Why I Hate Streaming Part 1: The Plans
Streaming was supposed to make things more convenient and cheaper to access libraries of shows and movies. But what once started off as a much needed improvement over commercial television has now become an uroboros of media production and corporate greed.
Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, Max, and Paramount Plus are currently the top 5 streaming services by subscribers. It should come as no surprise that they also have similar plans. Using these 5 as examples, most of the plans are arranged as so:
Lowest subscription cost plus ads, you do not get to access the full library and the stream quality is lowest.
Middle subscription cost, some ads and the full library. Typically 1080p resolution max.
You want 4K resolution, Dolby Vision, and HDR? Give them at least $20 a month.
Let’s talk about the first kind of plan. While it’s amazing that you can access some content for a cheaper price, having to pay to watch ads does not make any sense. That sounds exactly like a cable television subscription. You pay for the box, the box gets you channels, and those very same channels also have commercials on them. In what way is the streaming subscription inherently different then? You pay for access and still have to watch ads. Oh yeah, that’s right. SOME content. You do not access to the full library that other subscription tiers do. So in that regard it’s actually worse than basic cable because you don’t even have access to the full library. That would be like only getting access to watch 5 channels because you did not pay for the slightly more expensive option. That would be completely ridiculous when it comes to basic cable and yet its fine when it comes to streaming.
These plans makes me angry because they are essentially a triple dip on the consumer. First you register an email address to make the account. What do you think they do with that? There’s a reason they have you look at a privacy policy and a terms of usage with them telling you they collect data on your email, devices used, and most importantly location. They can also use this information to sell directly to advertisers who want to target you. Second, your monthly fee. What the consumer understands to be the cost. Third, it’s the revenue generated from the ads that they can show you. Companies have to pay to be seen by the subscribers and because you have to watch the ads you make the streamer even more money.
What is also annoying is that despite you paying for access to a library you have no say in what comes and goes. So while one month your favorite movies and shows can be watched at your convenience, the next month that might not be so. It can be frustrating to keep track of who has what movie and for how long. But again why should we have to go through this?
Now take my above frustrations and combine with them the expectation of forcing consumers pay extra to access the better quality streams. It’s not like its a small increase in price. It is almost double the ad supported prices. Think that’s annoying? Look at Prime Video who just decided to include ads to subscribers of a sudden unless they would like to pay an extra $3 per month to get rid of them. How kind of Amazon right?
Even if the cost of maintaining the streams has increased it’s completely unfair to kick that cost to the consumer. Especially since there is no predictability as to when streamers are allowed to raise prices. It looks like they can just do this whenever they damn well please! Which is not too surprising given that studios now control both the production and the distribution of media. Because of that control, they treat the consumer like a lemon to be juiced until it is as barren as a desert and I am fed up with the greediness and assumption that consumers will keep paying! But what can I do? Only thing I can really think of is supporting physical media. Buying my movies and series on Blu-ray disk. At least then I’d be in control of the library and quality. Hell maybe we all should buy just a few more disks or maybe sail the high seas away from these crappy services?