When the ideas run dry for infinite growth, everything old is new again.
That article was worthless… basically streaming is expensive and not as awesome as it once was. There you go whole article
The biggest change to me is how much the streaming services are pushing commercials now. Paying to watch commercials really completes the transition back to cable.
It’s still way more awesome than cable ever was. Sure you can have all the services all at once and pay as much as a cable bill, or you can rotate your subscriptions and pay way less.
I’m not sure about that. Popular shows get canceled, unfinished. Huge price hikes, and you can’t jump to another provider to watch the shows at a new rate or call and threaten to cancel to get a new rate. Sure, there are a few good series, but it’s still mostly crap. Sure, you can watch some older movies on demand, but plenty aren’t available, are available on some other service, and/or require you to pay a rental fee if you can find it. Prices keep climbing, ads are constantly a threat, and they place more restrictions on how many devices you’re allowed to watch on.
They are doing everything they can to re-insert the worst aspects of cable.
The real difference is you can watch what you want to watch on demand instead of being limited to their selection of shows on their schedule.
Also, you can sign up for a month, watch a series, then cancel and sign up to some other service. Pay for several services and sure, it’s expensive. But one or two? Still a hell of a lot cheaper than Cable ever was.
The fact most content is crap is irrelevant - there’s more good content available than any reasonable person has time to watch.
Few good series 🧐?
I probably couldn’t list all the absolute master pieces I’ve watched since streaming became a thing. This is some serious rose tinted glasses for the cable Era.
I like reruns of Stargate and law and order as much as the next guy but cable was absolute shit when it came to compelling series.
I hope it’s just the literal flood of content we get hit with every some odd months that is warping your perception. You know, rather than the 4 month long weekly episode drops we use to have to suffer through so they could jack up prices on what ever ad they wanted to run in prime time.
That’s not even mentioning the vast graveyards of pilots for series that where DOA based solely on air time.
I sure soon they will introduce contracts making sign up for 6 to 1 year up front to prevent just that.
@teamevil, the hero we need, not the hero we deserve.
Yes, but no. Cable didn’t used to let you watch all seasons of a specific show on any given day and time of your choosing.
I’m old enough to remember when cable didn’t have ads. I was really young, maybe 5ish, but even then it was confusing to me when they started adding commercials. That was for bad TV with the antenna. Then it was only HBO that didn’t have ads, but we couldn’t afford that until I was much older.
EDIT: I guess my memories of being 5 years old aren’t very accurate.
Basic cable has always had commercials along with the over the air channels. Premium channels didn’t.
Yep, cable was first used to allow people to watch the same channels that were available over the air just from a more locations than what was available via antenna at their home (and with better reception), so it had the same commercials.
Premium channels were commercial-less for 7 or 9 years (can’t remember exactly) before the first premium channel decided to start running adverts.
There also used to be product placement ads during the shows too. I feel like that’s also more insidious when Jed Clampett and Granny are telling you every episode to smoke a Winston and eat Kellogg’s.
You’re right. I guess I was remembering premium channels and some niche channels that were cable-only. Most channels available on early cable were just piping non-local broadcast channels down a cable.
If you got it over antenna, it most definitely was not cable.
I didn’t say I got it over antenna. I said TV with commercials was for TV that came from the antenna.
Until the show you want to watch gets removed because they don’t want to pay the licensing fee for it anymore.
The original content is often very mid.
deleted by creator
What we wanted: a-la-carte channels.
What we got: seven expensive streaming services and they all still somehow have ESPN bullshit.
What we actually need: !piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
On the up-side, I can cancel subscriptions whenever I want and only subscribe to one or two at a time when they have something I want to watch. I could never do that with cable.
That said, pricing is getting way out of control. I will not tolerate ads and we’re getting to the point where purchasing content makes more financial sense than subscribing to things that load you up with caveats unless you pay premiums.
They’re going to complicate unsubscribing next.
I think that’s illegal in some places, like California and the EU.
It takes like 3 steps to cancel an audible account on Amazon.
Is that more or less than it takes to sign up?
Amazon is way ahead of the curve
The “best” part you forgot , buying probably won’t be possible or available
Unfortunately, you are absolutely right. 😞
And also, even when it is… it’s “buying” (with quotes), because in this brave new digital world… you don’t actually own anything you “buy”.
I fear the change from monthly to annual only subscriptions is on the horizon
I hear you’re tired of monthly payments. How about…
🏴☠️
*arr!
The music industry figured it out. Now the video streaming industry needs to. Until then, arrrrrr.
The music industry figured it out: I listen to way more music than ever before and I willingly pay more than ever before
Video streaming keeps trying to make my experience more frustrating, less value to me. They’re scrounging for dollars is driving me away. I’ve considered my options for making video entertainment enjoyable again, and I’m just tired of the whole thing. I’m spending more time in projects, more time online, more time reading ebooks from my library. I’m watching less video than before, enjoying it less, getting less value for my money and it’s just all not worth it. Their efforts to profit more from my attention are getting them less of it and losing my willingness to pay
The big difference is exclusive content. Music has a few exceptions but in general sign up for one service and you can listen to anything.
That forces music services to compete on the overall experience (and price), while video services pretty much exclusively compete based on what content is available and literally none of them offer all of the things a person wants to watch. So nobody will ever be happy with any streaming service.
I think exclusive content is only a symptom of the larger problem, which is that we’re letting movie production companies run their own (new-fangled versions of) theaters again.
Yo ho ho my friend. Yo ho ho.
Oh sure, great idea! Henceforth, actors don’t get paid any more. that’s what you’re advocating, that’s what the music industry has “figured out” - how to steal all the money and give it to people who had no involvement with actually making the music.
You should be pirating the fucking music not supporting the pricks who walked in off the street and stole everything and who make nothing at all themselves
edit: removed about the facts just makes you more wrong
No problem, friend. I have time for both.
Spotify pays more to artists than physical stores selling CDs ever did. And they certainly pay better than FM radio.
Sure - if you were one of he top 1000 artists in the world the old system paid more… but it’s not like those artists are starving now — Spotify alone pays millions per year to the top thousand artists, and they also get paid by YouTube, Apple, TikTok, etc etc.
The real way to make money in the music industry is and always has been live performances. A solo artist can make a couple hundred bucks a night doing simple cover songs, and a popular band can make a lot more.
Meanwhile pirating content and streaming it has never been easier. Jellyfin and private trackers ftw
Don’t forget about newsgroups (⌐■_■)
Idk what newsgroups are
shhhhh!
I stopped using Hulu when it introduced ads over a decade ago and never looked back. The stock of that company did really well despite the cable-like inconveniences.
We know, Verge.
Now go build an PC…wait nevermind.
nah, just get a thinkpad
Look up “Verge PC build” on Youtube to get it.
Lessons from movies that streaming services didn’t learn:
“You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
With the current state of streaming services mess, I think I would have signed up for disc rental by mail. Access to nearly 100% of media at highest quality for around 10 to 15 bucks a month seems like pretty good deal right about now. Sadly Netflix killed that part of their business so I can’t even go back to that.
It’s not like netflix is the only one that can offer that kind of service. You’ve still got gamefly, 3D Bluray Rental, cafedvd, redbox (if you’re fine with going to a kiosk), your public library, and probably others if you care to search for them.
I’ve just gone back to pirating and buying DVDs. I don’t watch much of anything anymore.
same, i also abuse free trials pretty hard.
(virtual credit cards and visa gift cards with little to no money on them work great)
What is this “world of content” the author is talking about? 17 years ago, the streaming options on Netflix were the previous season of Friday Night Lights, and… that was it. A few years later they got The Office, but never the current season. So you were always behind. These articles never seem to include a graph of available content over time.
I went from cable to satellite in 2008 and then went strictly streaming in 2010. I’ve had Disney + and Netflix off and on over the years but I’ve found that I don’t need any of them. There are plenty of things to watch for free elsewhere and plenty of other things to do than watch shows that will be canceled after the first season.
I won’t watch a show unless it’s done. This bullshit of cancelling after one season is ass.
