There is a theory that everything we create that is good and helpful will one day be turned against us and be used to devour our money and resources. Television is one of the most profound versions of this particular thought process. Something that started with basic intentions was soon gobbled up by business people and used to wrangle stars into often extremely workshopped TV shows.
Now, we have the newest wave of entertainment destruction.Streamingis fast becoming something that nobody wants, yet everyone wants. It was touted as a blessing and alternative to the trappingsof cable TVand physical media but has since been degraded by business. The endless cycle continues.
The Rise and Fall of Cable Television
Cutto the 1960s, and suddenly, longer ads were cut in between shows. This meant that the average hour of television would only be about 45 minutes with commercials. And then cable came into the picture. Cable offered something a lot of people wanted: premium services. With cable TV, you could get better reception and, for a slight increase in cost, several pay channels such as HBO. This meant that you could pick and choose certain things depending on what you could afford. It also meant that if you had the money, you had additional access, and people love access.
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Streaming Completely Changes the Game
Netflix started as a premium rental serviceallowing you to send movies directly to your house. It wiped out most of the brick-and-mortar rental places, especially Blockbuster. Suddenly, everyone was doing delivery. Then Netflix took a giant leap and decided to become a streaming service. People had never heard of this, or at least not on this scale. What it offered was complete catalog access for $7.99/month.
As people found more bandwidth, this service became incredibly lucrative. And for people who used it, it was a breath of fresh air because now they no longer needed cable, commercials, physical rentals, or the exorbitant fees associated with either. And, and this was one of the big ones, they could binge. It was a term that had been coined before, but watching entire seasons of shows in one sitting wasn’t popular before the streaming era.
As was expected, other streamers started to pop up. These were places like Prime Video, which had its own library to work with. This was followed by specific channels like HBO that had specific content that they wanted to utilize instead of selling to places like Amazon or Netflix. Then, these various streamers begancreating original contentto set themselves apart even further from each other. And then… prices began to rise. But only for a select few who, once again, wanted premium service and access.
Streaming Services Have More Microtransactions Than Ever Before
Basic streaming has now turned itself into cable, complete with commercial interference. It should also be noted that these commercials, now added to streaming-specific shows and movies, do not have specified ad-break moments. They simply interrupt. But, assuming you don’t mind commercials or cannot afford to pay more, you can have seven streamers for $54 per month, including the major services like Hulu, Disney+, Netflix, and Max, to name a few. However, if you want the clean, uninterrupted experience that everyone was previously getting for that price, you will need to fork over $94/month. That is only with the most basic programming.
The Future of Streaming Is Unskippable Ads, Higher Prices, and Less Content
Streaming is a financial dead end in its current form.
But then we come to even more microtransactions. Would you like to watch your favorite sports? Add at least an additional $70 to that package. Want to watch movies that are justcoming out on Prime Video? You’ll need to rent or buy them. Add to this the fact that, with all of these additional microtransactions added to entice you into more programming, you are also losing content. Strange but true.
Platforms such asMax are now removing contentfor business reasons in an attempt to save money by “vaulting” content and can thus avoid paying residuals to creators. This means that content you may have thought you owned or had unlimited access to no longer exists. And, because there is no more physical media, you cannot actually own any of these TV shows or movies. Streamers say no, you still pay, and they dictate what you get to see. And say goodbye to the binging. Streamers want people to come back so they can serve them ads, and we are back to weekly releases.
Money is the bottom line. You pay it, they get it. And since they are now the only game in town, you will continue to pay whatever they want. We desire entertainment and access more than anything else, and as long as we continue paying, the microtransactions will continue to increase. As The Who once said, “Say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss.”
Streaming Service
Ad-Supported
$15.49 / month (extra member slots** can be added for $7.99 each / month)
$6.99 / month
Premium: $22.99 / month (extra member slots** can be added for $7.99 each / month)
$15.99 / month
$9.99 / month
$19.99 / month
$17.99 / month
$7.99 / month
$13.99 / month
Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ Trio Package with ads: $14.99 / month or $24.99 / month without ads
Prime Video
$11.98 / month
$8.99 / month
Ad-free with Amazon Prime membership: $17.98 / month
Paramount+
Paramount+ with SHOWTIME: $11.99 / month
$5.99 / month
$11.99 / month
