this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2023
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After years of inflation, Americans are used to sticker shock. But nothing compares to the surging price of streaming video.

Last week, Apple TV+ became the latest streaming service to raise its price—up from $6.99 to $9.99 per month—following the example of Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Netflix, which all hiked their prices in October.

Half of the major streaming platforms in the U.S. now charge a monthly fee that’s double the price they charged when they initially came to market. And many of these streaming services haven’t even been around for 10 years.

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[–] [email protected] 54 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Some of us suddenly stopped paying anything for streaming this year.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Hoist the mainsail

[–] [email protected] 54 points 9 months ago

Yup, no reason at all to stop raising prices. Not a one.

🏴‍☠️

[–] [email protected] 45 points 9 months ago (3 children)

What the hell. Can people please cancel en masse already? Why are consumers putting up with this? The price increases stop once it’s not profitable anymore.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The price increases stop once it’s not profitable anymore.

When has this ever happened?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

Just to be clear, are you questioning whether there’s ever been a case where prices have been stable because a company is worried about losing customers? I mean, there are tons. We’re coming out of a 20 year period of historically low inflation. High inflation is recent, not inevitable.

Consumer electronics are an obvious example. Smart phone prices actually dropped this year on soft demand.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I guess the complexity to pirate things. Or people forgot how to.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I've been sailing the high seas for almost 20 years now. It's never been easier to pirate things. Stremio and a well known service honestly beats all steaming services both in quantity and quality of the "catalogue". At least for English language content.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

This generation of consumers is even dumber than the last one.

They pride themselves on getting taken for a ride because it gives them a sense of belonging.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 9 months ago

Consumers are paying

That. That's the reason they're not stopping.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 9 months ago (3 children)

My household has drastically cut back on what we subscribe to. It's honestly overwhelming figuring out where to go to watch something, much less justifying paying for multiple services.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There is a one-stop shop where you can watch anything, matey!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Just sail the high seas

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

You can stream pretty much anything for free here: https://fmoviesz.to/

Just make sure you have uBlock Origin installed.

If you ever get lost, just search 'free streaming sites reddit' and go from there.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 9 months ago

🏴‍☠️

[–] [email protected] 32 points 9 months ago

Why is the VPN singing sea shanties?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago (5 children)

dvd and bluray are so goshdarn cheap that my wife and I thought to just buy everything we like watching physically. yeah we still have to rent new things every so often, but we generally just watch completed series or older movies.

we did an activity called ‘the vault’ where we identified ~800 movies/series that we could just live with forever. Now that the list was made its been the fun casual game of hunting for the best deal.

for instance, we like horror and we found all Blu-rays of the nightmare on elm street for like $15, all Halloween movies for ~$30, original star trek complete series $25.

I am predicting that our 800 works will cost somewhere around $2000? i winced at seeing that price, but spreading it over a few years of searching (we like trying to find our copies at local used stores) i think it isn’t too bad! plus its another activity for me and my wife to do.

Simply realizing that “wow we should just buy the stuff we watch on repeat” has been good for the monthly expenses. yeah we miss out on some exclusive stuff, but honestly there is just so much good shit out there from the past. i can certainly wait for that exclusive stuff to go on sale or finish up its finale so i can resub for a month to binge it.

certainly not laying out all the pros and cons of doing it, but i think the adventure of rediscovering physical media again has been showing is more pros than cons.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm all for owning media and having hard copies but not sure I am following on the financial side. $2000 for your "vault" is around 16 years worth of paying for streaming services. That's not including your self reported extra renting. Do you think the 16 year ROI is worth it? Is the higher quality media a factor?

Just curious how it would be good for your "monthly expenses" given how much you are intending to spend.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

16 years of a single ad-ridden service, maybe. Most people probably have more than just their lone Disney+ bundle or Netflix, so I'd say it's probably closer to 5 years, also assuming they don't continue to raise prices, which obviously won't happen.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Watching through complete old series will save you from the disappointment of a show getting canned after one season which seems to be all the rage with streaming providers now.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago

But how will the CEOs be able to buy their fourth super yacht if they don’t raise prices more? Won’t someone please think of the CEOs stuck with only three super yachts?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Disney is for those have kids, they will pay a lot to have sure they have a free time. Apple tv can rise whatever they want, apple clients already prove they pay any questionable thing for whatever price they offer.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

For other parents: PBS Kids Video It has a bunch of stuff, can be cast to a TV for toddlers; or put on a tablet for older toddlers.

For paid streaming services, we have decided to limit ourselves to two at a time. Once we're bored with one, we cancel it and do another for a while.

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[–] jballs 21 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Pushing ads pushes profits

Some observers see another reason for the frequent price hikes: to push subscribers to their breaking point, and compel them to opt for a lower-priced, or even free, ad-supported plan instead.

Disney CEO Bob Iger said as much during an August earnings call: “We’re obviously trying, with our pricing strategy, to migrate more subs to the advertiser-supported tier.”

Why? Unlike a paid subscription, which brings in a fixed amount of revenue each month, there is no ceiling to advertising revenue. The number of ads displayed and the rates a streaming platform can charge marketers for the ads are constantly fluctuating, offering unlimited revenue upside.

Son of a bitch

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago (2 children)

We stopped subscribing to anything. I get some stuff as part of my phone plan but once thats over I am not paying to have these services. I pretty much fell behind on torrent, so there will be a learning curve.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

It’s easier now. It’s automated.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

We stopped all the subscriptions in the spring. I pay for Usenet access, but it’s less than Netflix alone used to be. It’s automated and I don’t have to worry if my services have what I want to watch.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I've been making fun of them for years and they just keep doubling down on their stupidity.

I've lost hope for this generation.

You can stream pretty much anything for free here: https://fmoviesz.to/

Just make sure you have uBlock Origin installed.

Use your brains, not your wallets. (unless you're a useful idiot)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Ok, question. I'm totally tech illiterate, but have heard these kinds sites are used to farm for crypto? Like I'd rather just not watch new shows or movies at this point until I can take the time to learn to pirate again safely.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Adblockers should block those scripts too.

Even if it didn't, don't worry about it. All it does is run a script on the webpage. It used a little of your CPU time, but otherwise doesn't affect your PC.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Which “generation” are you referring to? I’m willing to bet the older generations, ya know the ones who paid hundreds on cable a month for decades, are the least price sensitive and tech savvy.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

and analysts say there’s no reason for the companies to stop raising prices

Well, my VPN is cheaper and won't restrict me via fragmented exclusive content.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Not only using the VPN for that, but also, to take advantage of regional pricing for subscriptions in other countries. After the price hike, I'm paying $5 for Netflix in another country instead of the US price. Still get the same shows as a US subscription.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

The good news is more and more pirate streaming sites are up like 123series.art and movie-web.app.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Of the price increases, the Apple one is the only one that doesn’t really offend me. It was dirt cheap after it launched because it didn’t have a big library of original content. No one was going to pay more than $5 for that service.

Now they have somewhat of a modest library, and now it’s $7.

Edit: got my numbers wrong. Going from $7 to $10

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

They didn't include Jolly Roger.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

With a hay, hay ho and a hay hay hey,
We're hoisting the flag to be free

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I'm about to give them some reasons.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Those analysts should STFU and stop telling the companies that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

The companies already know.

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