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The TV streaming apps broke their promises, and now they’re jacking up prices

For a moment, it seemed like the streaming apps were the things that could save us from the hegemony of cable TV—a system where you had to pay for a ton of stuff you didn’t want to watch so you could see the handful of things you were actually interested in.

Archived version: archive.ph/K4EIh

uriel238 ,
@uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

So piracy is a check on the abuses of the media market?

Interesting!

SlopppyEngineer ,

Sounds like a good time to cancel a subscription and finish the ol’ Steam library

shirro ,

I am going to need more gaming PCs to keep the family engaged in the post streaming world. Not sure how I am going to do it. Even finding space for them is going to be a challenge.

qbus ,

Let me introduce you to the wonderful world of steam deck

Nekobambam ,

Over the past few months, I’ve canceled my subscriptions to Audible, Disney+, Netflix, and appleTV. I still have Amazon Prime since it’s an annual subscription, but that’s it. It’s been a surprise to realize how much pressure I was feeling to consume all this content and how freeing it felt to just get rid of it all. I have a lot of audiobooks I haven’t gotten around to listening, and books I haven’t read yet. I can still watch stuff on Amazon and ahem other places if I want. But really, there has to be more to life than just endlessly binging tv shows.

googlesnarfen ,

Capitalism turns everything into shit. Not promises, only profit.

ThirdNerd ,
@ThirdNerd@lemmy.world avatar

Currently paying for YouTube ad-free, Netflix ad-free, and Hulu ad-free.

YouTube’s algorithm seems intent on making me look elsewhere for content, as it suggests the same twenty things over and over again, despite the fact that I’ve watched half of them already and ignored the other half for months now. We only keep it because spouse wants it for YouTube music. Me? I’ve wandered off to piped and peertube, mostly.

The Netflix app locks up and crashes the Roku at least once every movie. It used to do this just now and again, but recently it’s so bad I don’t even load it anymore and spouse is THIS CLOSE to being talked into just cancelling it.

Hulu…? Well, it’s ok. I wish it still had a lot of the older stuff, as a lot of the newer stuff is just stupid and/or revolting. Because of the above, we’d probably keep this one and dump the others, based on price and what (mostly spouse) finds useful to watch.

I’m actually checking out other things. Like Hoopla through the local library, eBooks, real books (the local library is free). Spouse and I have also learned to play several different card games, and sometimes we actually interact with each other instead of alpha-wave mind-bending into the electronic hallucination machine on the other side of the living room. We’re also exploring more outdoor activities, like hiking, birding, nature walks, team sports, and so on.

Sometimes, a “bad” thing is just the right thing that needs to happen.

ClassyDave ,

We’ve all got to find balance in our lives! Sounds like you’re doing that! Wish more people would take this approach, if the streaming eco system no longer suits us we can simply choose to not participate, we don’t NEED the entertainment they provide. That’s the only way the product will improve, if we just continue paying for it what incentive do they have to improve the service?

salient_one , (edited )
@salient_one@lemmy.villa-straylight.social avatar

despite the fact that I’ve watched half of them already and ignored the other half for months now

What’s up with that anyway? You don’t have to have a fancy algorithm to not show me the things I’ve watched already!

Also congrats on finding new hobbies. Sometimes we forget that there’s life outside of screens. Or perhaps not many have the energy for anything beyond staring at the black mirror.

DigitalWebSlinger ,

I will forever wonder how these companies actively choose $0/mo over a cut of $XX/mo and everyone in the decision chain thinks it’s the right decision.

skizzles ,

Because your 0$ per month after dropping them doesn’t hurt their bottom line.

Corporations generally weigh the risks and the benefit often wins out and they make more money because there are enough people that either reluctantly cave into the fee increase, forgot about their subscription or just don’t care that it’s going up.

It’s fairly seldom (but seems to be increasing over the years) to see so much backlash that a company walks back on what they were planning to do.

Linuto ,

My favorite example of the reverse in recent memory has been Wizards of the Coast essentially going back completely and then some on their unpopular OGL changes after a significant portion of their DnD Beyond members canceled their subscriptions.

baronvonj ,
@baronvonj@lemmy.world avatar

They want you to drop your subscription to the ad-supported tier.

Corkyskog ,

Like 22% of Americans never check their credit card statement details.

givesomefucks ,

It sucks for consumers…

It sucks for writers…

It sucks for actors…

It sucks for vfx workers…

And the CEOs running the companies and making all the money claims it sucks for them too because after their last couple years of shit decisions, they’re making slightly less money.

So maybe those shareholders should re-evaulte who their CEOs are?

Maybe get rid of the people who killed the Golden Goose because they wanted to eat it?

Riyria ,

If they’re not losing money, shareholders do not care. The end goal of a corporation is to maximize profits for the shareholders within the confines of the law. So until they start actually costing shareholders substantial amounts of money they will do nothing.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod ,
@Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social avatar

The end goal of a corporation is to maximize profits for the shareholders within the confines of the law.

And if the fine is greater than the profit, or they don't get caught, that's okay too.

Riyria ,

Yep. It’s easier to just break the law, pay the fine, and continue making billions over actually stopping the activity that causes the fine. That’s what happens when it’s almost impossible to hold anyone actually personally responsible force actions of a corporation.

Corkyskog ,

In a way it would be really nice if you couldn’t sell short term stocks and there were minimum holding periods of 1 to 3 years based on the company metrics. That alone would flip a lot of these quarterly incentives, heck quarterly earnings calls themselves would probably be less frequent. Even if you had to register the sale 6 months in advance would solve a lot in my opinion. But of course again, that would destroy the entire finance industry as we know it.

tok3n ,
@tok3n@lemmy.world avatar

The only reason I have Netflix is because I get it through T-Mobile as a last resort. Fuck the state of streaming content. Raise the pirate flag boys!

Fester ,

At this point, the best way to go (besides sailing) is to subscribe to one or two services at a time, cancelling others month-to-month based on what you want to watch.

We need an app that lets you search for content across all platforms and easily cancel and start subscriptions - queueing them up and helping you easily limit the amount you’re paying monthly.

But with these prices, it’s worth doing that manually.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , (edited )
@Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social avatar

Here's how that will go:

Each streaming service will release their own aggregator app. Each of these will have a fee associated with them. Each of these will have certain services they don't work with because the lawyers are still fighting over things. Each of these will eventually reduce their search coverage and promote their own content. "You searched for Star Trek, would you like Star Wars instead?"

Even if an open source third party wrote something that did this, companies would change their API pricing or authentication to break it so people don't leave their walled gardens.

Companies are incapable of making a service that doesn't eventually enshittify.

Fester ,

A third party app can just scrape catalogues, and then direct you to the platform’s website through an integrated browser to manage each account. They can push notifications when a subscription is about to be renewed just by remembering when you subscribed, and send reminders to cancel and subscribe to the next service in your queue.

The streaming companies won’t hide their catalogues because that’s how many people find what they want to watch through simple web searches, e.g. “Where to stream Barry” or “when does the new season of x come out?” The app could pull metadata from other sites for graphics and info like many already do.

It wouldn’t be as convenient as flipping a switch which would require proper API and probably login info, but seeing everything and managing it from one place would still help a lot.

I think a bigger danger would be platforms countering by requiring phone calls to cancel, or contracts, or slow-dripping content over months to keep you subscribed (some already do the latter.) IOW continuing to become more like cable.

Yendor ,

Apple TV and Plex both do this already.

gsb ,

Right now it’s smart to cycle through but I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the next thing to go.

What I could see happening is they keep raising monthly prices until the math doesn’t work out of them. Then they’ll introduce a small discount for locking in multiple months (3,6,12mon). Both will continue to rise in price but month to month will be quicker.

Fester ,

Or straight-up contracts. But I think the next step will be more slow-dripping content.

Netflix just pulled an obvious one by splitting the Witcher season 3 to the release half at the end of June and the other at the end of July. They claim it was for “an effective cliffhanger” but it’s clear they just wanted to squeeze one extra payment out of its viewers who aren’t interested in their other content. Paramount meanwhile stretches all of their Star Trek series out across the entire year.

I imagine platforms will start slow-releasing more of their most popular originals. I wouldn’t put it past them to flood social media with spoilers to punish anyone who’s waiting. I also wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing one episode per month someday.

festus ,

Disney+ (at least in Canada) gives a 15% discount if you pay for a year up-front.

CapnAssHolo ,

I’ll plunder yer coffer, ye mutinous, squiffy gob! … Hoist the Jolly Roger!

Gutless2615 ,

Arrrrr whatever be i to do? 🦜🏴‍☠️

MrGerrit ,

Cable companies: You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me.

demonsword ,
@demonsword@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve never threw away my jolly roger, it’s just safely hidden away

iMastari ,

Since these are turning to shit, are there any good Soap2Day replacements?

HappycamperNZ ,

Bflicks.something

miketunes_ ,

www.togetherprice.com - great site to share subscription prices, I’ve been using it for years.

Kosta554 ,
@Kosta554@feddit.nl avatar

Good to know 👍🏻

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