Movies and TV Streaming about to get very expensive - Page 4

Eleazar · 07-01-2019, 10:31 AM

(This article is from the UK, but applies here as well)

Streaming TV is about to get very expensive – here's why

With Disney, Apple and others about to launch their own services, a lot of your favourite shows are likely to vanish behind paywalls. The golden age of streaming is over

Stuart Heritage

The most watched show on US Netflix, by a huge margin, is the US version of The Office. Even though the platform pumps out an absurd amount of original programming – 1,500 hours last year – it turns out that everyone just wants to watch a decade-old sitcom. One report last year said that The Office accounts for 7% all US Netflix viewing.

So, naturally, NBC wants it back. This week, it was announced that Netflix had failed to secure the rights to The Office beyond January 2021. The good news is that it will still be available to watch elsewhere. The bad news is that “elsewhere”, means “the new NBCUniversal streaming platform”.

Is the end of Netflix's golden age in sight?

As a viewer, you are right to feel queasy. The industry-disrupting success of Netflix means that everybody wants a slice of the pie. Right now, things are just about manageable – if you have a TV licence, a Netflix subscription, an Amazon subscription and a Now TV subscription, you are pretty much covered – but things are about to take a turn for the worse.

In November, Disney will launch Disney+, a streaming platform that will not only block off an enormous amount of existing content (Disney films, ABC shows, Marvel and Pixar films, Lucasfilm, The Simpsons and everything else made by 20th Century Fox), but will also offer a range of new scripted Marvel shows that will directly inform the narrative of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Essentially, if you want to understand anything that happens in any Marvel film from this point onwards, you’ll need to splash out on a Disney+ subscription.

Apple will also be entering the streaming market at about the same time, promising new work from Sofia Coppola, Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Brie Larson, Damien Chazelle and Steven Spielberg. In the next three years, Apple will spend $4.2bn on original programming, and you won’t get to see any of it if you don’t pay a monthly premium.

There are so many others. NBCUniversal is pulling its shows from Netflix for its own platform. Before long, Friends is likely to disappear behind a new WarnerMedia streaming service – along with Lord of the Rings films, the Harry Potter films, anything based on a DC comic and everything on HBO – that it is believed will cost about £15 a month. In the UK, the BBC and ITV will amalgamate their archives behind a service called BritBox. The former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg is about to launch a platform called Quibi, releasing “snackable” content from Steven Spielberg and others that is designed to be watched on your phone. YouTube is producing more and more original subscription-only content. Facebook is making shows, for crying out loud.

And this sucks. Watching television is about to get very, very expensive. There will be a point where viewers are going to hit their tolerance for monthly subscriptions – I may be able to manage one more service, but only if I unsubscribe from an existing platform – meaning that TV will become more elitist, tiered and fragmented than it already is. There’s a huge difference between not being able to watch everything because there’s too much choice and not being able to watch everything because you don’t have enough money.

Most importantly, we should all remember that this content war is hinged upon a fundamental misunderstanding of viewing habits. Netflix didn’t become a monster because people wanted to watch a specific show; it became a monster because people wanted to watch everything. When its streaming platform launched, people were spending more than £15 just to watch a single season of a show on DVD. So to be able to watch every season of a show – and every season of hundreds of others of shows – for a fiver a month was revolutionary. The whole point of Netflix was that it was a relatively affordable bucket that contained an awful lot of television. That’s why people liked it. That’s why so many people subscribed and continue to subscribe. To pretend otherwise is to miss the point.

That will be a memory soon. The Netflix model was great for viewers, but it couldn’t last. The content creators got greedy and scared, and now they’re determined to drag things back to the bad old ways. They will force everyone to pay for everything separately, and the subscriber base will split, and the providers will have to recoup the money they are spending to take on Netflix – such as the $500m that NBCUniversal spent to get The Office back, the $250m Amazon is spending on a Lord of the Rings series and the $500m that Warner just spent to win the services of JJ Abrams – which means that subscriptions will rise. Make no mistake: we’re the ones likely to get stiffed here.

The golden age of television may be going strong, but the golden age of streaming is dead.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-r...sive-heres-why

FlintHillsChiefs · 07-04-2019, 01:47 AM

Time to sail the seven seas. Currently going to build a new Ryzen 2 box and retire this one so I can retire my dead ass media server.

Eleazar · 07-04-2019, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaFace

When I read these articles, I feel like I'm the only one who just subscribes to things for a month or two and watches what I want before moving onto something else. You don't have to commit to everything for years.

I think most people do that now, but as content becomes more fragmented across streaming services and they begin to struggle to keep regular subscribers, eventually they'd have to implement agreements that are not just month-to-month

WilliamTheIrish · 07-04-2019, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eleazar

I think most people do that now, but as content becomes more fragmented across streaming services and they begin to struggle to keep regular subscribers, eventually they'd have to implement agreements that are not just month-to-month

5 years ago this November I ditched cable. I have internet and one streaming service and an HD antenna. Also, I have a decent amount of knowledge so that I can find streams for anything else should I feel the need.

The best part about it is, I just don't miss cable. At all. My enjoyment for books, audio and hardback. And podcasts.

The amount of money I have saved is incredible. Enough that I've traveled all over the country these last 18 months.

**jjchieffan** · 07-04-2019, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

JJChief,

What is your setup to DVR OTA on the pc? Whenever my old Windows 7 DVR pc dies, I would like to use a Windows 10 to DVR, but I haven't found a very good setup.

I bought a USB tuner and installed Plex as my media server. It works great. I can view my guide, live TV, and recordings from anywhere that I install Plex.(most smart devices and TV's have Plex, I get it on my phone, and my parents are able to access it at their house). Plex has a monthly subscription cost, but I bought the lifetime subscription. It usually runs $125 for the lifetime, but I held out and got it on sale for $90.

**jjchieffan** · 07-04-2019, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eleazar

I think most people do that now, but as content becomes more fragmented across streaming services and they begin to struggle to keep regular subscribers, eventually they'd have to implement agreements that are not just month-to-month

I would expect them to offer annual subscriptions at a lower monthly cost. I would be all over that.

Mecca · 07-04-2019, 10:24 AM

You only need a VPN to stream if you're doing Kodi because your ISP will block some of the links.

**jjchieffan** · 07-04-2019, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mecca

You only need a VPN to stream if you're doing Kodi because your ISP will block some of the links.

Good to know. I used to have Kodi. But when all of the scrapers started shutting down, it became too much of a headache to keep up with. I removed Kodi from everything and switched to Morpheus. Now, I use Cinema. That works perfectly fine for my purposes,

CapsLockKey · 07-05-2019, 10:49 AM

One point that is missed in this is account sharing. I share my DirecTV Now account (which is 55 a month with HBO included) and Netflix premium (17 with 4 streams and 4k) with my in laws. Also, because I have Sprint I get free Hulu.

I could easily add a couple other services and still pay way less than I was for DirecTV satellite back in the day even without sharing. The amount of quality original content that Netflix puts out I could get by on that alone.

Plus my kids can continue to use it when they go off to college.

CapsLockKey · 07-05-2019, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eleazar

That model is great until too many people are doing it, after which they will have to introduce longer term agreements.

Anything that allows consumers to save money while still getting what they want costs the media companies money and will eventually be reacted to.

Forcing long term agreements for streaming at this point is a sure way to make your service a failure. There is too much competition and it's about to get more competitive. Before streaming you basically had three choices, whatever cable company that has the monopoly in your area, Dish or DirecTV. Now you have dozens of choices and the list will continue to grow.

Lprechaun · 07-05-2019, 02:10 PM

About now would be a good time for cable companies who have lost so many subscribers to drastically slash prices and get their base customers back with options like unlimited or high DVR capabilities.
Comcast who has the monopoly locally for me lost customers to DirecTv thru AT&T, you already pay for the internet and they need to recoup costs for paying for content outside of OTA networks.
Id sign back up for cable tv if it included sports packages and HBO for say 50 a month, and ditch hulu. Id be under 200 a month then for internet, tv and netflix.
Right now we have Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime with no plans to change that.

BWillie · 07-05-2019, 05:24 PM

Nope.

Deberg_1990 · 07-05-2019, 08:37 PM

I’d cancel my direct TV service but they keep making it affordable for me. I pay only $80 for basic direct Tv service and land line internet.

I guess they cut me a deal because I pay so much on the wireless side with 4 phones and unlimited data.

cooper barrett · 07-05-2019, 08:48 PM

you get free wireless for 5 lines with Xfinity. Just pay for data. phones for me and SO is $25 a month using 2GB.

BleedingRed · 07-06-2019, 08:27 AM

Btw guys,

Save yourself a lot of money buy yourself a 60 dollar Micro Tick (tiny computer) mount to back of TV, and buy USB/WiFi/whatever remote or keyboard and use reddit to stream NFL games in up to 4K.....

patteeu · 07-06-2019, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CapsLockKey

One point that is missed in this is account sharing. I share my DirecTV Now account (which is 55 a month with HBO included) and Netflix premium (17 with 4 streams and 4k) with my in laws. Also, because I have Sprint I get free Hulu.

I could easily add a couple other services and still pay way less than I was for DirecTV satellite back in the day even without sharing. The amount of quality original content that Netflix puts out I could get by on that alone.

Plus my kids can continue to use it when they go off to college.

One of the points of the article is that the amount of desireable content on any one service is going to decline.

07-01-2019, 10:31 AM
Eleazar Beyond the Rapids Join Date: May 2003 Location: Langley, VA Casino cash: $-370000	Streaming about to get very expensive (This article is from the UK, but applies here as well) Streaming TV is about to get very expensive – here's why With Disney, Apple and others about to launch their own services, a lot of your favourite shows are likely to vanish behind paywalls. The golden age of streaming is over Stuart Heritage The most watched show on US Netflix, by a huge margin, is the US version of The Office. Even though the platform pumps out an absurd amount of original programming – 1,500 hours last year – it turns out that everyone just wants to watch a decade-old sitcom. One report last year said that The Office accounts for 7% all US Netflix viewing. So, naturally, NBC wants it back. This week, it was announced that Netflix had failed to secure the rights to The Office beyond January 2021. The good news is that it will still be available to watch elsewhere. The bad news is that “elsewhere”, means “the new NBCUniversal streaming platform”. Is the end of Netflix's golden age in sight? As a viewer, you are right to feel queasy. The industry-disrupting success of Netflix means that everybody wants a slice of the pie. Right now, things are just about manageable – if you have a TV licence, a Netflix subscription, an Amazon subscription and a Now TV subscription, you are pretty much covered – but things are about to take a turn for the worse. In November, Disney will launch Disney+, a streaming platform that will not only block off an enormous amount of existing content (Disney films, ABC shows, Marvel and Pixar films, Lucasfilm, The Simpsons and everything else made by 20th Century Fox), but will also offer a range of new scripted Marvel shows that will directly inform the narrative of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Essentially, if you want to understand anything that happens in any Marvel film from this point onwards, you’ll need to splash out on a Disney+ subscription. Apple will also be entering the streaming market at about the same time, promising new work from Sofia Coppola, Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Brie Larson, Damien Chazelle and Steven Spielberg. In the next three years, Apple will spend $4.2bn on original programming, and you won’t get to see any of it if you don’t pay a monthly premium. There are so many others. NBCUniversal is pulling its shows from Netflix for its own platform. Before long, Friends is likely to disappear behind a new WarnerMedia streaming service – along with Lord of the Rings films, the Harry Potter films, anything based on a DC comic and everything on HBO – that it is believed will cost about £15 a month. In the UK, the BBC and ITV will amalgamate their archives behind a service called BritBox. The former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg is about to launch a platform called Quibi, releasing “snackable” content from Steven Spielberg and others that is designed to be watched on your phone. YouTube is producing more and more original subscription-only content. Facebook is making shows, for crying out loud. And this sucks. Watching television is about to get very, very expensive. There will be a point where viewers are going to hit their tolerance for monthly subscriptions – I may be able to manage one more service, but only if I unsubscribe from an existing platform – meaning that TV will become more elitist, tiered and fragmented than it already is. There’s a huge difference between not being able to watch everything because there’s too much choice and not being able to watch everything because you don’t have enough money. Most importantly, we should all remember that this content war is hinged upon a fundamental misunderstanding of viewing habits. Netflix didn’t become a monster because people wanted to watch a specific show; it became a monster because people wanted to watch everything. When its streaming platform launched, people were spending more than £15 just to watch a single season of a show on DVD. So to be able to watch every season of a show – and every season of hundreds of others of shows – for a fiver a month was revolutionary. The whole point of Netflix was that it was a relatively affordable bucket that contained an awful lot of television. That’s why people liked it. That’s why so many people subscribed and continue to subscribe. To pretend otherwise is to miss the point. That will be a memory soon. The Netflix model was great for viewers, but it couldn’t last. The content creators got greedy and scared, and now they’re determined to drag things back to the bad old ways. They will force everyone to pay for everything separately, and the subscriber base will split, and the providers will have to recoup the money they are spending to take on Netflix – such as the $500m that NBCUniversal spent to get The Office back, the $250m Amazon is spending on a Lord of the Rings series and the $500m that Warner just spent to win the services of JJ Abrams – which means that subscriptions will rise. Make no mistake: we’re the ones likely to get stiffed here. The golden age of television may be going strong, but the golden age of streaming is dead. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-r...sive-heres-why
Posts: 80,659

07-04-2019, 01:47 AM	#46
FlintHillsChiefs Starter Join Date: Jan 2014 Casino cash: $10005639	Time to sail the seven seas. Currently going to build a new Ryzen 2 box and retire this one so I can retire my dead ass media server.
Posts: 757	1 0

07-04-2019, 10:24 AM	#51
Mecca Hockey Town Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Kansas City, Missouri Casino cash: $2147050	You only need a VPN to stream if you're doing Kodi because your ISP will block some of the links.
Posts: 111,254

07-05-2019, 10:49 AM	#53
CapsLockKey Starter Join Date: Feb 2009 Casino cash: $1491445	One point that is missed in this is account sharing. I share my DirecTV Now account (which is 55 a month with HBO included) and Netflix premium (17 with 4 streams and 4k) with my in laws. Also, because I have Sprint I get free Hulu. I could easily add a couple other services and still pay way less than I was for DirecTV satellite back in the day even without sharing. The amount of quality original content that Netflix puts out I could get by on that alone. Plus my kids can continue to use it when they go off to college. Last edited by CapsLockKey; 07-05-2019 at 11:05 AM..
Posts: 892

07-05-2019, 02:10 PM	#55
Lprechaun Veteran Join Date: Oct 2012 Casino cash: $5096268	About now would be a good time for cable companies who have lost so many subscribers to drastically slash prices and get their base customers back with options like unlimited or high DVR capabilities. Comcast who has the monopoly locally for me lost customers to DirecTv thru AT&T, you already pay for the internet and they need to recoup costs for paying for content outside of OTA networks. Id sign back up for cable tv if it included sports packages and HBO for say 50 a month, and ditch hulu. Id be under 200 a month then for internet, tv and netflix. Right now we have Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime with no plans to change that.
Posts: 1,515

07-05-2019, 05:24 PM	#56
BWillie El Gato Gordo Loco Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Earth Casino cash: $1951241	Nope. __________________ Who wants free money? Use the link below to sign up at Bovada, BetOnline, Black Chip Poker and Ignition. Contact me for private deals, spot bonuses, possible rakeback or any questions! Bovada, Ignition, BetOnline, Black Chip Poker: baldeaglepoker.com Bovada Poker is back! Get up to $500 poker deposit bonus.
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07-05-2019, 08:37 PM	#57
Deberg_1990 In Search of a Life Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: San Antonio Tx. Casino cash: $3534454	I’d cancel my direct TV service but they keep making it affordable for me. I pay only $80 for basic direct Tv service and land line internet. I guess they cut me a deal because I pay so much on the wireless side with 4 phones and unlimited data. __________________ Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning: Matt once made a very nice play in Seattle where he spun away from a pass rusher and hit Bowe off his back foot for a first down. One of the best plays Matt has ever made.
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07-05-2019, 08:48 PM	#58
cooper barrett MVP Join Date: Aug 2017 Casino cash: $10000400	you get free wireless for 5 lines with Xfinity. Just pay for data. phones for me and SO is $25 a month using 2GB. __________________
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