“Streaming stops feeling infinite”: What subscribers can expect in 2026

Streaming may get a little worse before it gets better.

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[truth serum]

I think we'll also see a rise in Just In Time Subscription - waiting until a desired series nears the end of its run, then singing up and - slowly or quickly - binging through it before your 1 month payment expires. Maybe wait until you can pick up two or three shows like that, then cancel and repeat again in a year.

Some services are already catching on to this, with monthly subscriptions being more expensive than an annual sub, but it's still a very significant savings, especially for those with multiple services only showing a limited amount of content specific people are interested in.

A streamer only needs about four good quality series a year to get around this tactic. But it seems like they can't even muster that many quality series worth paying for to make it work.

 

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I...is there to this professor's argument or point?

Because it sounds like he's basically assuming that there should be government regulation—price caps? "rent" control?—of streaming companies, and lamenting that the Trump administration won't do it.

Forget Trump—the creep of streaming prices is definitely annoying, but where is the justification for market intervention here? We don't like streaming prices rising, and we think companies should be forced to remain unprofitable because...we should have an inalienable right to cheap streaming entertainment?

I tend to lean towards government intervention in markets, especially heavily distorted markets and those with oligopolies, but even I have my limits. We don't have a god-given right to cheap streaming; if we don't like still-cheap but rising prices, we should do what we do for every other luxury—replace it with some other activity that is priced more to our liking.

There was a time around 2010 where a coworker of mine said his cable bill was north of $200 a month. So if anyone thinks these streaming companies will stop raising prices anytime soon they are mistaken. They are aiming for your monthly dollar output to be near the equivalent of a small car payment. Unironically.

 

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same. why is it that sports needs to be subsidized by everyone? i don't get it. is it because they pay pro atheletes too much money?

Its because Live sports viewing brings in the most money. For example I have Paramount and Peacock solely for watching NFL and for no other reason. I cancel every year after the season ends.

I had originally subscribed to CBS All Access way back before it became Paramount Plus because of Star Trek but then NuTrek became so godawful I dropped the service for years until I started re-subbing strictly for NFL.

 

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It's insane how you don't realize you aren't even part of the conversation.

You think talking about ethnicities or sexualities is woke. You dropped Windows for Apple because it was simpler. FFS, you follow NFL xD.

I can't even START to think about how to make you look worse than you're willingly showing yourself to be xD

I will NOT be sports- shamed. I'm a proud NFL watcher and I don't care who knows it!

Also all of the myriad of posters ITT complaining about how there are all these streaming channels but there is nothing to watch despite them spending billions on content. Ignoring the elephant in the room for one of the major reasons for that triggers my OCD so I feel compelled to point that out. It's a blessing and a curse I tell you.

I could go on and talk about how I once took a free community Apple OS class back in the early 2000's and decided it wasn't for me and haven't looked back since but that is beyond the scope of this conversation. Their streaming service is pretty great though.

 

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Gotta mention: Megalopolis, Coppla's vanity project, cost something like $150 million to make - out of Coppola's own pocket.

It's worldwide box office totaled $14 million.

It's the hottest of garbage, according to those who've seen it. I considered streaming it, but that's impossible now thanks to Coppola's massive ego insisting that it MUST be seen in theaters, or not seen at all.

Vast numbers of people chose Option Two.

I had considered going to see it during its first run but the theater options were so few and far between and the reviews were so bad I just never ended up going out to see it.

I will rent it once it becomes available though. Just out of curiosity. Hopefully it will at least be good enough to finish.

 

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Do you see the irony in the name calling and appealing to mods for civility? Its only applicable to the respect you think you are owed I guess.

The beauty of freedom of speech is people can disagree with you, and call you stupid. You can do the same.

You know what wont get you acceptance: whining about being downvoted or crying to mods to back you up.

You should be allowed to speak your opinion. You can say other people are stupid for disagreeing with you. It just helps your position if you are actually high minded about freedom of speech and civility.

If you dont like that, there are plenty of people that agree with you on X.

None of what you said is how it works here.

And honestly and truly I don't care about downvotes other then the very rare occasional one that is placed without a clear context that I can readily understand.

And the plea to the mods wasn't for my benefit. It was for yours. If you are any good at reading people you should already know that my level of toxic knows no bounds and this is me playing nice.

But even after all of that this latest thread has been the best and most productive one on the issues and problems of modern media that this stie has had that I can recall. It's usually completely braindead. With the most massive and unimaginable level of fart sniffing that one can imagine. The community has come a ways over the recent years. I don't know if it's a long way but its a ways, which to me is good.

 

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we got rid of Amazon Prime and only get it when Amazon offers it for free trial. We don't need things overnighted to us and the only time I buy stuff on Amazon is when I can't find it locally (Microcenter near me is typically cheaper for tech stuff)

Prime is the best for what I would call the modern equivalent of "channel surfing".

They seem to have the best overall back catalog of legacy titles and shows of all the streaming channels. So if one is simply looking for something not incredibly specific to watch Prime seems like the best of the available options.

But yeah, I'm not paying the extra $3 dollars a month for the ad-free version on principle. It's not really about the money. It's about drawing a line somewhere. For others it might be somewhere else. But for me it's there.

 

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Genuine question... is it REALLY? The "hear me out part"...

I use sites/apps like JustWatch to tell me where to find stuff. In the past few years, I rotate streaming services to save money. This lets me go ad-free without breaking the bank (I only have one streaming service at a time, and that's only $13 to $20 per month). With modern consumerism, you pay for convenience. For example, want your food ready to eat? That'll cost you. An arm and a leg even to have it delivered to your door! Otherwise, go out and get it yourself. Not to mention buy and cook your own chicken. To save even more money, buy a whole chicken and cut it up yourself! Or make your own salads. However, salad kits and bowls still sell very well, so people still crave that convenience.

It's fair to say you miss the times when it was Netflix and just Netflix that had everything, for $8/mo, ad-free. But streaming did start off as loss leaders with how saturated that market's become. We were never going to return to those times (barring some miracle, or government intervention. But if we could have that, I'd rather gasoline be 80 cents to $1 per gallon again).


The only way cable TV is cheaper is if you need live TV and/or some variety of sports. I don't care about those so as mentioned above, $13 to $20 a month gets me a smorgasbord of content, on demand, AND ad-free. "Can't do that with cable". I checked out my parents' cable TV bill and they get charged $120/month. My mom is familiar with how to use a remote and TV, while my dad wants various NBA games. More importantly, they're paying it with their own money, so I'm especially not one to tell them how to spend their $$.

Also, rotate streaming services. Not only does it save money (which I could stand to save), but time's also the bottleneck that having multiples of them wouldn't add any value for me. If you REALLY need access to multiple ss at a time, then go for it, but otherwise, it's a form of FOMO, which is the real culprit with consumers.

Rotating streaming services is what I do.

I used to do the old Kazaa thing waaaaay back in the early 2000's and I'm not gonna knock the people that still go that route for their media but its not for me. Over the years I have taken the personal philosophy of if its worth having then its worth paying for.

If it costs more than what I'm willing to pay or requires too many hoops for me to jump through I use the ultimate weapon that I have at my disposal, which is ignore it completely or drop it and and simply never look back. I kind of feel that if I simply can't do without something then in a way it still has power over me. So if I can't have it for the price I'm willing to pay then I will simply drop it and not look back.

However I will go off on a weird tangent here. I kind of understand the "information should be free" aspect of it from a standpoint of....Say there was this alien signal that reached earth with a wealth of relevant and useable information in it. Or even just simple entertainment. And we started watching it. Then years later the aliens show up and tell us we are in violation of their information laws and are now sentenced to a thousand year punishment for consumption of forbidden knowledge.

What are we gonna say without sounding hypocritical.

 

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“I don’t care about downvotes” + “mods, this is for your benefit” + “my toxic knows no bounds” is a strange combo. And “this is me playing nice” isn’t a flex, it reads like you’re trying to bully the room.

If you want the discussion to stay productive, stick to the argument and drop the threats, intimidation, and the blanket “everyone’s braindead” stuff. Being harsh isn’t the same thing as being correct. Engage with what people are actually saying, because when you do, you sometimes make solid points. The performance just buries them.

Beyond that, I don’t have much to add except this: your hostility and hypocrisy aren’t improving the conversation. You’re the kind of commenter I mute. In real life, I’d avoid spaces where you show up, because it’s exhausting.

The “I’m so smart, everyone’s attacking me, I need an adult to punish them” routine is pathetic, and it drains any goodwill people might have toward the parts of your argument that are worth hearing. It makes you come across like the kind of coworker who tries to skip the normal process, escalates straight to authority to win points, and then acts shocked when people stop trusting you.

In workplaces, that behavior gets a reputation fast: not “high standards” or “truth teller,” just someone who creates friction, weaponizes escalation, and makes collaboration miserable. People don’t avoid you because you’re “too right.” They avoid you because you’re unpredictable, exhausting, and more interested in domination than outcomes. And the irony is, even when you are right, you’ve made it so nobody wants to be on your side long enough to hear it.

After 17 years here it becomes easier to spot posts made in bad faith. I find it best to deal with them with a level of acuity that is a bit sharper at some points and more blunt in others.

It's a reality that is regrettable and unfortunately necessary to keep the mob from getting out of hand. Otherwise this place simply descends into a near worthless and somewhat "braindead" circle jerk of what I like to call "fart sniffing" by a group of people of the exact same mind. With any real discussion outside of the approved group narrative getting rapidly...and I might add quite harshly, shut down.

Every once in a while I will see a new poster come in that isn't part of the established inside group's way of thinking, and I always seem to end up shaking my head because these newcomers often end up crashing out like stark raving madmen leaving these insane posts as they storm out the door because they don't know how to deal with it. It's a sad thing to see.

 

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I dont like echo chambers either, I just find complaining about them and appealing to mods to be counter-productive.

The mob will exist, using the mute function and ignoring dislikes and focusing on the argument versus ad homonym attacks might help build the community you are looking for. Insulting the mob feels great, but does it reduce the "fart sniffing" or does it make it worse?

Like my workplace analogy, when I see people crying to the "big boss" instead of working it out themselves it makes the political hostility worse. Its a pet peeve of mine and I am calling you out for that the same as you are calling out name calling.

Social media is no longer about building connections or sharing ideas - our worst impulses are rewarded. Echo chambers form because the group think causes people to bully thoughts they dont agree with. I guess I am doing the same calling out the way you are trying to address the situation of being called names, I just didnt use colorful language like brain dead fart sniffers.

The way we discorse has been beaten to death. I want to move off of that.

This meaningfully adds to the conversation.


I agree with you, there is nuance in information should be free. I agree with supporting people that create the media I consume, even if I dont fully agree with it. I pirate when its not possible to legally obtain it, but outside of that I rotate services because I find it too expensive and not worth it to have everything on demand without ownership.

I want to return to having credits to watch so many shows or movies instead of "infinite" streaming. I would be willing to spend more if I had more permanent access to media. I spent a lot more when I bought dvd's before streaming. If its a monthly sub and there are so many to sub to, I expect them to be very cheap or I am going to be selective on what service I am on.

These days corporate ownership feels a lot like the alien analogy, I dont feel any attachment to the shareholders of paramount plus or whatever because I dont feel like they are looking after the people that make the media, they are simply rent seeking and abusing laws to try to force us into paying for slop. The merger of media entities and streaming infrastructure shouldnt be allowed, its become a monopoly and consumers and media creators are suffering so the oligarchs that own it can benefit.

I like the second half of your post, which is why I gave it a thumbs up.

As for the first half....it's like the new officer coming in and asking the standing officers why don't we simply attack their village at night instead of only attacking them during the day. Of course the simple answer is so that they don't attack us at night. ..The more complicated answer is the the new officer is coming into a situation midway that has evolved over an extended period of time and these seemingly counterintuitive tactics are being used for a reason.