Despite an increasingly large selection of online streaming and downloadable services available for viewers, some film and television fans are reluctant to fully abandon their DVDs and Blu-rays. Along with the vast amounts of content not easily accessible digitally and the continued (if increasingly less pronounced) quality advantages of Blu-ray, the inclusion of special features is one reason why physical formats still hold appeal for many viewers.
Although iTunes has made tentative steps towards including bonus content such as audio commentaries with the 'iTunes Extras' feature for video purchases, the amount of iTunes films coming with bonus features remains limited. It is distributors rather than service providers who will have the last say whether the content is included with the digital versions, with many companies likely withholding extras to make the 'premium' DVD and Blu-ray retail releases more enticing (the main reason why DVD rentals are often 'vanilla' versions without the bonuses).
With Netflix financing more and more exclusive content - TV shows such as House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and the new episodes of Arrested Development - they might finally be considering supplementing the content with the likes of commentaries, documentaries and deleted scenes. CNET quote Netflix's Todd Yellin as stating "the core of the experience is watching the story that the directors and writers contended, and that's like 99 percent of what it is. But supplemental content, whether that's extra features or so forth, we're going to test that around our own originals".
As the wording emphasises, bonus content will initially be restricted to the service's own productions. With studios and other distributors receiving limited revenue from Netflix compared to more traditional sources, they might be reluctant to include extras with streaming versions anyway, at least as long as physical formats retain a significant market share. Nonetheless, Netflix extras could mark one more step towards a wholly digital future for video content. Well, for anyone willing to part with all those bonus booklets and that fancy packaging...
