Disappointing streaming changes are happening so fast that it's hard to keep up.
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All the ways streaming services are aggravating their subscribers this week
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Lower Decks being cancelled by Paramount+ is probably the most aggravating news.
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Yo ho, yo ho....
Are they trying to drive away their customers? They proved I don't need their everything service, making me look at what I watch. This just makes it easier to cut more.
edit: ninja'd by a shake or two... doh!
Are they trying to drive away their customers? They proved I don't need their everything service, making me look at what I watch. This just makes it easier to cut more.
edit: ninja'd by a shake or two... doh!
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Sigh. I've been avoiding doing the "sub for a month" dance with Netflix and others to keep them producing content I enjoy...but they're making it awful hard to want to do so in the long run.
That $24 a month is starting to be a bit much for the week or two a year we binge a new show.
That $24 a month is starting to be a bit much for the week or two a year we binge a new show.
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Was it Cancelled, or did the show want to wrap it up?
Having it end is frustrating as it's one of the best shows around. But if it's being cancelled against its will, that is infuriating
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The thing the streaming services need to remember is that they pitched “basically infinite and infinitely convenient content for $10 a month” vs “exactly one copy of exactly one movie on Blu-Ray is $15” and “so you ran the exe you got from Pirate Bay, huh, how’d that work out”. And it made sense; “infinity for $10“ is a bigger number and lower price than “one for $15”, and you’ll never be stuck with a 82% complete torrent nobody is seeding.
Get rid of either the “basically infinite” or “infinitely convenient” parts and suddenly people start remembering there’s an aisle at Best Buy, an entire movie section at their public library, and a virus scanner built into Windows.
Get rid of either the “basically infinite” or “infinitely convenient” parts and suddenly people start remembering there’s an aisle at Best Buy, an entire movie section at their public library, and a virus scanner built into Windows.
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You look at this kind of terrible fragmentation and abuse of audience and you begin to understand why movies and TV shows are so readily available via "alternative" sources, while music really isn't. With music, people are shopping around to find the features they want from a streaming service (because they know all the music will be there, whichever service they choose), while with movies, every single studio and their dog is trying to force you to subscribe to whatever festering pile of GUI they are offering, because that's the only place you can see this one specific show or movie.
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This was inevitable. The "deal" we were seemingly offered a decade ago when streaming started was that we pay $5-10 a month in exchange for unlimited access to ad-free content both old and new, plus high quality original shows. Following Netflix's success every media company shoveled mountains of cash into the engine rooms to replicate that model. All of which was enabled by endless injections of VC cash amidst the macroeconomic environment of the ZIRP era.
Unfortunately, in retrospect it's obvious that this was always a mirage, doomed to disappear at some point. The economics of replacing the traditional cable and linear TV business with that kind of model just doesn't work out for anyone involved (apart from us as consumers).
When all is said and done I wouldn't be surprised if streaming ends up functioning like cable did, just without the requirement of physical boxes.
I'm not celebrating this by any means, but it is what it is.
Unfortunately, in retrospect it's obvious that this was always a mirage, doomed to disappear at some point. The economics of replacing the traditional cable and linear TV business with that kind of model just doesn't work out for anyone involved (apart from us as consumers).
When all is said and done I wouldn't be surprised if streaming ends up functioning like cable did, just without the requirement of physical boxes.
I'm not celebrating this by any means, but it is what it is.
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I look at the continual rise of prices for streaming services and also read that most of these services are bleeding cash by the bucket load for their corporate parents which leads me to believe that maybe all this "content" just isn't worth it.
I'd personally rather having fewer projects of much more consistent and high quality over the horde of filler padding out a streamer's catalogue.
I'd personally rather having fewer projects of much more consistent and high quality over the horde of filler padding out a streamer's catalogue.
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Fragmentation? More like the opposite. Warner Brothers merges with Discovery. Disney controls Hulu now. Paramount is looking for a merger now as well. The more it consolidates, the more expensive it will get.
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Someone should just form Enshittify+, the streaming service that duplicates all the ways all the others are disappointing and screwing us in one convenient platform.
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I can't wait for Disneyzon's Cockmount Max streaming service. Only $150/month
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If only there was some service that could group, nay, bundle all of these disparate content publishers together into one easy-to-pay monthly package. That way each service would get a cut of the total revenue while consumers get to watch anything they want in one simple place... wait, are we just in the middle of reinventing cable? F*(%! /s
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Not all music is on all streaming services, hence why I went with YTM, which has never failed to find the songs I want.
But yeah, it seems like every studio wants 100% revenue capture without realizing that most people aren't going to pay monthly unless they think they're getting their money's worth, and most of the studios simply cannot produce enough content to justify the sub.
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I'd gladly pay $100/mo for no-fuckery streaming, but as it stands...I mean, piracy is still the best experience. Why do we have to learn the same lessons every decade?
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I signed up for a year of Peacock during their Black Friday sale. The base price was heavily discounted, but the ad-free rider was still full price.
Problem is, they have the worst content selection of the big streaming services, IMO. I blew thru everything that I wanted to watch within a couple months. I was really expecting more.
On a side note, given the enshittification and fragmentation of the streaming market, I'm kind of longing for the days of the local rental shop that had content from every studio. This dystopian timeline sucks.
Problem is, they have the worst content selection of the big streaming services, IMO. I blew thru everything that I wanted to watch within a couple months. I was really expecting more.
On a side note, given the enshittification and fragmentation of the streaming market, I'm kind of longing for the days of the local rental shop that had content from every studio. This dystopian timeline sucks.
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Once I cut the cord, I never looked back and I never looked for another company to rip me off and price gouge the hell outta me to stream online. The best thing about the internet is that you can find just about anything, you only need to spend some time looking. Besides, I've got better things to do than sit on my ass watching shitty spinoffs, remakes, reboots, and commercials.
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I won't do ads.
Peacock simply doesn't have that much worth watching. They're about to price themselves right out of my home. After all, I don't give two shits about sports and I resent having to subsidize someone else's sports habit.
Peacock simply doesn't have that much worth watching. They're about to price themselves right out of my home. After all, I don't give two shits about sports and I resent having to subsidize someone else's sports habit.
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The Sheep Look Up
Ars Praetorian
I thought they were wrapping, not that they got the axe. All good things....
Also, 5 posts to "enshittification". We need to start paying Cory royalties at this point.
Edit: was informed later in the thread that no, it was cancelled. The incompetence burns.
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I received an email in Canada that says they will simply drop my plan and my subscription, they will not automatically move me to a new plan.
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I've just started going to Goodwill looking for DVDs and BlueRays to buy. Honestly, that has a lot more chance of finding a movie I have heard of and want to watch than looking on streaming services.
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"It's better than it used to be!" is a really poor marketing tactic.
People evaluate things based on apples to apples of what a specific service was doing (even if it becomes an industry trend). Cable didn't do what streaming did. Cable was still scheduled television, usually with commercials.
It was the commercials I was PAYING FOR that pissed me off the most and made me cut the cable 14 years or more ago.
I just cancelled Paramount because their content was lacking in what I'm interested in. The only thing I really liked was their Star Trek stuff (and some of it was pretty meh...) which is NOT worth the money I was paying to keep the service.
With streaming prices going up faster than my income (or what a new streaming service used to cost), I won't be replacing it with something new.
I expect I'm not alone in that.
By raising prices, these services are just begging their customers to cut all ties with them or seek alternatives that offer a better value. Paramount was the least valued of our streaming services. And as I said, no other streaming service out there will replace it. The cost of living is too high to sustain too many streaming services.
I foresee more consolidation and such as these services keep bending over to focus on sucking their investor's cocks rather than focusing on having satisfied customers.
I expect as more of these services continue to prioritize giving fellatio to investors, they'll be losing more and more money. It would be wonderful if we returned to a time when raising prices was met with unveiled discontent and an eventual shuttering of that service due to a general exodus of pissed off customers, but for some reason, most people don't choose to vote with their feet and accept that their wallets will be raped instead.
I don't get that mentality at all.
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Netflix sent the email to me this week saying that I will lose my basic plan in June. However, they are not automatically subscribing me to basic with ads: they said if I do not choose a new plan my service will discontinue in July. Thanks for making that decision easy for me, Netflix. Buh Bye!
Edit: grammar
Edit: grammar
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Classic enshittification. Just when you've lured locked in your customers, raise prices just to the indifference point to satisfy the endless investor demand for MOAR PROFITS. When that maxes out, burn your suppliers. When everyone is fed up with your service, a disruptive player comes along to repeat the cycle.
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