How Many Streaming Services Is to Many?

[Zardnaar]

Why does it have to be either/or? Especially if you have a handy Roku or similar TV.

For example, I love the show Ray Donovan. If I'm patient, I can wait until an entire season is finished, or nearly, finished, and then sub Showtime for a month. I'm essentially paying $15 for 10 episodes of Ray Donovan, which I consider fairly good value. And then maybe if I throw in a couple movies, or if there's another series I like, it fleshes out quite nicely.

I used to do the same with Game of Thrones, although HBO had more programs I liked so would sub for longer.

You could do similar with Hulu, Starz, Netflix, etc - even have them on rotation, a month or two of each in a row. That keeps things a bit fresh. Starz has a solid selection, but if you pay a monthly rate and watch a lot of movies, it grows stale pretty quickly.

Yeah we have thought of that. Free trial pay for a month and binge the few shows you care about.
I think that's our plan for the Mandalorian if it gets decent reviews.

A few are not available here though. And the ones that are often lack stuff like no HBO stuff here on Amazon.

 

[trappedslider]

Why does it have to be either/or? Especially if you have a handy Roku or similar TV.

For example, I love the show Ray Donovan. If I'm patient, I can wait until an entire season is finished, or nearly, finished, and then sub Showtime for a month. I'm essentially paying $15 for 10 episodes of Ray Donovan, which I consider fairly good value. And then maybe if I throw in a couple movies, or if there's another series I like, it fleshes out quite nicely.

I used to do the same with Game of Thrones, although HBO had more programs I liked so would sub for longer.

You could do similar with Hulu, Starz, Netflix, etc - even have them on rotation, a month or two of each in a row. That keeps things a bit fresh. Starz has a solid selection, but if you pay a monthly rate and watch a lot of movies, it grows stale pretty quickly.

I just keep forgetting to cancel stuff and it looks like Amazon just dropped a teaser for the next season of Jack Ryan. I tried the DC universe, but there's only so much time one has to watch something lol.

 

[vpuigdoller]

I vote for only one.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think we'll have Amazon for a year, perma keep Netflix and rotate the others.

 

[Blue]

I think that if the businesses continue fragmenting the streaming services, we'll see two things. Some trying to charge a lot and failing (like Amazon's Anime Burst extra-cost), and others without a wide & varied catalog but some interesting shows that price themselves low cost as add-ons.

I expect that this trend will give rise to new software. First, one-interface apps/software that search multiple ones so people don't have to go searching, with good bookmarking across devices and such.

The other one would be time-shifting, where people pay for legal access to a streaming service for a single month, and the software spends idle hours you aren't using the service to record shows you have pre-selected, so you can watch at your own pace even after the month ends. In the US time shifting programming is legal (was a big thing when the VCR first came out), though of course specific contracts with the streaming services may prohibit it.

 

[Umbran]

I think that if the businesses continue fragmenting the streaming services, we'll see two things.

You'll see a third - the package reseller. Someone will go to Hulu and Netflix and Amazon and CBS and all, and say, "Hey, we'll pay you half for your subscriptions, but promise you them in bulk!" They will then turn to the consumer and say, "We can give you each of these services for three-quarters the price you'd pay Amazon and Netflix direct!"

And, we will have re-created cable premium packages on the internet.

You'll see a fourth behavior crop up, as well - password sharing.

Why does it have to be either/or?

Because managing them to turn them on or off is a right pain in the neck, when the services have zero interest in making it easy for you. You have to remember to stay strictly on top of it, as most of these are auto-charge or auto-renew.

This may help create assisting streaming package management as a business model. I give you a one-stop location to manage all your accounts, turning them on and off as you wish.

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

Having HBO, CBS, and some others available as "channels" via Amazon has helped me with turning subs on and off. Also (at least for now), you can immediately cancel your subscription, and it stays live for the month you just paid for... so you don't have to remember that later. I've done that with HBO, CBS, even there Audible service.

 

[trappedslider]

You'll see a third - the package reseller. Someone will go to Hulu and Netflix and Amazon and CBS and all, and say, "Hey, we'll pay you half for your subscriptions, but promise you them in bulk!" They will then turn to the consumer and say, "We can give you each of these services for three-quarters the price you'd pay Amazon and Netflix direct!"

And, we will have re-created cable premium packages on the internet.

You'll see a fourth behavior crop up, as well - password sharing.
.

or piracy

 

[Ryujin]

At this point I've got Prime and Netflix. Netflix in Canada is crap, especially with the Marvel shows now being gone. We get a tiny fraction of what folks in the US do, though we do seem to get all of their original series. If I had only got it for movies, I'd have dropped it long ago.

Prime is pretty much the same in that the original content is the better part of the bargain. I've got it simply because, as others have said, I save a small fortune on shipping. The movie content here is largely B-grade stuff from production houses like The Asylum (you know, the low grade SyFy movies).

Netflix may just go away in favour of another service, like Crave, which has far better content here.

 

[Kaodi]

We have technically had Crave for a long time as TMN subscribers but we have hardly ever used it. Partially because our rural Internet is garbage (and making it hard for us to watch the new season of Veronica Mars). I have not really looked at their catalogue. We, or more technically, my Sister, also have Netflix. Even with perfect Internet I do not think we would be interested in more streaming services. Competition is creating more content but it is certainly not making getting all the content you want cheaper.