Streaming TV is having an existential crisis, and viewers can tell: Missing archives, less ambitious

[riversedge]

I do not watch much of streaming TV but I do try to find some shows my elderly mom might like. Not much luck most of the time.



Streaming TV is having an existential crisis, and viewers can tell
Missing archives, less ambitious programming, higher prices: Creators and subscribers say they’re seeing the fallout from television’s big revolution

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/09/07/streaming-tv-changes-crisis/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

By Travis M. Andrews
September 7, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT


............................

...............................

“I don’t feel great about being a writer right now,” she added. “I don’t feel great about being in the industry right now.”

Streaming television is going through an existential crisis, involving the people who make it and the viewers who watch it. Its revolutionary zeal has naturally faded, as that initial wave of near limitless expansion, boundless creative opportunities and vast archival choices crashes ashore, after a spate of megamergers and a drop in new subscribers.

Just when streaming has finally attracted more viewers than cable or broadcast TV, its major players are engaged in a long-predicted war for subscribers, who are becoming all too aware of rising subscription prices and, both subtly and directly, a change in what programs get made and how long they stick around. Commercials could soon become more common, and services may be bundled (for one low monthly price!), already triggering visions of a future that recalls the dark days of cable.

The list of seismic rumblings in recent weeks is long, as chronicled in the Hollywood Reporter, Variety and elsewhere: Warner Bros. Discovery is cutting shows from its archives and unfinished movies from HBO Max as it prepares to merge it with its sister streaming service Discovery Plus, having promised its shareholders a $3 billion cut in costs. Faced with a plunging stock price and worrisome subscriber loss, Netflix plans to add an advertising-supported model for a lower price and may crack down on password sharing. Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus, which can all be subscribed to in a cable-esque bundle, are raising prices after taking a more than $1 billion hit in the fiscal third quarter. Meanwhile, Amazon Prime just debuted the most expensive show ever made — a Lord of the Rings drama — in hopes to gain ground in a crowded market.

“The streaming services are moving more toward becoming more similar to the broadcast networks and cable networks that existed before,” said Tim Doyle, a TV writer and producer who has been in the industry for more than three decades. “They’ve suddenly come up with this great idea that if you put in advertising, you can make money selling the ads! So they’re basically just kind of retreating back to the things that are familiar.”.......................................





https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=691

Image without a caption

[LisaM]

1. I have never subscribed to a streaming service.

It's like being nickel and dimed for content I mostly don't want and I refuse to give money to Amazon. I know someone who calls it the Balkanization of entertainment and I agree.

I would find bundled options more attractive than what they have now.

I don't mind cable. We can't have satellite in our apartment and I watch a ton of live sports. The quality is good and I get a lot of channels. I don't want to be in a buffet line of constantly changing options, which is what streaming seems like to me.

I also don't like the mechanics of it (our cable package offers some streaming content and we watch sports on Peacock). You can't flip back and forth and everything has to load. I don't care for that.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. What Lisa Said

I actually only stream one thing.
My cable provider has a streaming add-on that let's us access anything we get on cable over any device.
That even includes stuff on our DVR, all on demand, and any purchases we ever made.
But, we don't pay extra for it.
Even then, the interfaces are klunky, with Roku being better than others. (Windows, android, etc al)
I only use it outdoors with the wifi TV & occasionally on my tablet, when out of the house, like at a potentially long doctor visit.
It would drive me nuts to have that as my exclusive method of viewing.

[Cosmocat]

15. I have to pay for much more that I don't want with cable than streaming

Very little if any lag.

[LisaM]

16. But I watch a ton of live sports.

Cheaper than it used to be to go to sports bars! But I don't like waiting for it to load and on football Saturdays, I want to flip back and forth constantly.

[Cosmocat]

20. I have YouTube TV and really like it for CFB

You can "record" every single game, so I pick the game I want to watch live, then go back through all of the other games that I am interested in and either watch them (speeding through the down time) or use their "highlights" feature, which picks out the big plays and just runs through them.

You are more limited on NFL games, but if you pick your local team you always get to see it.

Now, I really do not follow any other sports other than pro and college football, and college basketball, so I don't really know how it works for all of that.

YTTV was a bit laggy at times in the past, but that rarely occurred last year and I have only run into it one or twice so far this year.

OH, with age I definitely have come to REALLY appreciate both the cost and comfort of watching sports on our solid big screen hi def, home bathroom and my pick of food and beverage, etc.

The other thing, its fairly easy to just pick up a streaming service for a month or two and unsubscribe. I have picked up Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, HBO Max for a month or two for 7-8 dollars, to binge up on series and movies I am interested, then just unsubscribe.

[LisaM]

22. I like to flip back and forth between what's going on.

I can record or do highlights now. YouTube takes forever to load.

I guess the upshot of all my posts is that I am not surprised the model is failing. As far as subscribing/unsubscribing to things, I am so not interested in doing that.

I do use XFINITY stream to watch things on my phone or other device when I am not home, but that's just a stopgap.

[Bettie]

17. Cable was costing us nearly 300 dollars a month

now, with several streaming services, we get to watch all the stuff we like and pay a little less than half of the previous cost.

ETA: DH says it is about 1/3 of the cost, with several services.

[Doremus]

19. Us too. Our first car payment wasn't as high as our cable bill today.

We're cutting the cord. The only slight complication is getting and plugging in the digital antenna for watching local channels. When we've done that, we're done with cable and it's $250/mo bill.

[Wounded Bear]

2. The more things change, the more they stay the same...nt

[pwb]

4. All I do is stream. Everything I watch is on WIFI.

HULU. Netflix, and You tube gives me what I want.

[kentuck]

13. Yep.

I think streaming is the future.

[snowybirdie]

5. Now Wal-Mart

is giving us Paramount+for free. Same day, Peacock offered us a year for $20. More like it.

[IbogaProject]

6. It's getting worse due to a SC ruling allowing a 1948 settlement to expire

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1566899284569722882.html The ruling was 2 years ago, so I guess 5-4, mostly popular vote loosers and backed by low population senators in the confirmations.

[Earth-shine]

7. Currently, we have only Amazon prime. A lot of good video there.

A lot of crap TV and movies, too.

In three days, I streamed three "Expendables" movies. It was like junk food. They were somewhat enjoyable while I watched, but left me feeling empty afterward.

Sometimes picture quality is an issue. Blu-ray always looks better.

Amazon is a necessity for me. Why? Returns. So much of what I buy winds up being just crap and it has to go back.

Today's return was nonbrand Q-tips. Previous purchases of this product were great. But now they've been changed from having sturdy sticks to crappy plastic bendy ones while keeping the same packaging.

[LisaM]

23. Now I am curious!

Why is so much of what you buy 'crap'? What do you buy? I prefer not to ship online at all, but when I do, I stick to known brands. Amazon does have a brand registry, which exerts some QC.

(You don't have to answer of course, but your comment intrigued me). We're all forced into doing some online shopping today, whether we want to or not, unfortunately.

[Earth-shine]

24. Stuff can be crappy in so many ways: hardware, software, chemistry/materials, design, and more.

I suppose this becomes even more apparent if one tries to find bargains, which to me, is one of the purposes of online shopping. (The other major reasons are to find highly specialized products and general convenience.)

Even products with known brand names can be crappy.

In the past few months, I have returned:

- a large Samsung computer monitor, which had permanent marks on its cheapy screen from the styrofoam packaging in the shipping container
- a Gigabyte motherboard that just wouldn't work right from the time of purchase (BIOS issue)
- a heat-dissipating case for an M.2 hard drive
- a bluetooth speaker that does not pair well with others
- plastic tips for glue dispensers that do not fit the advertised type of glue (E6000)
- a protective cover for a mobile phone that does not fit the advertised type of phone
- some essential oils that were just poorly made

[LisaM]

26. Thank you for your answer.

It was a little personal! I buy very few electronics.

I do buy essential oils, but usually from a farmer's market or spa.

[snowybirdie]

8. Now Wal-Mart

is giving us Paramount+for free. Same day, Peacock offered us a year for $20. More like it.

[Shermann]

9. CATV/SATV needed a kick in the pants

These monopolistic behemoths have been slow to roll out improvements and fast to roll out price hikes. Sadly, little has changed with them even after getting kicked. They are in a state of managed decline and may never die.

Streaming cut much of the fat, but there can be no free lunch. Content providers aren't interested in taking haircuts and are going to try to ratchet profits back up. The loss-leader pricing has come to an end.

[Initech]

10. We're definitely at the "diminishing marginal returns" phase of TV streaming.

There's too much stuff out there, and adding one more to the mix is only hurting. There's so many streaming services already that it's impossible to keep up with.

[multigraincracker]

11. I watch some free services.

All most no commercials. Only the same ones over and over or nothing with a timer saying when they will return.

[redstatebluegirl]

12. I had my niece add up what she spends streaming.

I did it to prove a point that it is not cheap. I was amazed that she spend almost $230 a month!!! Good grief.

[RobinA]

18. I Did A Rough

calculation of what it would cost me to stream everything vs. cable and it was pretty even. I actually do watch mostly streaming on 3 channels. But when I need regular TV, you still need cable.

[newdayneeded]

25. I stream and bought a nice antenna

The antenna gives me local channel, and a total of 27 channels.

Tubi is free and great! I watch a lot of YouTube too. I only pay for Netflix.

[Xolodno]

14. Too many for pay providers out there.

And all of them are trying to get you to subscribe for a monthly fee. Other streamers I know are like me, subscribe to one for a bit and catch up on all the shows we want to see. Cancel and then subscribe to another for awhile. Rinse and Repeat.

It won't be long for some knucklehead to come up with the idea of a locked in contract for so many months. They do that, I won't bother subscribing.

[hunter]

21. My wife and I "cut the cord" a long time ago... before our cable provider even offered internet.

For a couple of years we were only watching DVDs and some broadcast television. We'd sometimes buy new DVDs of movies we'd especially enjoyed but most of our DVD library came from thrift stores. We'd also rent DVDs. Then one of our children, home from college, set us up with Netflix when it was one of the few streaming services around. That's $9.99 a month now.

Our television budget is about $35 a month, which is less than it was when we had Comcast and were renting movies at Blockbuster. We're not loyal to any particular streaming service.

I've completely lost any tolerance I once had for television commercials. Our television isn't even set up for broadcast television. I made a good antenna for it once, but that's not been connected for years.

If a television provider wants to price me out of the market or annoy me with commercials then I don't have to watch. It's possible that's the way I was raised. When I was a child our family would sometimes go months without a working television, especially after my dad surprised us with an early 'sixties color television he and my mom couldn't always afford to keep in good repair. We always had books.

My wife's background is similar. Our parents had more children than they could comfortably afford (and were praised religiously for it...) and television simply wasn't a priority.