So within the last month or so there have been a number of companies announcing video streaming services. Big companies coming into this market as it’s the future for most people.
While it’s great to have a choice it’s becoming more and more like tv services (cable/satellite) and I think it’s coming to a stage where enough is enough.
As an average viewer or a whole host of different shows I have to subscribe to around 5 different streaming companies (if they were available in my country) ... amazon prime for the expanse and grand tour, Netflix for lucifer, Star Trek discovery, and a whole host of others, Disney+ for the marvel and Star Wars shows, Apple TV+ for their shows, and DC Universe for Titans and Doom Patrol (for now).
The problem lies with that it doesn’t stop there ... as well as those to get all of those shows, we also have music subscriptions (Spotify, Apple, or amazon music unlimited), gaming subscriptions (Microsoft game pass, Apple arcade, PlaystatioNow), magazine subscriptions, gym subscriptions and it goes on and on and on. Most of my wage could go to these entertainment packages. For the 5 tv packages alone it would cost around £30 a month depending if DC hit the uk and what and when Disney+ and apple tv+ come here, then it’s another £10 for Spotify or Apple so you could round it up to about £100 a month for entertainment. To top it off, that’s only the streaming services so if you have cable or satellite tv the price goes up and up.
Granted with amazon you get free deliveries and other perks and you can get free Netflix with a phone contract or certain tv packages but it’s still mind blowing. The saving grace is that so far these services have been amazing. I ADORE the Netflix original shows and Netflix uk is the only way we can legally watch DC’s Titans. Which leads to my next point. These streaming services usually start out in America and it takes a LONG time for them to hit other countries. This is a HUGE mistake. Disney+ has it too that it hits America first and other countries within 2 years. In this day and age, we the consumer don’t want to wait for shows to be shown on services. We don’t want to wait until Titans has completed its season before it goes on our Netflix. The internet is awash with spoilers and pictures and if we’re out of the loop it’s maddening. Plus if it takes 2 years to come over here then the show could have aired and been cancelled so we won’t even be able to watch it “Live”. Which will lead to more piracy.
People will torrent the shows so they can be watched the day after America so we are in the loop when all the distributors needed to do is release the fecking service in these countries in the first place!!
I know it’s not always cut and dry, black and white as that and there are distribution laws etc that need to be worked out .. but FFS ... if you know you’re gonna release a tv show then sort it out legally in other countries before you release it!! They can do it with the movies so do it with tv too. The good thing about Netflix is that they do this so if it’s out in America it’s usually out in the uk too if Netflix owns it so these services need to take a leaf out of their book. I don’t want to wait to watch new shows.
The next question for the future of streaming is will there be a company or service that combines these packages into 1 single monthly discounted payment so consumers get all their streaming services without having 16 billion payments coming out. TV has done it with different channels so it wouldn’t take much for streaming services to do it. They’d just need to strike a bargain but I recon it’s doable and it would certainly be more consumer friendly.
And PLEASE for the love of god and all things ... don’t make any more new services that show specific producers movies/tv ... strike deals with the existing ones.
And also ... stop calling the services (service)+. It sounds ridiculous. Come up with something new like Apple do for their new macOS every year or so.
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