Yaghi became popular, the subscription fee became expensive

Charso Press: In a situation where cinema is going through its declining days and every day there are news about the absolute bankruptcy of Iranian cinema, domestic platforms and especially among the two prominent platforms, “Filimo” in news silence and with a noticeable slope, its subscription fee. has increased The cost of subscribing to the content of this platform has increased from 99 thousand tomans per month to 125 thousand tomans, which, including taxes and its added value, is 136 thousand tomans for each user.

Popular series and price increase

The remarkable point of the story is the simultaneous release of the fourth part of the series “Yaghi” by Mohammad Kart, and when this series has found its audience among the young and teenagers. This is the third time that after the release of 4 episodes of a popular series, “Filimo” has increased its prices without feeling the need to explain to its audience.

The first sudden price increase occurred after the release of 4 episodes of the series “Beggar Queen” and again, at the same time as the release of the fourth episode of the series “I want to stay alive” by Shahram Shah Hosseini.

The rising wages and the heavy costs of producing dramas, if the reasons for the increase in the cost of platform subscriptions are mentioned, it will still lead users to compare it with global platforms such as Netflix. It may be interesting to know that the monthly Netflix subscription in Turkey is $2.58 and the one-month subscription to Filmo in Iran is $4.53. The point to consider in this context is the burning of foreign works, which is free in most of the movies and series available for these platforms, and the biggest cost is the small fee they pay for dubbing foreign works.

Monopoly home show network?

The issue of monopoly of Iranian platforms started in 1998. The same days when the two platforms Filmo and Nemava managed to gain such a position among the audience. At the same time, the answer given by the owners of these VODs indicated that there is no connection between the platforms and the domain filtering of the sites, and the companies that used to provide their servers to these sites, have refused to continue this cooperation. . This issue went to the point where these two platforms officially announced that they have no role in the story of closing movie download sites and this issue was decided by the judicial authorities.

Another interesting point that was brought up in the news of the expensive subscription of platforms last year was the idea that serial productions are going to increase to 6 titles per week, that is, one series for every night, and of course these productions will impose huge costs on these institutions. and the audience or users of these VODs must pay a part of these costs.

In this regard, we should move on to the file of public complaints about the two platforms “Namava” and “Filimo”, which reached the 90th Majlis Commission in April of last year and is still open. It seems that there is no regulatory organization and institution that, relying on the principle of “protecting the rights of users”, puts the pricing and performance of these platforms under the microscope and is responsible for the rights of Iranian users.

Removing platforms from household expenses

If the increase in the ticket price of the cinemas due to the two-year closure, the reduction in the capacity of the theaters after reopening and the sleep of the capital during the long time of the screening is an acceptable justification, but the increase in the subscription fee of the platforms under the pretext of the production cost of the series seems far from logic and ambiguous. Is. Especially platforms like Filmo, which experienced their golden days during the Corona era and people staying at home. But will this high cost and carelessness lead the Iranian audience to use these products with less expensive methods? It seems that in the face of such an increase in subscription fees, the audience will take available or illegal ways, such as downloading or buying products from the video club. A cycle that will end up at the expense of platforms.

It should be noted that in the preparation of this report, Hamshahri’s online inquiry from the head of Satra and the members of this regulatory body did not reach a result, and Satra has not been willing to respond in this regard so far.