Don't pay streaming companies more money
By Jillian Law
[email protected]
One of the best things about fall is cozying up with a blanket and a cup of coffee to have a morning in catching up on your favorite shows. Of course, gone are the days of regular cable. No, instead you might scroll through Netflix for a good sitcom or open up Hulu to catch up on The Handmaiden’s Tale. Or maybe you feel like rewatching Fleabag on Amazon Prime.
Now, with the upcoming launches of Disney Plus, HBO Max, Apple TV Plus, and NBC’s Peacock, there are even more streaming services to compete for your lazy Saturday morning viewing pleasure. It is the beginning of what some are calling “the streaming services war”, and it is a war that is out to gouge your wallet. Don’t let it.
For most, the upcoming influx of streaming services is not a welcome change. At first, streaming services like Netflix and Hulu were presented as cheaper options than cable. Customers only had to pay a monthly fee and receive access to a wide variety of shows in one convenient place.
However, streaming has become more expensive and less convenient as more streaming services are launched. According to a survey from Amdocs Media, 27 percent of Americans spend more than $100 a month on streaming services and other similar subscriptions. This is more than the average cable customers spends.
Recently, I calculated what I spend on subscriptions per month. Netflix is $12.99 a month for two screens plus HD. Hulu without commercials is $11.99 a month, and Amazon Prime is $12.99 a month. In total, my monthly subscription total is $38.47.
Most of us pay for our streaming services without thinking and without consuming a ton of content regularly. That is what companies like Netflix and Hulu aim for. They want to maintain a regular base of subscribers who are satisfied enough to keeping paying out of habit.
Emerging streaming services like Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, Peacock, and HBO Max are hoping to lure subscribers away from Netflix and Hulu. There are two ways they can do this: by acquiring the licensing to popular shows and creating buzzy new programming.
Disney Plus is ahead of everyone else in how much content it will launch with. Over five hundred Disney and Disney-owned films will be available to stream on the platform’s Nov. 12 launch date. Their catalogue will include classic animated films like Beauty and the Beast, the Star Wars film, and everything included in the MCU for only $7 a month. Original shows like a Lizzie McGuire revival and the Wanda and Vision sitcom have also been announced.
NBC plans to move its popular sitcoms like The Office and Parks and Recreation to Peacock, which launches in April. Other shows to be on Peacock include Saturday Night Live, Downtown Abbey, and Cheers. It also plans to premiere original content such as a reboot of Battlestar Galactica. No pricing for the service has been announced yet.
Warner Media’s HBO Max will feature the full slate of Warner Bros. and HBO produced TV shows. They have also purchased the licensing for Friends, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Pretty Little Liars. The service has also began to heavily invest in original programming, signing deals with creators like J.J. Abrams and Greg Berlanti. HBO Max will run at about $15 a month to start, making it the most expensive of the emerging services.
Apple TV Plus will begin at a distinct disadvantage with its launch on Nov. 1. With no library of content to pull from, the service will have rely on the strengths of its original content like The Morning Show with Reese Witherspoon or Dickinson, a comedy about Emily Dickinson starring Hailee Steinfeld. It is the cheapest of the services at $5 a month or free for a year with the purchase of an Apple product.
These platforms all want new subscribers excited about their original content and willing to pay even more for streaming subscriptions a month. What they have done, however, is to reinvent the cable package and make it more expensive too.
It may be tempting to add Disney Plus and HBO Max to your list of streaming subscriptions. After all, it is only a few more bucks a month, right? It might feel like that, but an extra $10 to $20 a month is more than you think for services you will not consume as regularly as you think.
Save your money. Buy the shows you like on DVD or digitally. Borrow your friends’ HBO Max and Disney Plus accounts if they’re nice because chances are you know someone who will get one. Or split the cost of an account with a friend. There are ways to consume the media you enjoy without paying $50 or more a month in streaming subscriptions.
[email protected]
One of the best things about fall is cozying up with a blanket and a cup of coffee to have a morning in catching up on your favorite shows. Of course, gone are the days of regular cable. No, instead you might scroll through Netflix for a good sitcom or open up Hulu to catch up on The Handmaiden’s Tale. Or maybe you feel like rewatching Fleabag on Amazon Prime.
Now, with the upcoming launches of Disney Plus, HBO Max, Apple TV Plus, and NBC’s Peacock, there are even more streaming services to compete for your lazy Saturday morning viewing pleasure. It is the beginning of what some are calling “the streaming services war”, and it is a war that is out to gouge your wallet. Don’t let it.
For most, the upcoming influx of streaming services is not a welcome change. At first, streaming services like Netflix and Hulu were presented as cheaper options than cable. Customers only had to pay a monthly fee and receive access to a wide variety of shows in one convenient place.
However, streaming has become more expensive and less convenient as more streaming services are launched. According to a survey from Amdocs Media, 27 percent of Americans spend more than $100 a month on streaming services and other similar subscriptions. This is more than the average cable customers spends.
Recently, I calculated what I spend on subscriptions per month. Netflix is $12.99 a month for two screens plus HD. Hulu without commercials is $11.99 a month, and Amazon Prime is $12.99 a month. In total, my monthly subscription total is $38.47.
Most of us pay for our streaming services without thinking and without consuming a ton of content regularly. That is what companies like Netflix and Hulu aim for. They want to maintain a regular base of subscribers who are satisfied enough to keeping paying out of habit.
Emerging streaming services like Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, Peacock, and HBO Max are hoping to lure subscribers away from Netflix and Hulu. There are two ways they can do this: by acquiring the licensing to popular shows and creating buzzy new programming.
Disney Plus is ahead of everyone else in how much content it will launch with. Over five hundred Disney and Disney-owned films will be available to stream on the platform’s Nov. 12 launch date. Their catalogue will include classic animated films like Beauty and the Beast, the Star Wars film, and everything included in the MCU for only $7 a month. Original shows like a Lizzie McGuire revival and the Wanda and Vision sitcom have also been announced.
NBC plans to move its popular sitcoms like The Office and Parks and Recreation to Peacock, which launches in April. Other shows to be on Peacock include Saturday Night Live, Downtown Abbey, and Cheers. It also plans to premiere original content such as a reboot of Battlestar Galactica. No pricing for the service has been announced yet.
Warner Media’s HBO Max will feature the full slate of Warner Bros. and HBO produced TV shows. They have also purchased the licensing for Friends, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Pretty Little Liars. The service has also began to heavily invest in original programming, signing deals with creators like J.J. Abrams and Greg Berlanti. HBO Max will run at about $15 a month to start, making it the most expensive of the emerging services.
Apple TV Plus will begin at a distinct disadvantage with its launch on Nov. 1. With no library of content to pull from, the service will have rely on the strengths of its original content like The Morning Show with Reese Witherspoon or Dickinson, a comedy about Emily Dickinson starring Hailee Steinfeld. It is the cheapest of the services at $5 a month or free for a year with the purchase of an Apple product.
These platforms all want new subscribers excited about their original content and willing to pay even more for streaming subscriptions a month. What they have done, however, is to reinvent the cable package and make it more expensive too.
It may be tempting to add Disney Plus and HBO Max to your list of streaming subscriptions. After all, it is only a few more bucks a month, right? It might feel like that, but an extra $10 to $20 a month is more than you think for services you will not consume as regularly as you think.
Save your money. Buy the shows you like on DVD or digitally. Borrow your friends’ HBO Max and Disney Plus accounts if they’re nice because chances are you know someone who will get one. Or split the cost of an account with a friend. There are ways to consume the media you enjoy without paying $50 or more a month in streaming subscriptions.