Just counting the ones I’m currently subbed to, I’m spending around $100 on TV, which is about how much cable costs, too. I’ve always known this. I’ve never liked it, but I’ve accepted it because, for years, having these services has given me access to practically everything I could ever want to watch. That changed significantly this year, and I’m about to nuke the entire operation and go back to theoldways.
Content is spread far and wide across exceedingly niche subscription services these days, and it’s just too hard to justify the cost anymore. I’m so sick of Googling a new movie or show to find out where it’s streaming, only to discover it’s on a service I don’t have and have never heard of. It’s happening more and more, and I don’t think it’s going to stop.
Bundled streaming services will help with this to some degree. As much as I hate the idea that we’re just turning streaming back into cable, I just need some convenience.
The wild thing is that, according to Forbes, the average number of streaming services per person is less than three. I have access to more than double the number of movies and shows than the average person (50 percent of people don’t have a single subscription, apparently), and yet the things I want to watch are never available. Most people just launch Netflix and watch whatever is on, but the whole point of streaming is that it allows us to watch what we want, not just whatever is on.
The streaming services are digging their own graves with this nonsense. Healthy competition is one thing, but having dozens of different platforms causes confusion, destroys discoverability, and makes something as simple as watching a movie difficult and frustrating. Not to mention the constant price hikes, which decrease the value of each individual service even more. You might not be able to cut subscriptions entirely, but a good VPN may be the only subscription you need in 2024.
