The golden age of streaming is about to end

[Auggie]

Houston Chronicle

In its earliest days, cord cutting was simple and inexpensive. You saved big bucks by dropping an overpriced cable TV subscription and started using Netflix and/or Hulu for content, perhaps supplemented with season passes for your favorite network shows from iTunes or Amazon.

That was back when cord cutters were few and far between. Today, enough people have dropped cable TV in favor of streaming to the point that big players smell money. Like sharks chasing chum, they’re closing in.

SNIP

All these new players (AT&T, Disney, Comcast/Universal/Apple, etc) are going to be reaching out for your wallet. Want to watch “Star Wars” movies and big-name superhero films? You’ll have to pay up for Disney+. Are you a fan of old Warner Bros. movies or their classic cartoons? You’ll be shelling out to AT&T’s Warner Media service. Want to see “The Office,” currently one of the most popular shows on Netflix? You may have to subscribe to the NBCUniversal offering to get it.

Suddenly, your TV habit just got a lot more expensive. Throw in some subscriptions to your favorite pro sports apps, maybe sign up for CBS All Access so you can watch “Star Trek: Discovery” and “The Good Fight,” and suddenly you’re a frugal cord cutter paying cable TV prices once again.

MORE: https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/The-golden-age-of-streaming-is-about-to-end-13568325.php

[d_r]

1. You can already see it

the amount of original comment on netflix, amazon prime and hulu has been steadily increasing as they saw the writing on the wall. It is like back when the original cable channels like HBO started making original content more and more. It is becoming so segmented. It is kind of a pain to have to load up a different app on the roku to find a different show.

[Auggie]

3. A lot of folks, including me, binge on one service and cancel after a month or so

I'm in a three-way rotation with HBO GO, Netflix and AmazonPrime, for example. Add to that YouTubeTV for live sports, MSNBC, and the added bonus of Turner Classic Movies (TCM). That's $50 a month. It's been working out pretty well.

But when AT&T, Disney and Comcast/Universal go live I expect it to change. AT&T just got control of TCM in the TimeWarner merger. Disney owns ESPN. Comcast owns MSNBC. Instead of one bundle price for all that I could be asked to pay for three separate services (will never happen BTW).

I won't be surprised if one month subscriptions are ended as well (that will end rotation binging, as I call it).

The author did get it right -- this is the golden age of streaming. Too bad it only lasted a year or so. Big corporate is going to ruin it, just like they do to everything.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

4. I agree that is the way to do it.

The next step then will be to go to subscriptions like they did for cable that you can't cancel. Though I don't know that they market would tolerate that.

[Auggie]

5. What I expect is a bundle from AT&T ...

in select markets where Time Warner cable is the monopoly. Non-DISH customers will be offered internet and streaming together with maybe three free months of programming in return for a one year contract. Something like that. Comcast/Xfinity will be able to offer the same deal.

[d_r]

6. We get cable

Through the fine optic that is our internet from the local power company then you can get all the TV channels on Roku. We just do Amazon prime and have had Netflix for 15 years, so we just don't think about it. I got Hulu this year because it was a couple of bucks a month. It seems like a lot of work to switch back and forth but I am lazy about TV. I don't watch it all the time but want some thing to be on when I do, my wife likes to have it on background all the time. PBS has a lot of great shows on Roku.

[ginnyinWI]

2. I just took my Netflix list and started hunting them down at the public library.

We already subscribe to the lowest level of DVD/BluRay which is two a month. The older ones are usually at the library without any other holds. The newer ones, like the Oscar nomination list, are often there but with lots of holds so you need to wait.

But for the older ones, place them on hold at your library network and pick them up. Watch them free within one week. This way we have expanded our "subscription"

We also get streaming Netflix. I like the series.

[llmart]

8. I always use my public library for DVD's.

Mine also has a digital service you can access with your library card. The only TV I pay for is Netflix at $7.99 per month.

I will never go back to cable. It's been almost 10 years since I've paid for cable. Don't miss it one bit.

[ginnyinWI]

9. Coming up to nine years for us.

We get better tv quality from our antenna than any cable signal because it isn’t compressed or reduced.

[hunter]

7. I sorta wanted to see "Star Trek: Discovery" but not enough to subscribe to CBS.

Maybe it will be on Netflix someday, or I'll find a DVD box set in a thrift store.

I've watched all the Star Treks that are on Netflix, including "Enterprise." My wife and I had pretty much quit broadcast television when Enterprise was originally aired. The other Star Treks we'd watched as they were originally broadcast.

There's no way in hell I'm subscribing to any streaming service with advertising.

We watch Netflix and DVDs.

Mostly I find the DVDs in thrift stores, rent from Redbox, trade with family, and that's pretty much it. Our public library has a large selection of DVDs but I'm not in the habit of checking them out from there. I'm much more likely to bring home books.

Our television budget is less than $20 a month, including $8 for Netflix, the rest for DVDs and DVD rentals. That's about all I'm willing to spend on television. It's not a necessity.

We'd have our DSL internet connection whether we used it for television or not. My wife and I both use the internet for work, but without a doubt, the bulk of our internet data volume is Netflix.

Nobody has to buy into these new, expensive, streaming schemes. If enough consumers refuse them this "golden age" won't end.

Heck, if Netflix get's too expensive, starts showing advertising, or the quality of their shows turns to shit, I'll cut them out of my life just as I cut off Comcast many years ago.

[eleny]

10. My library has the dvd of Star Trek: Discovery

You might be on a library waiting list for less time than waiting for it at a thrift. So I hope that's a resource available to you.