As streaming prices continue to increase and apps continue to consolidate, we’re all seeing that headline more and more. I myself have written a lot about how there’s an overall lack of choice, increasing prices, and far less new content than there once was. But, I’ll stop short of saying “Streaming is turning into cable.” Why? Because streaming has gotten much, much worse than that.
Cards on the table here, folks. I’m a big fan of pay television, and Solid Signal (the folks who sponsor this blog) are too. We’re DIRECTV and DISH dealers, in fact. So naturally I’ll admit to being a little biased. But even so, I think we have to look at what’s happened in streaming in the last two years and admit that traditional pay-TV was never as bad as that. What do I mean?
There were times that pay-TV providers raised prices a lot, but it was never on the scale of the price increases we’ve seen from the major streaming providers. Unless you were coming off a promotional rate, your bill never saw an increase anything like that. And keep in mind, as a provider of “multichannel services,” a lot of the price increases from pay TV companies were due to them getting price increases from the networks. The apps tell you they’re raising prices because they’re losing money. But is that really the best way to improve the bottom line?
Yes, there have been channel blackouts in the past, and some of them led to channels being permanently removed. But look at what streaming apps have done. Disney+ was marketed as your home for all things Disney, Star Wars, and Pixar. Yet, in order to save money they’ve taken some of that content and loaned it to other providers. You can’t get it on Disney+ sometimes. Max has done the same thing. And we’re not talking about a small amount of content here. When you add up all the canceled projects and content that’s been moved to other apps, it’s a huge amount.
During the bad old days of the early ’20s, those apps really stepped up, offering day-and-date released of their content on their streaming apps. Back then, a lot of folks didn’t feel comfortable going to the movies, and in some areas they couldn’t go the movies, period. Streaming apps brought us a comforting procession of stuff we wanted to watch.
And then, once we had gotten used to getting content when we wanted it, a lot of stuff was moved back to theaters and release windows between theatrical and streaming stretched out for months and months. It’s led to a long period where there just wasn’t much new stuff to watch.
Except for premium channels (most of which are owned by the same companies that own the streaming apps), you don’t see that on pay TV. New programming has come pretty consistently, which is impressive when you consider the strikes of 2023.
I know I complain a lot about the streaming world in this article series and believe me friends, that’s not what we intended when Jake Buckler and I started Streaming Saturday. But in the blink of an eye, streaming has gone from new-and-exciting to empty-and-expensive. Can you blame me if an article discussing the best in streaming has taken a negative turn?
The post STREAMING SATURDAY: “Streaming is turning into cable” appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
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When I say cable, I mean pay television
Cards on the table here, folks. I’m a big fan of pay television, and Solid Signal (the folks who sponsor this blog) are too. We’re DIRECTV and DISH dealers, in fact. So naturally I’ll admit to being a little biased. But even so, I think we have to look at what’s happened in streaming in the last two years and admit that traditional pay-TV was never as bad as that. What do I mean?
Pay TV never raised prices by 60% in a year
There were times that pay-TV providers raised prices a lot, but it was never on the scale of the price increases we’ve seen from the major streaming providers. Unless you were coming off a promotional rate, your bill never saw an increase anything like that. And keep in mind, as a provider of “multichannel services,” a lot of the price increases from pay TV companies were due to them getting price increases from the networks. The apps tell you they’re raising prices because they’re losing money. But is that really the best way to improve the bottom line?
Pay TV never took tons of content away
Yes, there have been channel blackouts in the past, and some of them led to channels being permanently removed. But look at what streaming apps have done. Disney+ was marketed as your home for all things Disney, Star Wars, and Pixar. Yet, in order to save money they’ve taken some of that content and loaned it to other providers. You can’t get it on Disney+ sometimes. Max has done the same thing. And we’re not talking about a small amount of content here. When you add up all the canceled projects and content that’s been moved to other apps, it’s a huge amount.
Pay TV was there for you then and it’s there for you now
During the bad old days of the early ’20s, those apps really stepped up, offering day-and-date released of their content on their streaming apps. Back then, a lot of folks didn’t feel comfortable going to the movies, and in some areas they couldn’t go the movies, period. Streaming apps brought us a comforting procession of stuff we wanted to watch.
And then, once we had gotten used to getting content when we wanted it, a lot of stuff was moved back to theaters and release windows between theatrical and streaming stretched out for months and months. It’s led to a long period where there just wasn’t much new stuff to watch.
Except for premium channels (most of which are owned by the same companies that own the streaming apps), you don’t see that on pay TV. New programming has come pretty consistently, which is impressive when you consider the strikes of 2023.
Bottom line: saying “streaming is turning into cable” is an insult to pay-TV.
I know I complain a lot about the streaming world in this article series and believe me friends, that’s not what we intended when Jake Buckler and I started Streaming Saturday. But in the blink of an eye, streaming has gone from new-and-exciting to empty-and-expensive. Can you blame me if an article discussing the best in streaming has taken a negative turn?
The post STREAMING SATURDAY: “Streaming is turning into cable” appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
Continue reading...
