[golfster]

As of late, I keep seeing more and more for fee services becoming available. It is getting harder to find adequate programming on one or two services like Prime or Netflix. If you subscribe to AMC, NBC, CBS, Discovery. Britbox, Hulu, Acorn, ESPN, HBO, Starz, YouTube, Sling, Disney and many other that I am sure I missed, you have exceeded your mortage payment. Do you think it has reached the point where there will be a shake out of these services and once again a couple of providers will once again dominate?

I have DishNetwork, Prime, Netflix and Disney and have trouble finding decent content. Disney is the first to go for me. Too much has migrated from Netflix to other services. Same with Prime plus it is littered with PPV offerings. Disnet is just too kid oriented for me. The on demand from Dish is getting more sparse. Where to go? There are a few free serviced with commercials nut they offer little. I have borrowed DVDs from the library, but that is inconvenient.

What are your thoughts and what are you doing?

 

[TitusTroy]

you don't need to stay subscribed to all the streaming services year round...switch them out based on upcoming content that you are interested in watching...so for example this month you can subscribe to Disney+ to watch Mandalorian and cancel Netflix...next month cancel Disney+ and sub to Amazon Prime to watch The Expanse...you can just keep 1-3 platforms active at any one time

there are also free trials of Hulu, AMC+ etc...even multiple free trials (you can get a free trial of AMC+ on both Apple Channels and Amazon Channels independent of each other)

 

[Mike Lang]

If you subscribe to AMC, NBC, CBS, Discovery. Britbox, Hulu, Acorn, ESPN, HBO, Starz, YouTube, Sling, Disney and many other that I am sure I missed, you have exceeded your mortage payment.

Where the hell do you live?

Many of them are comped with other stuff.

I have Xfinity gigabit internet but not a TV plan through them (I have Directv). But if I let Xfinity send me a free streaming device, they'll give me Peacock Premium for free.

I'll never use their device as I'm already buried in Apple TV, Roku, & Fire devices but I have to let them send me one just to get the service for free.

My Directv account allows for streaming through most of the networks.

HBO Max comes free with our cell plan.

Hulu & Showtime are free with my son's Spotify student plan.

Apple TV+ was free with my iPhone.

 

[golfster]

My point was the dilution of the major providers. Netflix lost anything Disney/Pixar related. Prime lost HBO content etc. Will someone prevail, merge, bundle providers?

 

[eljaycanuck]

My wife and I have basic cable TV and Netflix. If we can't find it there (or rent it off iTunes) we don't watch it.

 

[crbdrb]

My point was the dilution of the major providers. Netflix lost anything Disney/Pixar related. Prime lost HBO content etc. Will someone prevail, merge, bundle providers?

I hope not. We are finally starting to see al a carte, which so many people were clamoring for (myself included). I like the way it is turning out.

 

[Mike Lang]

Yeah this is the way it should be. If you don't want or need many of them at once, just subscribe to a few long enough to binge everything you wanted to see them move on to a few others. Rinse & repeat.

 

[Zookster]

My point was the dilution of the major providers. Netflix lost anything Disney/Pixar related. Prime lost HBO content etc. Will someone prevail, merge, bundle providers?

Disney bought Fox/FX and merged a bunch of content on Hulu. Disney+ merged Pixar/Star Wars/Marvel/Nat Geo. The new Discovery+ is merging content from a lot of different channels, including A&E and History. CBS All Access is presenting more Viacom content. Peacock has NBC shows, select Showtime shows, British TV, etc. HBO Max brought together all the Time Warner content.

I doubt we'll ever see the one-stop shop Netflix offered in the early years of streaming, where between them and Hulu, you pretty much had access to every current and recent TV shows on demand. Further consolidation will depend mainly on the acquisition and merger of major studios. So unless Netflix buys Time Warner from AT&T, for example . . .

 

[WilliamR]

Yeah this is the way it should be. If you don't want or need many of them at once, just subscribe to a few long enough to binge everything you wanted to see them move on to a few others. Rinse & repeat.

 

[bryantc]

This is a case of be careful what you wish for. Everyone wanted a la carte on-demand TV. And that's exactly what we have now. Of course once you've subscribed to all the services you want it might end up costing more than your cable subscription did...

 

[friedmud]

I currently have Disney+, AppleTV+, Netflix, Hulu (live streaming), Prime, and HBO Max. All together they cost WAY less than I was paying for cable a couple of years ago... and are way more convenient and are (mostly) higher quality. I'm not complaining here!

You do need a good box to help aggregate them though. My AppleTV 4k does a good job of aggregating/searching across most of them... except Netflix is still a holdout (and therefore I end up watching it less!).

 

[Mike Lang]

Of course once you've subscribed to all the services you want it might end up costing more than your cable subscription did...

But you don't need to subscribe to all of them simultaneously.

 

[MadmanR]

Too many "fee services?"
Yep.
And, since the Sinclair-owned Regional Sports Networks debacle, not a single one of them satisfies me anymore. Those FOX-branded RSNs were a main source of ice hockey for me and now, dropped by practically every fee service -- INCLUDING some cable systems -- it appears only shudder AT&T still carries them!

I've had YTTV for awhile -- which beat out all the numerous others I've tried -- but after its 2nd 'price creep' I decided an end-of-year re-evaluation was in order.
Then when YTTV dropped FOX Sports North feeds, earlier this year, I picked an end-date for subscribing, now only 26 days away.

I have DishNetwork, Prime, Netflix and Disney and have trouble finding decent content. Disney is the first to go for me.
...
Where to go? There are a few free serviced with commercials nut they offer little. I have borrowed DVDs from the library, but that is inconvenient.

Cancelled Disney+ just yesterday when the first-year price was due to expire.
Over the entire year I had it there was precious little I watched.

Far worse, none of the content from when I was a kid ('Zorro,' 'Swamp Fox,' 'Spin & Marty' and many, many, more) ever could be found during regular searches.
Even Disney classic films weren't anywhere to be found and most of the contemporary Disney studio stuff leaves me cold.

Glad you mentioned "the library."
For me, this will be a winter of heavy reading!

 

[golfster]

Glad you mentioned "the library."
For me, this will be a winter of heavy reading!

Yep, I read about 25-30 books a year mostly from the library on Kindle. Just finished watching "Chernobyl" mini-series that I borrowed from the library. Take that HBO-who needs you?

 

[Josh Z]

Patience. It's not going to be too long before Disney buys up the rest of the studios in Hollywood and merges everything into Disney+ (for the kids' stuff) and Hulu (for the grown-ups). By that time, Netflix will have such dominance over TV series production that everyone else will just give up.

Then you'll be down to a mere three subscriptions for anything you want to watch. Unfortunately, they'll probably cost $150/month each.

 

[golfster]

Patience. It's not going to be too long before Disney buys up the rest of the studios in Hollywood and merges everything into Disney+ (for the kids' stuff) and Hulu (for the grown-ups). By that time, Netflix will have such dominance over TV series production that everyone else will just give up.

Then you'll be down to a mere three subscriptions for anything you want to watch. Unfortunately, they'll probably cost $150/month each.

That is very close to what I am expecting.

If you saw the movie "Idiocracy", we only have Costco and Taco Bell left.

 

[blade005]

So unless Netflix buys Time Warner from AT&T, for example . . .

I see AT&T continuing to poorly manage WarnerMedia and HBO Max as they have every other video property they have acquired. Give it a few years and there will be talk of a WarnerMedia sale to pay down debt. At that point, perhaps it is Netflix, but I am guessing that Apple and Amazon would show up with their massive amounts of cash and would be happy to acquire WarnerMedia to bolster their respective video content catalogs.

 

[blade005]

If you saw the movie "Idiocracy", we only have Costco and Taco Bell left.

LOL. Isn't it eerie just how well Mike Judge predicted our present back in 2006?

 

[Yoss]

I've never bothered to be subscribed to more than one service at a time and mostly bounce back and forth between Netflix and Hulu. I won't be surprised if within 5 years it becomes increasingly difficult and expensive to hop between services.

 

[reds75]

I wonder what the future holds for the Sinclair owned RSNs. Everyone seems to be dropping them. Since YTTV dropped Tampa bay RSN its been hard to watch the Lightning games. I live in north Florida and NHL center Ice wont let me have Tampa Bay. Maybe the NHL will lift the blackouts this year.