The Future of Streaming Services

[Shazam]

Meh.

- On demand content
- Access to entire show catalog
- No commercials (except SN/TSN, ha ha)
- Drop provider and pick up again with no hassle
- Way, way, way better picture and sound quality
- Watch on basically anything that has a screen
- Community standards? What community standards?

I can't believe we all just throw HBO in there like it was nothing. That thing was premium content back in the day and was always an expensive add-on.

[Winsor_Pilates]

It is getting out of control.
The best way I find to do it is cycle on and off them and never commit to annual contracts.

Let the Netflix titles you want to watch build up while you catch up on Disney+ or wherever, then switch subscriptions once you've seen what you actually really wanted to watch.

This doesn't work for live sports obviously but I'm perfectly fine waiting to catch up on shows.

[bossy22]

No cable for 6 years. I like the flexibility to cancel and add at will. I cancelled Crave/HBO for 3 months because I was watching other shows. I don't have Prime, but will get it to watch the boys and then cancel again. The only two constants I have are Netflix and Disney and I will likely cancel Netflix. My son watches Disney the most so that stays. We also do TSN from time to time. I watch hockey on the CBC app on apple tv. I get survivor from the global app on appletv.

[Torture]

We've got Netflix and Prime which used to cover everything but I find myself sailing the high seas a lot more nowadays.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

One thing that usually doesn’t get mentioned about cord cutting is how much of a PITA it is when using half a dozen, or more, streaming services.

Cable is just objectively better for sports because I can flip from game to game and channel to channel so much easier than on a streaming service. I also worry way less about which service I’m signed into when I want to switch from hockey to football at intermission.

Because some services are required even with cable, that problem still exists for cable users, just not as much.

Plus I find not having cable is still a pain if I don’t pirate. No more access to random programs on channels I like but don’t watch a ton, like PBS. Also, no more PVRing Big Brother. Now I have to watch with commercials on the ####ty Global app.

I’m actually reasonably happy with the tv/internet I get with Telus. No way I could get as good of a deal if I cord cut and the inconvenience factor would go way up.


But the dedicated streaming services, which have no cable equivalent, like Disney/Amazon/Netflix/apple/paramount, I’m just getting tired of their overpriced services and lack of quality content to justify the price.

It’s gonna go back to the old days where I have cable and then just steal everything that’s not included in the channels i get.

[Shazam]

Ew, Big Brother.

PBS not being available in Canada is a real disappointment. Isn't it free in the USA?

[Sr. Mints]

I went through this exercise a while ago when I thought my subscriptions were getting out of hand:

Netflix: $16.5
Disney: $10
Prime: $8.25
Apple: $6

$41/month

(Cancelled in the last six months: Crave, Youtube Premium, Sportsnet)

This month I'll re-add Crave to catch up on HBO content, and probably drop Apple once For All Mankind ends. Add Sportsnet when when NBA and NHL fire up.

14-15 years ago when I last had cable I believe <?> it was around $70-80/month just for television. So we're not there yet, but I'm not getting the same content, for better or worse (especially with regard to sports, for the worse)

[Shazam]

So it is actually interesting because Shaw keeps offering me cable TV for like $50/mth these days. They also seemed to have given up on "packages", so it's an all-in thing.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Ew, Big Brother.

PBS not being available in Canada is a real disappointment. Isn't it free in the USA?

I get PBS on Telus. Is there a different one in US?

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

I get PBS on Telus. Is there a different one in US?

As a streaming service.

[Nadal Fan]

One of the biggest negatives with the switch from physical media to streaming services is it has a direct impact on the kinds of movies that get made and which ones get sequels. Studios used to get a huge chunk of revenue from DVD/Blu Ray purchases which could help films with a mildly successful box office get a sequel. For example in 2009 Star Trek pulled in $380 mill from a $140 mill budget BUT also made another $192 mill from home video sales. Fast forward a decade and a film like Alita Battle Angel made $400 mill from a $170 mill budget but was only able to pull in $24 mill from home video sales. A single movie can't really make the kind of money from streaming services as it did from physical media.

Kevin Smith recently talked about how he was able to make a new Clerks movie because of how successful Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is on home video.

https://www.slashfilm.com/939303/cle...ays-comic-con/

[KTrain]

Matt Damon made a similar comment on Hot Ones.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1561480505882619904

[TheIronMaiden]

It is fitting that I use Netflix primarily to watch One Piece.
Yoho it's a pirates life for me.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

One thing that usually doesn’t get mentioned about cord cutting is how much of a PITA it is when using half a dozen, or more, streaming services.

Cable is just objectively better for sports because I can flip from game to game and channel to channel so much easier than on a streaming service. I also worry way less about which service I’m signed into when I want to switch from hockey to football at intermission.
.

Streaming sports has live rewind/replay on many services. I couldn't imagine watching hockey games anymore where I can't rewind at will and then go back to live viewing when I want to.

You can also have both sports running side by side in different browsers or switch between tabs.

[Jason14h]

There’s is also way more content then ever existed with cable , and much more Quality content

I’m just not sure how people think shows get made . For free ? If you don’t want to pay a fee and don’t want commercials /adds and want to share with 3 households , how do you expect these companies to make money?

Netflix alone spent 20 billion on content last year

Seeing an advertisement between shows vs spending 5$ a month seems like a pretty fair tradeoff to me

Curious to hear other viewpoints

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Streaming sports has live rewind/replay on many services. I couldn't imagine watching hockey games anymore where I can't rewind at will and then go back to live viewing when I want to.

You can also have both sports running side by side in different browsers or switch between tabs.

You can pause and rewind live sports on cable too ! It was a new invention about 15 years ago

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

There’s is also way more content then ever existed with cable , and much more Quality content

I’m just not sure how people think shows get made . For free ? If you don’t want to pay a fee and don’t want commercials /adds and want to share with 3 households , how do you expect these companies to make money?

Netflix alone spent 20 billion on content last year

Seeing an advertisement between shows vs spending 5$ a month seems like a pretty fair tradeoff to me

Curious to hear other viewpoints

These services spend way more on content than they earn in subscriptions. We the consumers have had our entertainment massively subsidized by investors. If those investors lose faith that the streamers will be profitable in the long-term, capital will flee and we’ll see some combination of higher prices and dramatically reduced spending on new programming.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

You can pause and rewind live sports on cable too ! It was a new invention about 15 years ago

Yeah you need one of those dumb PVRs from the cable company that can only record a few things at a time for a limited time

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Yeah you need one of those dumb PVRs from the cable company that can only record a few things at a time for a limited time

And are $10-15 a month for each tv in the house.

[jayswin]

Not to defend cable even further but there's almost zero bundles where you pay for TV boxes these days. They're all free rentals for the duration of the contract.