Slashdot Mirror
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.