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No one says you have to subscribe to ALL of the streaming platforms at once. If cost is an issue, pick 1 or 2 services, watch the shows you’re interested in, t
by bmy78 3y ago
No one says you have to subscribe to ALL of the streaming platforms at once.
If cost is an issue, pick 1 or 2 services, watch the shows you’re interested in, then cancel those and pick 1 or 2. Rince and repeat.
You have choice with this approach and you don’t need every service offered.
- slovette 3y agoWhile perhaps a nominal iteration of improvement, cable was this way too. You didn’t have to have the $100 /month service package. There was always the $30 /mo basic cable (no guide box). The industry simply recycling its business model in new delivery methods is a valid complaint/perception.
- hatsix 3y agothe last base package I subscribed to was $80
- ghaff 3y agoI didn't have a guide box--had a TiVo from pretty early on--and I was still over $100/month before my HBO monthly fee.
- Eisenstein 3y agoThe problem with cable was you couldn't have 'basic cable + FX' or 'basic + AMC' it was $30 for lame selection of mostly crap and then $80 - $100 for anything better.
- nullindividual 3y agoBut! With cable, if you didn't buy the upper tier packages, you may have missed out on some great shows/networks (e.g., HBO). And cable companies often use contracts to make downgrading expensive. With streaming services, cancelling after you've binge watch the shows you're interested in comes with no penalty.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- pianoben 3y ago> cancelling after you've binge watch the shows you're interested in comes with no penalty. ...for now. We'll certainly see these kinds of shenanigans before too much longer. Take ads. They're creeping in to paid subscriptions now - despite the fact that an allure of online streaming is that you can pay not to see them. Where there's the possibility of a revenue play, it will happen eventually.
- chongli 3y agoThere’s a ceiling on how much pain they can put people through. Too much, and it’s back to piracy. That’s the difference now. Back in the cable days people didn’t have that option.
- ghaff 3y agoThere's a ceiling but I'm not sure an annual subscription is that. And if a random person feels they have to pirate a random show because they don't care about anything else on a given service, that's in the noise. I'm pretty sure the percentage of people doing the binge/subscription change dance is pretty small.
- lotsofpulp 3y agoMind boggling that someone can compare the utility to cost ratio of cable/satellite TV requiring contracts and installations to on demand libraries of near unlimited content with instant sign up and cancel abilities on every device. Exact opposite of a “nominal iteration”.
- SV_BubbleTime 3y agoThere is on paper and in practice. Yes, streaming has a ton of content… you still watch a handful of things because there is far more noise than signal.
- lotsofpulp 3y agoThe noise is far easier to avoid since I have on demand access to exactly what I want to watch when and where I want to watch it. The situation is objectively much better than it was during cable/satellite TV days.
- uoaei 3y agoThe tech industry's definition of "disruption" has been pretty clearly validated by now as "undercut established players then appropriate their business models with little innovation". Streaming is a change from syndicated programming but introduces its own issues.
- scarface_74 3y agoBut you couldn’t just choose a single channel aside from the premium channels.
- warkdarrior 3y agoYou cannot pick only Star Wars from Disney+ either. Or Orange Is The New Black from Netflix.
- scarface_74 3y agoYou can buy “Orange is the New Black” and Star Wars from iTunes… Or you can pay for one month, binge and cancel your subscription to each without a contract
- firesteelrain 3y agoYou are a power user. Less savvy people can’t or won’t figure this out
- scarface_74 3y agoReally? Only power users can search on an iPhone and click on a link and go to the TV app or is it only power users who know how to subscribe and cancel a subscription? And only power users search Google for “Orange is the New Black” and click on “How to Watch”?
- melagonster 3y agoyes, switching between Netflix and Disney plus actually is difficult. usually, people just give up to use it.
- scarface_74 3y agoPeople have become accustomed to using apps since 2008. I assure that most people - including my 80 year old dad - knows how to switch applications.
- firesteelrain 3y agoYou are technically correct however that does not work easily in practice. It is easy to forget. It’s not auto opt out.