough spot because it has lost a lot of great content, as well as competitive windows against services like iTunes. iTunes is (currently) a much better place to get the new stuff while it's new, and that's a big liability for Netflix or other subscription services. All other things being equal, subscription is a better value proposition than ownership for many categories of goods. It's also more convenient.