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There Are Way Too Many Streaming Services

Cord-cutting promised us that we won't have to pay the ludicrously large cable bills. But it turns out, as long as you do not just want to watch a very limited set of movies and TV shows, you will have to subscribe to any number of these services: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Go, Hulu, and Disney+ (and more.) For some living outside the US, the situation has become even more dire as they browse through as many as three dozen services. This, in addition to making watching TV expensive, is also creating a number of other confusions. No wonder piracy is on rise again.

128 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. fix by nnet · · Score: 2

    s/again/still/

    1. Re:fix by cayenne8 · · Score: 1
      Hmm, I'm not sure what the problem is...unless you just HAVE to have every channel on the planet as an option for you at any given time?

      Likely if you do, that is more TV than you can watch.

      I cut the cord....I got an amazon FireTV unit (not usb fob)....and I got Playstation VUE, that takes care of pretty much ALL my stations I ever watched on cable. It has most of the local stations, and FX, TCM, all the various cable news channels, cooking...and during college football season, I do enjoy all the ESPN channels...I know they raised the rates awhile back, I think its about $40-$45/mo.

      but that covers 99% of my live tv watching.

      I have amazon prime, because I have PRIME. I didn't buy it for movies, but for shopping a long time ago, and will keep it for the foreseeable future, so I don't count that one as extra. However, it is a nice bonus that it comes with the Video and audio streaming, and free online kindle books each month, and photo storage, etc.

      I think its a good deal.

      I do have Netflix, and I'm debating keeping it...they just don't have enough of the real movies coming there as much anymore and I'm not a huge fan so far of the Netflix produced stuff.

      But over that...can't imaging needing anything more.

      I'm not sure how other streaming hardware units do (roku, etc),....but when I search across the FireTV...it shows results on Prime and Netflix, so it is like searching just one place, not having to jump all over.

      The other thing I did, was to ensure I get ALL local stations, which most streaming does not seem to cover.

      I set up Tivo OTA and that DVRs local and PBS channels and streams to all rooms of the house, where I also have FireTV units.

      So, I pay one stream for 99% channels, I stream Netflix...and that may go soon. I don't really count Prime since I'd have it anyway....and the OTA stuff.

      I can't imagine needing Hulu, and the coming Disney one and whatever else is out there.

      How many streams can you need?

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:fix by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Agreed. Unless you're *really* dedicated to having a massive amount of choice available (which psychologists have shown tends to actually decrease satisfaction), the biggest problem I see with only having 1-2 streaming providers is that after a while you've watched most of their content that you're interested in - but at that point you can drop them and sign up for someone else for a year or two until you've watched as much of them as you like, and the original streamer's library has some new content. Juggle several sites like that, and you've got all the interesting content you could want at your fingertips.

      The big weakness of that strategy is "must see TV" - but I suspect there's FAR less of that than the producers would like to believe. Sports, if you're into that. Disney perhaps, just because they've been such a cultural touch-stone for so long. And then...? No one I can think of off-hand. Streaming has changed the way people watch TV, there's no longer community-building water-cooler talk about last nights episode of XYZ, and without that it's just entertainment. One show is as good as any other of similar genre and quality.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    3. Re:fix by Revek · · Score: 1

      To many AC bitching about to many stories about to many streaming services.

  2. Why is it so hard? by xack · · Score: 1

    A universal streaming service, available world wide, usable on Linux/BSD.

  3. Its the a-la-carte service we asked by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    This is what unbundled, a-la-carte, service looks like. You actually get a choice as to what you want and you don't have to take a bunch of crap with it. Quit complaining. You could, you know, just watch less TV.

  4. very limited? by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I haven't found Amazon Prime Video to be "very limited". There's a vast catalog, from every genre imaginable, more than I could ever watch.

    Now sure, if you absolutely must have {something that Prime doesn't have}, then you'll need to add something else. And that's your choice.

    But "doesn't have everything on earth" != "very limited"

    1. Re:very limited? by therealgigaherz · · Score: 3, Informative

      Only in the US. Here in Spain, Prime Video has basically only old crap no one else wanted, and Amazon Originals.

    2. Re:very limited? by Tukz · · Score: 1

      Does Prime Video work with Chromecast yet?

      --
      - Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
    3. Re:very limited? by sanf780 · · Score: 1
      It is limited in that it does not sport the greatest hits of the 80s and the 90s, just some random movies. And the movies are in rotation, so things on your wishlist does disappear over time.

      Note: I am not a big fan of series.

    4. Re:very limited? by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      Only in the US. Here in Spain, Prime Video has basically only old crap no one else wanted, and Amazon Originals.

      Ah, but that's my secret, I like the "old crap no one else wanted".

  5. There are too many webpages! by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

    There are too many webpages, I can't read them all faster than they get updated and some require me to pay to access them!

    1. Re:There are too many webpages! by juancn · · Score: 1

      It's not the same, for web pages, at least we have the browser that provides a somewhat consistent user experience, for streaming video, each has its own app with its own quirks.

  6. Not too many services by dhawton · · Score: 1

    It's not "too many streaming services", it's "too much fragmentation". Having more places to shop is always a good thing, having content creators say "we only sell here" is not. If the content you want to watch is not available where you watch, send a message to the content creator that they can go f*** themselves.

  7. Still by JustOK · · Score: 1

    500 streams and nothing good on.

    --
    rewriting history since 2109
    1. Re:Still by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      Not original...

      "I bought a bourgeois house in the Hollywood hills
      With a truckload of hundred thousand dollar bills
      Man came by to hook up my cable TV
      We settled in for the night my baby and me
      We switched 'round and 'round 'til half-past dawn
      There was fifty-seven channels and nothin' on
      Well now home entertainment was my baby's wish
      So I hopped into town for a satellite dish
      I tied it to the top of my Japanese car
      I came home and I pointed it out into the stars
      A message came back from the great beyond
      There's fifty-seven channels and nothin' on
      Well we might'a made some friends with some billionaires
      We might'a got all nice and friendly if we'd made it upstairs
      All I got was a note that said "bye-bye John
      Our love is fifty-seven channels and nothin' on"
      So I bought a .44 magnum it was solid steel cast
      And in the blessed name of Elvis well I just let it blast
      'Til my TV lay in pieces there at my feet
      And they busted me for disturbing the almighty peace
      Judge said "What you got in your defense son?"
      "Fifty-seven channels and nothin' on"
      I can see by your eyes friend you're just about gone
      Fifty-seven channels and nothin' on"
      -- Bruce

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    2. Re:Still by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      "Got thirteen channels of shit on the TV to choose from."

      The sentiment is as old as coaxial cable. Only the amount of crap changes over time.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  8. "golden age" by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

    WSJ:

    My options are preposterously good—this is the Golden Age of Television, after all.

    By what insane standard?

  9. Most people could just buy by bobstreo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    z nice antenna and an OTA compatible DVR. Some new content, and better resolution than cable companies provide.

    It's a one time purchase of a couple hundred bucks. Some OTA DVR services have a monthly charge for things like television guides or cloud services, I'm surprised that a whole lot of little companies haven't popped up to install stuff like this.

    1. Re:Most people could just buy by kbrannen · · Score: 1

      z nice antenna and an OTA compatible DVR. Some new content, and better resolution than cable companies provide.

      It's a one time purchase of a couple hundred bucks. Some OTA DVR services have a monthly charge for things like television guides or cloud services, I'm surprised that a whole lot of little companies haven't popped up to install stuff like this.

      It's called Tivo. :) I purchased the lifetime subscription so I have no reoccurring payment from them but I get the channel guides and everything else, including interfaces to Amazon, Netflix, Youtube, etc. I haven't seen a cable bill in 20 years.

      Of course, I also don't watch all that much TV, there are plenty of other forms of entertainment, but there are a few shows I like and special big events that make it nice to have a TV. Tivo also gives me commercial skip on prime time shows, or I just hit the "30s skip" button a few times so I almost never see commercials unless I see something that really interests me.

  10. Re:Why is it so hard? by wizkid · · Score: 1

    A universal streaming service, available world wide, usable on Linux/BSD.

    It already exists. It's called transmission.

    You can click on a link from pirate bay, and it automagically opens and starts downloading whatever you want.

    --
    I take no responsibility for what I say. Even though I'm never wrong :)
  11. All 4 competitions except we need to buy them all by jellomizer · · Score: 1

    The problem with these streaming services is that they all have their own content that in terms of entertainment, if you want to watch all that you want to watch, then you need to buy them all. Granted I am talking in terms of entertainment, we should have self control to determine if it worth a monthly fee for only for entertainment. However, with the death of the Video Rentals, we need to find the streaming service to find the movie or shows that we cannot get on cable, being that Cable TV has degraded so much, you cannot even find what you want to watch on that.

    That is why I wouldn't get CBS All access to watch Start Trek Discovery, even before it proved that it sucked, I couldn't justify paying for an other streaming service for one show that I would at best have a moderate interest in watching.

    Now competition should mean that these places are competing for more content, however, it seems they all seem to focus on having specialized content, that the others don't have. So they are not competing against each other, but just trying to pick up the specialist field.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  12. Aggregation is the solution by Voyager529 · · Score: 3

    People neither want to feel nickel-and-dimed, paying $10/month for half a dozen services, nor do they want to feel taken advantage of by a $200/mo Comcast bill.

    Each content provider wants to make the most money, and is using their content as leverage for their streaming subscriptions. The only thing that aggregates them all right now is The Pirate Bay. Roku does this to a certain extent, but having a middleman to aggregate billing and to give users a single, consistent UI with which to stream whatever content is desired.

    To which everybody says, "Congratulations Voyager, you just invented the cable company."

    I get it. However, the issues with Comcast and Time Warner were never their existence in the abstract, it's that they are inconsistent with delivering their service and that they charge a whole lot of money. If the average cable bill was $50/month and cable only went out during an actual-hurricane, I think there would be far less cord cutting, because there is still value from an end user perspective in the existence of an aggregator.

    However, the content companies don't want to be 'just another option', and they're having to play the game because of the issues with the aggregators that people are leaving, so we're stuck with a dozen different smaller libraries and an equitable amount of bills to pay as a result.

    1. Re:Aggregation is the solution by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      The issue with Comcast and Time Warner is that it's a government protected monopoly. We have to pry open the distribution market. This especially goes for internet service provision. Unfortunately, as the last election once again has indicated, we still are not headed in that direction. Any and all anger against Comcast/Time Warner is misplaced and irrational. Every two years the voters give them a bunch of puppet politicians on a silver platter. SNAFU

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    2. Re:Aggregation is the solution by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

      The first wave against cable was actually the TiVo. Skipping the advertisements was necessary to actually watch the programs, and eliminating centralized schedule control gave the user freedom. At that point the “thing” that the cable companies provided was no longer what they were selling.

      It will be worse for the streaming providers in the end, IMO. It just isn’t practical to have so many exclusives.

    3. Re:Aggregation is the solution by MatthiasF · · Score: 1

      Amazon has the ability to subscribe to channels, which are each the individual some of the streaming services you mention.

      So, at least one person is starting to aggregate all the spread out stream offerings into a NEW MIDDLEMAN.

    4. Re:Aggregation is the solution by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      The issue with Comcast and Time Warner is that it's a government protected monopoly.

      You realize you are making this claim in a discussion entitled "There Are Way Too Many Streaming Services", don't you? If there are too many services, how can two of them be a monopoly? And since the government didn't grant them one, how is it government protected?

    5. Re:Aggregation is the solution by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      I was responding to a comment about Concast/Time Warner. And besides, the distribution problem is what led to the streaming problem. It's a balkanization thing that wouldn't happen in an open market, with competition.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    6. Re:Aggregation is the solution by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      I was responding to a comment about Concast/Time Warner.

      Yes, that was obvious.

      And besides, the distribution problem is what led to the streaming problem.

      The "streaming problem" comes from the business plan for distribution of video content. Audio content has been distributed for many decades by thousands of radio stations, and to manage that large number of content users a central copyright payment system was created. Video has been an order of magnitude smaller, thus a central system was not needed.

      What I replied to, however, was the claim that there was "government protection" for a monopoly, which is both absurd in the face of how many video distribution services there are today, and the lack of government monopoly status for either company.

    7. Re:Aggregation is the solution by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Where is the competition to Comcast/Time Warner? They write the regulations for government to enforce that keep competition at bay and prevent locals from running their own service.

      For the streaming issue, compulsory licensing of all copyrighted content will fix that part of the distribution problem.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    8. Re:Aggregation is the solution by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      Where is the competition to Comcast/Time Warner?

      For video content, which is the topic of discussion here? Hulu, Netflix, Sling, HBO, fubo, DirectTV, CBS, etc. For ISP? Google is your friend, it will tell you what is available in your area. For example, in Denver alone there are 8 residential and 11 business class services (a few do both). That's not counting the 3 mobile ISPs, which can serve as home services with the right hardware. For my small city there are 7 different residential and business services, and the list shows 3 mobile (which is incorrect because I'm using a fourth one that isn't listed right now.)

      But your claim was not just a lack of competition, but a government-protected monopoly. First, there is no monopoly, which is pretty obvious from the title of the article: "There Are Way Too Many ...". It's also hard to claim "monopoly!" with a straight face when I can point to ten other providers in just my area. Second, government monopolies for cable TV are prohibited BY FEDERAL LAW, enacted more than 20 years ago. There never have been government monopolies for ISP or video content services. Maybe that's why There Are Way Too Many Streaming Services?

    9. Re:Aggregation is the solution by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      government monopolies for cable TV are prohibited BY FEDERAL LAW

      a mere technicality... The law... Look what it did to the railroads. There are many ways to express the same behavior. So, I'm not going to pick nits. Just peruse their contracts... so, yeah, not government monopolies. I don't know what you call it when everybody gives consent, but it produces the same effect as a regular monopoly.

      And this is an outright lie:

      When we say CenturyLink 1 Gig internet costs $85.00/month, that’s exactly what we mean—and you can count on your price to stay that way for life.

      Uh huh...

      But wait...!

      CenturyLink may change, cancel, or substitute offers and services, or vary them by service area, at its sole discretion without notice.

      Conveniently, they don't say whose life. It probably means the life of the modem, which of course will need an upgrade next year, or a 125 dollar "repair"

      Again, the streaming issue would be solved with compulsory licensing so that anybody can offer content for a fee to the rights holders, and/or bittorrent, the greatest risk to the latter being the damn ISP.

      Neither of these problems, service or content distribution, are nearly as complex as people like to make them out to be. It is a masquerade to maximize profits. That's all fine, but we don't have to play along. We just have to be more active in the rule making process.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    10. Re:Aggregation is the solution by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      The law... Look what it did to the railroads.

      The telecommunications law did nothing to the railroads. The fact is that government-granted cable monopolies are prohibited by federal law, and there has never been a government-granted monopoly on video content delivery or ISP services. You've now you've gone so far out in left field that you won't be able to make it back in time for dinner when you bring up how this law affected the railroads. Good night. Discuss the railroads with someone else.

      And this is an outright lie:

      I didn't say what you quoted.

      Again, the streaming issue

      And now you're back at something is irrelevant to the ridiculous claim you made that I replied to.

    11. Re:Aggregation is the solution by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      The problem is a closed market through regulation and corruption. but you're still picking nits over this "monopoly" business. There is no competition in the service or content distribution markets, except from the bootleggers.

      And since your dismissing out of hand a perfectly suitable solution, I figure you're not interested. Don't know why you're here, other than making mountains out of molehills.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    12. Re:Aggregation is the solution by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      but you're still picking nits over this "monopoly" business. There is no competition in the service or content distribution markets, except from the bootleggers.

      I understand that you don't want to admit that you got caught making a patently absurd claim, especially in a discussion of "There Are Too Many Streaming Services", but that's what I replied to, and that alone.

      And since your dismissing out of hand a perfectly suitable solution,

      I'm not dismissing your perfect solution, I'm not discussing it at all. The solution to the "Comcast/Time Warner government-protected monopoly" is already enacted, and it has nothing to do with the railroads.

    13. Re:Aggregation is the solution by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Nothing absurd about it. We live under monopolistic and thus balkanized (streaming problem, remember?) system. You stepped into a conversion on a different, and very relevant subject that just happened to pop up. If you didn't want to deal with it, you could have just ignored it. Whatever... you fished me in, You won!

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  13. Splitting it up wouldn't be horrible... by jd · · Score: 1

    ...if it was done right. I would have no problems with one service per show, because then I'm buying the specific shows I want and don't have the overhead of effectively buying the lot. It would cost more than buying from a single vendor, but we don't have a universal vendor (be it a commonwealth or a cooperative or some vendor that has bought the rights to everything). If we did, that would be the best solution of all.

    I want at most one or two shows from a large number of vendors. If I got to do micropayments and get just those shows, I'd save a fortune over the current situation. Of course, to be workable, you'd need a standardized protocol so that you've one aggregator that collected the shows that you wanted, regardless of vendor.

    Since neither of these options is open to me, I do the only sane option left - I go back to reading books.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  14. Too many is not the problem by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    The problem is that the streaming services are also content producers, and make their content exclusive to a single streaming service... meaning I have to subscribe to multiple streaming services to get all the content I want! If all content was cross-licensed to every streaming service, it would be an easy economic decision -- I would just subscribe to whichever service was currently cheapest!

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    1. Re:Too many is not the problem by suutar · · Score: 1

      write a letter to your congresscritters pushing for mandatory mechanical licensing of video. Don't hold your breath, though.

  15. Re: Too many choices? Bad? Are you fucking kiddin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Itâ(TM)s the content segregation. There is no clearing house of content. Instead the ball is still in the court of the content producers. If you want to watch X, you have to subscribe to A. If you want to watch Z, you must subscribe to B. The ideal way is to pay a central clearing house to get all the content. Think a paid version of BitTorrent.

  16. Re:The worst streaming... by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    "Trickle-down economics"?

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  17. Service rotation? by fintux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why cant one just cancel the subscription A when not finding enough stuff to watch there and only then paying for subscription B? Unlike with broadcast TV, one can actually have the whole library available at any time, and so I cannot really understand the point of having to have all of the services subscribed all of the time.

    1. Re:Service rotation? by lgw · · Score: 3

      Too much effort. If the effort is more than a torrent, it won't fly.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    2. Re:Service rotation? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Not everyone live in their parent's basement or garage. The moment I had enough assets for corporate mafia to come after me, I stopped being a pirate.

  18. Re:Too many choices? Bad? Are you fucking kidding? by Locke2005 · · Score: 2

    It's not the choices that are bad, it is limiting content to single streamers that is bad... meaning choosing just one gives you, uh, limited choices of content.

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  19. Meh, still cheaper than cable by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    I spend $70/mo on streaming services (Hulu/Netflix/Crunchy Roll/). The closest equivalent from cable TV would be at least $120/mo (accounting for the DVDs I get from Netflix that count as about 4 pay per views/mo). Plus there's no cable equivalent of Crunchy roll. As a consumer I'm still coming out way ahead. And when the kid graduates college and pays her own bills I'll kill the Hulu.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Meh, still cheaper than cable by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      For your comparison, you should probably also include at least part of the cost of internet access. Cable TV doesn't require it; streaming does.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
  20. Pick one by religionofpeas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Subscribe to one of them. Watch everything that interests you. Cancel . Subscribe to another.

    1. Re:Pick one by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      Subscribe to another.

      Why bother, at that point you'll have seen spoilers for all the interesting stuff that was released ages ago on the other service.

    2. Re:Pick one by T.E.D. · · Score: 2
      If your interests are entirely serial, and not time sensitive, that might work OK. Most humans aren't like that. Example: I'm a Tottenham Hotspur fan. To watch their games, I have to do the following:
      • Regular league games against big teams: Over-the-air (can't get where I live) or local cable provider monopoly that carries the main NBC affiliate.
      • Regular league games against decent teams: Cable or streaming service that provides NBCSN and friends. About $40 a month.
      • Regular league games against poor teams: Requires NBCGold+. $50 a year.
      • Champions League games against top teams: Cable or streaming service that provides Turner channels. Streamers that do that and NBCSn are more like $60 a month
      • Champions League games against other teams: FuboTV, or streaming service that provides Spanish-language channels
      • League Cup games: ESPN+, $5 a month.

      These games are all interspersed with each other, sometimes in the same week. Can't just binge and drop. US National Team fan too? In that case, you'll need ESPN channels, and beIn (which most streaming services don't provide). But wait, what if I'm a rounded individual and like other things too?

      • Star Trek - CBS All Access - $6
      • Critical Role - Amazon/Twitch Prime - $13 a month
      • Game of Thrones - HBOGo - $15 a month
      • American Gods - Starz - $9 a month
      • Marvel or DC superhero dramas - Neflix - $8-15 a month
      • Next year Marvel - Disney - $?
      • ...

      The "..." is of course the real problem here. The year after next, even more stuff will get yanked out of free YouTube and Netflix, and more the year after that. As soon as something gets a loyal audience, someone is going to use it to leverage more money from you with a new service. Endless fractal splintering.

    3. Re:Pick one by shaksys · · Score: 1

      elsewhere online unofficially, priceless.

  21. Too many exclusives!!! by Comboman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The problem is not too many streaming services. Competition is good for consumers. The problem is too many exclusives. Game of Thrones only on HBO Go, Star Wars only on Disney+, Star Trek only on CBS-All-Access. All of them are charging as if they were a full cable replacement instead of a single cable channel.

    --
    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
    1. Re:Too many exclusives!!! by IWantMoreSpamPlease · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And your friendly neighborhood 'torrent site offers all of those for the incredible price of nothing.

      --
      So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
    2. Re:Too many exclusives!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The funniest part is their (HBO, Disney, CBS, etc) total failure to see the glaring flaw in their attempt to capitalize on people who really just want a-la-carte content: they still aren't offering a-la-carte content.

      Are you only interested in Game of Thrones? Too bad, you need to pay for all the other content HBO supplies as well.
      Are you only interested in Star Wars? Too bad, you need to pay for all the other content Disney+ supplies as well.
      Are you only interested in Star Trek? Too bad, you need to pay for all the other content on CBS-All-Access as well.

      I mean, is it really that hard to offer content packs at cheaper than the full price of everything that only include a subset of offerings? Hell, they could even charge enough per subset that adding them all together would be more expensive than getting the full service. Then the current full service each of them has becomes the bundle discount that people are used to having the option to buy when it makes economic sense.

      Who knows. Maybe someone did the market research and decided that the revenue added by giving people more granular options wouldn't make up for the cost of supporting so many options and the revenue lost from people downgrading from "all the things" subscriptions to less costly subscriptions. But it still feels like a missed opportunity to me.

    3. Re:Too many exclusives!!! by samdu · · Score: 1

      What did you expect? The only aspect of a la carte programming that is, in any way, attractive to the content providers is to control as much of the profits from such an arrangement as possible. Did people really think there would be a few "clearing houses," like the cable companies, that would voluntarily make less money than they were making before a la carte and that would be that?

    4. Re:Too many exclusives!!! by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 3

      The problem is not too many streaming services. Competition is good for consumers. The problem is too many exclusives. Game of Thrones only on HBO Go, Star Wars only on Disney+, Star Trek only on CBS-All-Access. All of them are charging as if they were a full cable replacement instead of a single cable channel.

      They all have exclusives because that is what gets people to buy their services. If multiple services offered their content they would get a smaller cut of the revenue. As for charging, they are charging much in the same way they charged the cable companies; i.e. their offerings were more expensive because it is what drove subscribers to cable, unlike the marginal offerings such as SyFi, Velocity, HGTV, etc. who only survive because they get paid a few pennies per subscriber, and don't have to depend on actual viewership to survive=. They haven't gone at it alone because for many of them they would not make enough to survive.

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    5. Re:Too many exclusives!!! by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 1

      The funniest part is their (HBO, Disney, CBS, etc) total failure to see the glaring flaw in their attempt to capitalize on people who really just want a-la-carte content: they still aren't offering a-la-carte content.

      Maybe someone did the market research and decided that the revenue added by giving people more granular options wouldn't make up for the cost of supporting so many options and the revenue lost from people downgrading from "all the things" subscriptions to less costly subscriptions. But it still feels like a missed opportunity to me.

      If they do go a la carte it is more likely to be through a service such as iTunes where you buy a season for a fixed price, somewhat less than the same price if you subscribed for the duration if the run.

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    6. Re:Too many exclusives!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm entitled to free entertainment, gimme gimme gimme!!

    7. Re:Too many exclusives!!! by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 1

      All of them are charging as if they were a full cable replacement instead of a single cable channel.

      Netflix: $13.99/month for 4 concurrent devices in HD or $10.99 for 2
      Amazon Prime: $99/Year ($8.25/ month)
      Hulu: $11.99/month with no/limited commercials
      HBO GO: $15/ month
      CBS AA: $5.99/month

      I'm sure there are others, but all of those combined work out to $55.22 per month. I just checked to see what Comcast prices were. Their Digital Starter (w/ contract) is $59.99/ month before rental box and other fees and taxes. And that's for the first year. I don't know what the prices go up to after that.

      You can argue that you also need to pay for an internet connection for the streaming services, but it's likely that you are going to have that regardless. Amazon Prime also gets you faster shipping, so there's that too.

      I have the 2 device Netflix plan, Prime and Hulu. I pay $31.23 per month. When I canceled my Direct TV service several years ago, It was around $140 per month. It sucks that the market is getting more fractured, but I still prefer it to cable/satellite.

    8. Re:Too many exclusives!!! by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Sonarr watches for new episodes of TV shows I tagged then tells Transmission to download it. Transmission puts it on the NAS when done that Sonarr notifies Kodi to re-scan the content and update its database. I come home, turn on TV, select what ever show I want to watch and enjoy.

      Just curious...at what level of fidelity is the video and audio you are snagging this way?

      Is it full HD? Is the audio the same quality as broadcast?

      Its interesting if it is, but if it is way over compressed or shrunk down to 720p or less, I'd not be interested.

      I didn't buy really nice OLED tvs to watch crap level content.

      I don't have a problem paying a reasonable amount of money, for quality entertainment with the best visual and audio quality I can get.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    9. Re:Too many exclusives!!! by Shrubbman · · Score: 1

      Maybe this is an American thing? In Canada Netflix has Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel movies, etc. It's not often I can't get something on Canadian Netflix because of an exclusive issue. Game of Thrones might not be on there, but I haven't checked.

      Netflix Canada has all the same Disney-owned content as Netflix elsewhere at present (that's Disney/Marvel/Star Wars/Pixar/etc), but won't after the Disney/Netflix content deal expires some time next year. Presumably the Marvel Netflix Original shows like Daredevil would stay, but they weren't part of the larger content deal that's expiring.

      Any mention of Star Trek being exlusive to this or that platform would be specifically referencing the current series Star Trek Discovery which is exclusive to CBS All Access in the US, Bell Media's Space and Crave services here in Canada, and Netflix everywhere else. Plenty of streaming services carry all the old Star Trek shows, but the new stuff is being walled off to only one provider in any given region.

      As for Game of Thrones that's definitely NOT on Netflix, that's HBO. Bell Media has all the exclusive rights to HBO content in Canada locked up tight, both current and classic.

    10. Re:Too many exclusives!!! by slaker · · Score: 1

      Pirated content can be had at whatever quality level you feel you need, up to and including 4k for some things. Most TV shows that have ever been released in 1080p with 6 channel audio are available in 1080p and 6 channel audio. Very often, a 45 minute TV show can be had as a 400MB Full HD h.265 file, so it's not like there's even much of an investment in storing the content.

      --
      -- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
    11. Re:Too many exclusives!!! by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

      I don't care about the price. I care about the convenience.

      Sign up here, login there. Hope that an app doesn't kick you off and make you log in again. Because typing in secure passwords with an on-screen keyboard is not exactly fun.

      Or I can click a magnet link, from anywhere in the world, have it kick off a download and it'll pop up in Kodi as "new movie".

      I moved to streaming services because, for a short time, it was straight forward and simple. If they move back to a PITA model then I'll move back to my convenient one.

    12. Re:Too many exclusives!!! by ahodgson · · Score: 1

      Canada Netflix has very little. No HBO, no CBS, almost no NBC.

      Crave now has HBO at least, up until last week it wasn't even possible to stream new HBO shows in Canada.

    13. Re: Too many exclusives!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Not sure how familiar you are with piracy lingo these days, but there are many distribution groups collectively referred to as 'the scene'. They all agree to a common set of rules to control quality, and they do it really damn well. Typically you can count on better quality from them than you can from legitimate sources. Even if the video quality is as good (unlikely) you can expect streaming services to exclude surround whereas the scene release has DTS.

      I have HBO Go legit paid for, but they're so bandwidth starved at release of major shows (game of thrones, Westworld) that the picture is low res and muddy as hell. Meanwhile, within minutes of the show finishing its initial run, a much higher quality is available on the major private trackers. People seed so reliably on these that you can have the whole thing pretty much as fast as your pipe can pick it up.

      Some official sources are outright bad. Amazon, for example, is known to distribute upsampled MP3s. This is easy to determine with a basic spectral analysis using audacity. These kinds of releases are banned by the scene.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_(warez)

      The pirates have content distribution sorted out way better than the content industry itself does.

    14. Re:Too many exclusives!!! by jbmartin6 · · Score: 1

      Learn to eat lentils and you won't have to suck up to the king. -Diogenes

      --
      This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
  22. Re:Dire? by sexconker · · Score: 1

    Foreigner msmash also said "No wonder piracy is on rise again."

  23. that's fine, we have solutions by argStyopa · · Score: 2

    Major media firms FINALLY understand that the internet isn't their enemy, and that streaming is a way to deliver their content? Great.

    Major media firms balkanize the shit out of it, trying to build their own little walled gardens assuming every idiot out there wants to pay $15/mo to access their crappy content? Ha ha ha, ....no. A-pirating we'll go.

    My favorite is when Network TV tries to **charge you** for the shit they put on air for free. I guess I can see the idea if they are streaming it commercial free, but then the price should be about the $0.025 in ad revenue they'd have gotten from your eyeballs on broadcast TV. In most cases I've see it's charge-per-episode AND there are ads.

    --
    -Styopa
  24. I guess I am old and remember BUD/Sat Tv by dhickman · · Score: 1

    Back in the day when you had an 8 foot dish in your backyard, you had to buy your TV from each individual producer ( HBO, Viacom, WGN, etc.) Eventually companies started up which negociated deals and provided packages.

    1. Re:I guess I am old and remember BUD/Sat Tv by dhickman · · Score: 1

      The BUD era is much like the streaming era now. Initially most of the feeds were free. Then they started encrypting. HBO started the trend of allowing end users to decrypt the channel. This led to others doing the same.

      At one point it was common to have a dozen annual bills.

      As BUDS got more popular and out of the hobbiest stage, package companies came into existence that sold packages of channels ( Dish network got started this way.) This got you better prices and one bill.

      The led to the consumer small dish systems that we have today.

  25. Re: Too many choices? Bad? Are you fucking kiddin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Exactly. People said "I want to be able to pay for just the content I'm actually interested in without having all this other stuff bundled into 'one size fits all' packages." What we got was an incremental improvement over cable that lets you find a streaming service (or multiple) that sometimes covers the content you are interested in more closely at a better price. It's not streaming services fault that the content is distributed by media conglomerates with disparate content channels that want to make sure that in order to get any of their content you need to pay for all of it. At least we got a little closer to what we really want. I won't complain about that.

  26. Re:Dire? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    sexconker is a cow. sexconker says moo. MOOOOOOO! MOOOOOOO! Moo sexconker MOOOOOO! You sexconker cow!!

  27. Not unbundled by Comboman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not unbundled, it's just bundled differently. Every streaming service has nearly the same batch of old movies and TV shows, to which they each add a few exclusive, internally produced titles. To get the good stuff, you've got to re-buy a ton of stuff you already have on the other streaming services.

    --
    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
  28. Outside the US.... by LostOne · · Score: 2

    For most of us outside the US, we can't even subscribe to most of the services, evev if we want to. Or, if we can, the vast majority of the stuff that would motivate us to subscribe is unavailable due to assinine geolocking of content.

    --

    If it works in theory, try something else in practice.
  29. Digital OTA TV by darkain · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Digital OTA TV is still free. Still getting 56 channels in my area. Access to all the major networks, news, sports, etc. I can live without most of the other worthless cruft.

    1. Re:Digital OTA TV by antdude · · Score: 1

      Yes, but not everyone can get OTA TV due to their locations like my rural areas with giant hills and small mountains. :(

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    2. Re:Digital OTA TV by grumpy-cowboy · · Score: 1

      Maybe in the US... But here (Quebec, Canada) we got only 4 channels : 3 boring French channels and 1 "ok" English channel.

      --
      Will $CURRENT_YEAR be the year of the Linux Desktop?
  30. What about a Hollywood torrent site by DarkRookie2 · · Score: 1

    All of Hollywood would need to do this. You pay to get a login
    Various tiers. To get newer stuff cost more.
    Enforce a seed limit. Sure download all you want, but once your ratio is bad, no more leeching.
    Reward those with a high one with free service.

    --
    http://progressquest.com/spoltog.php?name=Son+Of+Son+Of+DarkRookie
  31. Unlike with cable, the market will sort this out by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    While cable was a monopoly, with only one cable service in a given area, nobody is forcing you to sign up for streaming services. Cord-cutters subscribe to the two or three streaming services that represent most of their desired content, then complain about the number of services they would have to get to see allthe content they want.

    As content providers realize this (watch for online surveys and use complaint feedback contact opportunities that may be available) we will see more opportunities for a la carte trials of additional content. Many sites already offer 30-day trials and other temporary offers. Make use of these, cancel at the end of the offer and tell them why you made that decision. Some sort of multi-site subscription to individually chosen specific sets of shows will emerge.

  32. We need a "Netflix" for Netflix by DavenH · · Score: 3, Insightful

    To get the content from Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO - all for one low monthly fee.

  33. Re:Too many choices? Bad? Are you fucking kidding? by slinches · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Exactly this. It's exclusive licensing that allows for the balkanization of content among increasingly various streaming services. Instead, we should insist on FRAND type licensing like we do for many patents. That along with separating the content creation from distribution will allow a competitive market to develop rather than the monopoly on creative content we are trending toward.

    --
    Knowledge Brings Fear
  34. One more to subscribe to... by ddtmm · · Score: 1

    And as soon as I subscribe to WSJ I can read TFA.

  35. YGTBSM by couchslug · · Score: 1

    I don't have to pay the ludicrously large cable bills. No one does, nor streaming bills either.
    Just say no. That easy. Get a life instead.

    --
    "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
  36. TV vs Computer by u19925 · · Score: 1

    Few years ago, I used to read satirical articles about how you can spend $2500 and convert your PC into $500 TV. Same thing goes for replacing cable with streaming for now. I have switched to Netflix and Amazon Prime couple of times only to go back again to cabal. Streaming is way too restrictive for live programs and quality depends on your internet service and too much lag time when switching shows.

  37. Re:Expectations. by samdu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This was obvious from the very first time someone was clamoring for a la carte cable. This was never going to be as cheap as standard cable. There was no way that the media companies were going to come away making less money. Despite the protestations, we've actually gotten what people wanted. They just didn't consider the ramifications. At least not in real world context.

  38. One thing to remember... by atrex · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I see a lot of talk comparing the sum cost of streaming services being higher than the price of cable, and they are absolutely right. If you subscribe to everything it is. But, here's the catch: most subscription based streaming services operate with No Commercials during the stream. You get to binge watch an entire series without seeing a single commercial. Cable TV is heavily subsidized by advertisements.

    The second thing I see a lot of people doing is including the cost of internet service with the cost of subscription streaming services and saying that it's much higher than the cost of cable, and it is. But, what they ignore is the fact that most people are buying internet service regardless of whether or not they have cable TV service. Now, you might opt for more bandwidth/larger caps/unlimited when you "cut the cord", but that's not necessarily something people wouldn't do anyway.

    The third thing: streaming services are for the most part not directly comparable to cable. When it comes to cable you watch what they broadcast when they broadcast it (or you DVR it and watch it shortly there after). Some stations will let you stream episodes from their websites shortly after broadcast, but access still tends to be restricted (and I'd bet those streams are laden with commercials just like the on air broadcast). Streaming services are more analogous to a library. You get to browse the content and pick and choose what you want to watch, when you want to watch it, no matter how much of it you want to watch.


    Now, are multiple streaming services anti-consumer? It certainly feels like it when previously Disney licensed it's library to Netflix and now they're pulling it all off and demanding you pay them more money if you want to watch any of it. But, you also have to admit that by doing that Disney is going to put it's money where it's mouth is and produce more content for it's service to keep people engaged than they would have if they just continued licensing their library to Netflix. So, there's pluses and minuses to the change. Ultimately, it's a decision that you the consumer have to make with your wallet. If their service flounders then they'll probably go back to licensing to the other services. If it takes off, then they'll end up producing more content.

    1. Re:One thing to remember... by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      "Cable TV is heavily subsidized by advertisements."

      Yep. Really expensive for the consumer, *and* heavily subsidized by advertisements. Making conventional cable TV an easy target for streaming services.

      I'm not sure internet services plus on-demand services are collectively higher than cable TV. But internet is relatively cheap in our area ($40/month for 30/30) and we don't subscribe to "all the services". Our total is still roughly 1/3 of what Comcast was charging for conventional cable TV plus (slower!!) internet, which, as you pointed out, you have to have anyway.

      To my knowledge the wife only subscribes to three services. I don't watch much TV so it's not something I pay attention to. I *was* paying all the bills, and a few years back I returned both set-top boxes, which never really worked well anyway, cut off the cable service, bought internet only from a different provider, (fiber to the house -- whee!) and put a big farmhouse-style antenna on the roof. ("Antenna". How quaint.). I then told wife and daughter that this was all I was going to provide, and if they wanted anything else, they would have to buy it themselves. So wife bought a roku (which I helped her set up) and she and daughter now watch Hulu and Netflix and one other I can't remember, and the 13-odd channels they can get off the antenna. It works for us.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  39. Never happy by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 1

    This is a case of there's no winning.

    If content creators offer a streaming service, people complain there's too many service providers, and piracy ensues.

    If all the content creators glom on to one major provider, then they get accused of collusion and price fixing. Piracy ensues again.

    If they opt to not provide any streaming for specific content, then they are accused of holding back content, and providing justification for piracy. The lack-of-access issue. And of course, piracy ensues.

    Is there any way to win?

    1. Re:Never happy by Big+Boss · · Score: 1

      It works fine for music. I can pay for one of Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Google, etc... I can listen to all the music. If I had to pay for all of them to get all the music I wanted, I would pay for none of them and go back to maintaining my own library via whatever means I felt like. That's the problem. We don't care how many services there are to choose from, we care that there is so much exclusivity. The reason music piracy is fading is that streaming services have everything and are cheap. Some are even free with ads. Sure there are still a few people unwilling to pay, but those people were ALWAYS unwilling to pay and there will always be some of them. Everyone else just wanted to enjoy music for a reasonable price without all the silly restrictions. It's really the same with video. Say I watch a few shows, I don't want to have to pay for and use a seperate application for each one. I want to pay one that I happen to like and watch it all there. Play exclusivity games and people will shrug and pirate. Keep it reasonably priced and available, and most people won't bother.

    2. Re:Never happy by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      "We don't care how many services there are to choose from, we care that there is so much exclusivity."

      Agreed. The problem being, exclusivity is these services' differentiation. "Sign up for OurCompany all access, as it's the only way to see these new shows! Netflix and Hulu won't have them for years!"

      And then, piracy ensues.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    3. Re:Never happy by Big+Boss · · Score: 1

      And, yet, I don't need 4 different music streaming services to listen to everything. Metal, country, rock, pop, boy bands, funk, jazz, it's all there in one app for one price. And somehow they manage to make money. If you want my money, that's the level of service I require. I don't want to exit the app I'm in, and load HBO for Game of Thrones, then switch to Netflix for Altered Carbon, then switch to CBS for ST:D. I want to simply tell the app I'm in and paying for that I want to watch something else. They are CAUSING the piracy, then whining about it. So, no, I don't feel bad for them. Most people are willing to pay for this. I pay for Netflix for this, even though I don't get it all, it's generally close enough. With Disney/Fox/Marvel/etc. switching to their own, I may well just dust off the old eye patch.

      What we are paying for is CONVENIENCE. If you won't give it to us, we can get it for free with a little less convenience. It's not even that much less convenient.

  40. Re:Expectations. by lgw · · Score: 2

    You people expected bundle/meal deal/combo pricing per item on a la carte product. Sorry it doesn't work that way.

    The Pirate Bay does. All content together in one place for a single price.

    Like it or not, that's the competition that content providers face. I'll happily subscribe to any one of these services.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  41. Re:Several things to remember... by atrex · · Score: 2

    In hindsight, I guess I found more than one thing to remember.

  42. Ultraviolet model by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 1

    Maybe content creators need to set up something similar to how Ultraviolet works, where a centralized database is maintained, which keeps track of who has access to which content. You pick the stream provider, attach your account, and stream content you have access to.

    Seems to work great for movies using UV. I remember when Flixster died off, instead of losing all my content I had on Flixster, I just moved over to Vudu and they provide access to all the content I have under UV's system.

    This was because the underlying licensing was done through Ultraviolet. Perhaps this system should be widened to include more content, and stream providers.

  43. Re:Expectations. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Except it's not really a la carte. We effectively have the same channel bundles, just all tied together in streaming services instead of random collections of channels determined by your cable company.

    I can't really come up with a good example because I don't watch enough TV, but basically you can't pick and choose certain exclusives from the various streaming providers and only choose them. It's all-or-nothing: you either subscribe to ALL of Amazon Prime, or NONE of it. You get ALL of NetFlix, or NONE of it. If you want to watch Game of Thrones, you have to get ALL of HBO, including shows you have no plans of watching.

    It's not "a la carte cable" - it's the same old "pick your channel bundles" that we've always had, just separated from a single cable company.

  44. Re:Expectations. by ScienceofSpock · · Score: 1

    The problem with your analogy is that there isn't a "store" to begin with when it comes to streaming entertainment, it's literally just a bunch of vending machines that won't even sell you a single soda, only the entire content of the machine.

    We're not complaining that purchasing individual shows will cost more, we know that. What we're complaining about is that you CANNOT GET just a single show (or ANY subset of content from a given provider) currently. I don't want everything on Disney, I just want Star Wars. I don't want everything on Netflix, just the Marvel series, etc, and I want to be able to purchase JUST those shows, from ONE location of my choosing.

  45. A la carte [Re:Expectations.] by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You people expected bundle/meal deal/combo pricing per item on a la carte product.

    Except you have it backwards. People are expecting a la carte products on a system that only allows bundle/meal-deal pricing.

    It's like if you wanted a steak with a coke and a slice of apple pie, and the only way to get it was to first buy the steak meal, which has soup, a roll, steak with a baked potato and peas, and a blueberry muffin; and then you have to buy the coca-cola bundle, which consists of a 24-can case of coke, and then you have to buy the Early dinner special, which is salad, chicken-pot pie, a glass of milk, cole slaw, and an apple pie. To get what you actually want, you need to buy three different bundles, and throw out most of it.

    Most of what you get with the bundle is stuff you don't want.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:A la carte [Re:Expectations.] by robinsonne · · Score: 1

      Wow I wish I had mod points for your analogy. +1 for you sir

  46. still better by hdyoung · · Score: 2

    I can subscribe to nearly half a dozen streaming services before I approach the cost of a single cable bill. Still a win.

    1. Re:still better by roc97007 · · Score: 2

      So far.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  47. We fought against digital divide... by LordHighExecutioner · · Score: 1

    ...because we wanted to increase the information accessibility on the net, as well as to increase the number of information providers (digital multiply). Each provider claimed that they add something original to offer to the end user (digital add). We now discover that each provider wants nothing but money from our pockets (digital subtract).

    1. Re:We fought against digital divide... by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      ...because we wanted to increase the information accessibility on the net, as well as to increase the number of information providers (digital multiply). Each provider claimed that they add something original to offer to the end user (digital add). We now discover that each provider wants nothing but money from our pockets (digital subtract).

      But... are we surprised? Isn't that ultimately what any provider wants?

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  48. It's the benefit of unbundled. by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

    Unlike bundling, when you purchase a streaming service, you're not moving up to another tier that requires all the previous tiers. That's the ala carte aspect. It means that each service has to compete with better unique content; I'm not going to get every service; maybe I'll have three of fifteen. But that still means I'm getting 20% of the excellent content (more than I can watch), instead of 100% of the okay content because their is no competition.

    --
    Your ad here. Ask me how!
  49. Playing devil's advocate... by Junta · · Score: 1

    So back around 2000 or so, there was all sorts of bitching and moaning about cable operators giving gobs of channels no one needs. At the time the call was:
    'Give us a la carte!'

    So now we have a la carte, the cry is 'put it all on one service, but don't charge a lot for it!'.

    I personally would love a federated, unified interface to content that spans services, and wouldn't mind paying 'a la carte'.

    Of course as it stands the content holders ownership is pretty random. People have to give money to Disney, whether they are really wanting some Star Wars sort of experience, or comic action movies, or animated kids movies. Thematically the link is not particularly correlated with who takes money for what sort of content...

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    1. Re:Playing devil's advocate... by Chrontius · · Score: 1

      The problem was that those “gobs of channels no one needs” from the aughties were essentially dominated by what would come to be known on Steam as the “zero effort asset flip”. For the cost of a hundred and fifty channels of bullshit attempts at micro targeting, we probably could have had ten or fifteen channels of solid gold. Except for one little problem

      Every hour of TV is really forty minutes of content, and twenty minutes of advertising. If you spend your budget on fifteen gold-plated channels, you’ve just cut your other revenue stream by 90%. You literally can not run enough ads in an hour to make up for that loss. Unlike Steam, there was no policy on “game shaped objects” or, I suppose, “cable network shaped objects” to fall back upon.

      The desire for unbelievable profit margins did not help us here. The profit motive didn’t motivate competition and quality, it motivated the garden channel, the crochet channel, the kitten channel, and reality TV.

  50. Re: Too many choices? Bad? Are you fucking kiddin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It's not streaming services fault that the content is distributed by media conglomerates with disparate content channels that want to make sure that in order to get any of their content you need to pay for all of it.

    This.

    Take Disney for example. If I want Disney for my kids I also have to pay for ESPN and other Disney owned channels which I don't watch. Disney won't let streaming subscribers pick just one channel. So my current attitude; if Disney wants an arm and a leg for their content, and I don't want to pay for that, I won't sign up for their service. Problem solved on my end. While Disney likes to believe they have the upper hand and control the content, without my money all they have is an over-priced IP. Eventually they will want that money, then we can bargain.

    At the end of the day, with all the money I save in not buying their streaming services I can buy copies of the media I want (about a box set a week). Then I just make a legal backup copy to my Media box. Now I can watch it anytime/anywhere I want with no ads until the end of time.

  51. there will be a consolidation by roc97007 · · Score: 1

    I strongly suspect that there will be at some point a consolidation of all these streaming services under a single umbrella, where you pay one bill and get access to a collection of services (including some you don't want, but are included in your tier whether you want them or not) plus a bunch of other features bundled in that nobody really needs. There will be an attractive introductory price offered followed six months later by an outrageous monthly cost.

    There will be a set top box that you have to rent. Probably with a DVR that you don't need (violating the whole concept of "on demand") but have to pay for anyway.

    I can't wait.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  52. Well .... by DaMattster · · Score: 1

    In my youth, I would have no qualms with pirating software or videos. Today, I feel that it is wrong and I rather than using proprietary software, I just do everything open source. As for videos and entertainment, I can live without it altogether. For the little bit of TV that I do watch, the over the air programming is fine and dandy.

  53. There is no free lunch by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 1

    Anyone who tells you otherwise is full of crap and/or has a hidden agenda. Always remember that you are now living in a world where you have to rent EVERYTHING. Everything has some sort of monthly fee to it. But people cheerfully cough it up because, "Hey, it's only $19.95 a month! I'm really sticking it to 'the man'" No, you're not. You're now sampling the addictive drugs and you'll be hooked very quickly.

  54. A little dab of research will do ya by Coldeagle · · Score: 1

    I hate stories like this. IMOHO it's folks who don't want to see the cable companies take a dump (this article is from the WSJ), so I always assume there's a conflict of interest. Are there a lot of choices? Yes, and that's actually a good thing. The down side is you have to do a bit of research and you have to use a few different apps instead of having everything right at your fingertips. There are tons of sites out there that will tell you what each service carries.

    When I cut the cord two years ago, I spent all of 20 minutes comparing the services out there that carried the channels that I wanted (OTA isn't an option for me since I have a mountain blocking most of the signals not to mention a huge tree). Vue had about 90% of what I wanted, and there were "free" channels (so to speak) for the other content that I wanted to access. Once Hulu has live access for Discovery content, I'll probably make the switch over to them instead.

    Folks, it's really not that hard, even for those who aren't familiar with technology. Most people who have cable also subscribe to Netflix and Amazon, so all you're really doing is cutting down your cable/satellite bill. I went from paying almost $250 a month to paying about $100. Good deal for me and many others.

    Until Roku, Amazon, Apple, etc come up with a device that can truly interpret all of your subscriptions it's going to be a bit of a hodgepodge but you get some extra $$$ in your pocket. With cable/satellite you're spoon fed the content in an "easy" to consume format. With streaming services you may have to do a bit more work. Is the convenience worth the extra money those companies charge? Well that's up to you. For me, it's easy enough to go to a couple more apps instead of having my experience spoon fed.

  55. Be careful what you ask for by daveywest · · Score: 1

    Remember when all the cord-cutters demanded ala carte? This is the result. Your prices are higher, but you get to pick and choose what you want to watch. As someone in the cable TV industry, I'd just like to offer up a hearty "We told you so."

    1. Re:Be careful what you ask for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      As someone also in the cable TV industry, I'd like to remind you that these streaming-media content silos are just another form of anti-competitive attempt at building a monopoly. What we are seeing is very far from "a la carte".

      The thing consumers don't like about their cable company is the monopolistic practices and the poor value that result. The new OTT offerings are the same general picture painted in a different shade.

      I think people thought that with internet-based sellers, they would be able to buy what they wanted -- kind of like going to a Safeway and being able to buy all the ingredients needed to make a meal. What people are finding is that each video "store" has its own separate set of products and to make a meal, you can't shop in just one place. It's as if Safeway only sold meat and Costco only sold vegetables and another store only sold drinks. That would actually be fine, except in OTT all the stores have a membership fee to boot, and it's not cheap.

      If Netflix and Hulu and others cost $1 per month to maintain the membership and $1 each to watch shows, then people would like it better. But subscriber churn would be a massive problem, and we can't have that! The truth is that content companies want to maximize their income and will do whatever they can to lever every last dollar out of the pockets of viewers, and what the consumer wants is the very last thing they care about. You know it and I know it. Same deal as the cable companies.

  56. It's lot more flexible by grahamsz · · Score: 1

    Most streaming services have no commitment, in fact since you've been able to add things like Showtime and HBO to Amazon Prime it's made it super easy to have them on a month to month basis.

    Wait until the season of GoT has ended and then sign up for HBO for a month and binge it. Then get a month of netflix for the latest House of Cards, or perhaps get a month of Hulu to watch The First. You don't need 5 streaming services all the time, you can cycle them.

    However that obviously doesn't work well with current affairs or sports, and so I expect those will end up driving perpetual subscriptions. Things like Last Week Tonight or Patriot Act are likely disproportionately valuable to their owners simply because they go stale quickly.

  57. Re: If only. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It took me 2 seconds to find the collectors edition box set with every episode.

    https://thepiratebay.bid/torrent/6710559/Highlander_-_The_Complete_Collector_s_Edition

    You fail.

  58. Choice is Good by BrendaEM · · Score: 1

    Who would mind a little competition? Certainly, not the consumer.

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  59. Re:Why is it so hard? by shakezula · · Score: 1

    Sling? Works for me on Ubuntu with Chrome.

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    I know what you're thinking. Did I forward 65,535 packets or 65,536 packets?
  60. Re:Fringe Area by c120plus · · Score: 1

    You could ask your son or daughter to give to a login to the OTA DVR (or set up a free tvheadend based system just for you at their place). If you don't insist on watching TV live, don't watch too much TV and are fine with recording and watching a few days later, this system is awesome with no monthy cost. You just set timers on the remote system and then collect the recordings over night to watch when you have time...

  61. Re:Too many choices? Bad? Are you fucking kidding? by slinches · · Score: 1

    Why isn't it reasonable? What are these various reasons?

    As far as the constitutionality, the "exclusive right" applies to patents as well. How come FRAND patent licensing hasn't been shot down in courts yet? Copyright owners would still have the "exclusive right" to choose the terms of their license and FRAND wouldn't violate that. The terms would still be solely up to them. It would just mean that they cannot exclude another entity from accepting equivalent terms.

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    Knowledge Brings Fear
  62. Re: Too many choices? Bad? Are you fucking kiddin by Immerman · · Score: 1

    The weakness is that most people don't *really* want to watch X, they just want to watch "something like X" (genre, quality, etc), and the competitor's options are good enough. Sure, there's a few long-lived franchises with dedicated fans (Star Trek, Simpsons, sports) that might go where they need to get their fix, but it's going to be really hard to attract new fans to your network.

    I mean if NBC makes a great new show I hear about, it's unlikely I'm going to pay for an NBC streaming subscription for JUST that show, and my existing streaming providers probably offer several shows that scratch a similar itch. At best I'll wait until I'm bored with the library of my current providers, and drop one of them for NBC for a while, until I get bored with them and move on to someone else.

    I suspect it will prove more profitable to continue (or revert to) establishing cross-licensing agreements so that popular shows are available on many platforms. Yeah, maybe neither NBC or Netflix makes as much money from me watching one of their shows on the other's network - but there's almost always going to be a MUCH larger population of people on other networks than on the one making the show, unless most people sign up for most networks - which seems very unlikely. Better to make 30% of the money from 5x as many people - which means either cross-licensing, or charging such a low subscription fee that it's hardly worth the overhead.

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    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  63. Sling by shakezula · · Score: 1

    We use a NUC with Windows 10 as our TV box. We ditched Netflix+Prime for $20 Sling 'Blue' about a year ago, then about 4 months back added $10 to that to get Sling 'Orange' + Lifestyle Bundle which ended up taking the original 40ish channels to 70ish channels. Comparable DirecTV would be about $90 a month after the fees and taxes, cable locally would be about $75. These are nearly all live, main-line cable channels with only about 10% of filler channels (Bloomberg, TheBlaze, Afro, etc). They also include replays and on-demand of about 75% of what airs available. Including the price of Internet in there--$100 a month for gigabit service with a 1TB cap, we're still under $140 including taxes and fees total for Internet+TV. The Internet/TV bundle would be about the $160ish ($150+taxes and fees) but wouldn't be gigabit and would have a lower cap (100mb + 500gb cap).

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    I know what you're thinking. Did I forward 65,535 packets or 65,536 packets?
  64. Re:Too many choices? Bad? Are you fucking kidding? by alexo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The constitution requires giving the creators "exclusive right" of the work.

    No it doesn't. It allows congress to give the creators "exclusive right" for limited times.

    U.S. Constitution - Article 1 Section 8:
    The Congress shall have Power [...] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

    And I would like to add for the record that 5 nanoseconds satisfies "for limited times" quite well.

  65. Content monopolies are the problem by zedaroca · · Score: 1

    Chinese streaming services go for $1-3 (usd). Subscribing to a dozen isn't a problem then. You can find the some shows repeated on many of them, so picking a few services that best match your preferences isn't so hard.

    The problem is that the US have a few big content owners that keep their content as an exclusivity, so you don't have dozens of streaming services to chose from, you have a few, very expensive choices (yes, $15/month for a fraction of what you'd like to see is too expensive).

    It's time copyright's "limited time" of exclusive rights start reducing to the reasonable 5 years it once was.

  66. Because people have families by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    I don't watch Netflix, but other folks in my house do. Same for Hulu. But I do watch Crunchy roll, which nobody else does.

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    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  67. In the US perhaps by lokedhs · · Score: 1

    Over here there is at least Netflix, or there would be zero.

  68. Suppose there was a way... by ArhcAngel · · Score: 1

    What if there were a way to select the networks you want and have it spit out your best option to achieve your dream list? Just make sure you make the selection with only one nerd present

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    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
  69. The solution seems almost impossibly simple. by Hallux-F-Sinister · · Score: 1

    Read, bitches!

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    Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
    1. Re:The solution seems almost impossibly simple. by grumpy-cowboy · · Score: 1

      Exactly! Read, go outside, find a hobby, dance, practice some sports, take time with your family/friends, start a DIY project, ... :)

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      Will $CURRENT_YEAR be the year of the Linux Desktop?
  70. You had to see this coming. by cshark · · Score: 1

    I just love the way everyone's talking about this, as though it's shocking, and somehow unexpected. But this is economics 101. When the consumer demand exists for any given product, and the marketplace does not supply it, channels will rise in order to attempt to address the market need. The way this goes in history is pretty straightforward. First, one or two products show up. Then, you have a lot of copycats that offer the same or similar products as the market expands. Then, the market contracts and corrects, solidifying the businesses of the players who fill the need and make the most reasonable business decisions.

    We're at an awkward moment in streaming. The market is exploding with platforms and venues at the moment. The consolidation and correction phase has not hit yet. But it will. Just give it time.

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