A meta thread for video streaming services - Netflix, Hulu, Disney, HBO, Warner, Prime, AppleTV, etc

Books, comics, TV, music
21

Right now, we have Amazon Prime but for shipping, and I don’t watch more than a handful of shows on their each year. If we ever lost the shipping boon it would be easy to get rid of Amazon if we only cared about streaming.

Netflix is big for us as the kids and myself uses it, and my wife occasionally. I doubt that’s going anywhere, even with the recently announced price hike.

I personally pay for an ad-free Hulu account, but we can watch it simultaneously on 1 PC and 1 Roku device at once, so it’s been very handy.

The problem is I’m interested in re-visiting HBO Go (non-optional once the final season of Game of Thrones starts), I’d like to watch Star Trek Discovery at some point, and I’m curious about the DC app as well. Not to mention the upcoming Disney app I may want to watch some stuff on.

I think for me the solution is just going to be “only subscribe to one at a time” and that’s that. Watch stuff for a month or two that directly interests me (or that I get into), and then when I wrap cancel and subscribe to another service, rinse and repeat, never using more than the Hulu funds, give or take, I’m used to paying. Most services don’t seem to let you go annual (which is a dumb idea - I’d much rather pay a lump sum and have 12 months of not feeling nickle and dimed even at the same price) so it makes bouncing around all the easier.

However, the problem is I really like Hulu for watching (many) of my shows on for 1080p no ads the next day instead of off the TiVO, because our cable provider gives us 720p and we have ads to fast forward. So giving up Hulu is kind of a problem there now. I could always spend less on Video Games, I guess, and plunge in with a SECOND subscription, and THAT is the one I rotate around, I suppose.

I do also pay for an Office 365 subscription, but again that’s annual and easier to swallow (like Amazon).

22

Same here. I love it. Currently I’m on my free month of CBS and discounted Audible.
Tentative plan for the rest of the year:

February: VRV free month and Audible discounted.
March: Xbox Game Pass and Audible discounted.
April: Netflix
May: Xbox Game pass
June: HBO, Hulu Live TV (for French Open perhaps)
July: Hulu Live TV (for Wimbledon)
August: CBS
September: Xbox Game Pass, Netflix
October: Starz
November: Xbox Game Pass, HBO
December: Hulu

That’s the plan that I just made up. Subject to change. I might create a new account on Amazon to get a free month of Prime at some point if they still do that.

23

That looks like a lot of work. Constantly applying and cancelling various subs. Sure thats a feasible plan?

24

I mean, it’s a 60 second activity that you’d only do once a month or so. I’m sure he can find the time.

25

It’s not a problem. All these services let you do it online. It’s very easy. I’ve been doing the same thing for the last two years.

26

Amazon actually makes it easy. You can sign-up or discontinue your subscription to, say, HBO Now in Amazon. You watch HBO on Amazon, like you do Prime shows.

There was a report last year that Amazon was generating a substantial number of customers for third-party services.

Hell, I’m even getting Prime points, to boot.

27

What’s weird is that NBC and Disney are both announcing their own proprietary platforms…and both already share ownership of one of the Big Three: Hulu.

28

I have HBO, Amazon and Netflix, but will get Disney for the kids when the time comes.

A lot of these new streaming platforms are about to get a harsh lesson that the market can’t support them. People will just stop watching their shows, and they won’t recoup the costs of maintaining a subscription service like that. In a few years they will start selling their content to Netflix again because they will make a helluva lot more money.

29

Despite the established franchises that Disney has, Netflix has been producing some excellent kids shows too. The Tales of Arcadia series for example, though I haven’t watched yet as my daughter is only 5. How much loyalty do kids have to disney vs thier parents just saying to watch Netflix? Of course Star Wars is an enormous Evil Empire that probably can’t be beat…

In Canada I’m considering CraveTV as it has most HBO series, but not the most recent episodes. It also has Star Trek Discovery. But a third streaming subscription (4 if you count Spotify) seems too much.

I’ve also heard that Youtube Music is actually better than Spotify at magically picking music you like. Might be worth a premium subscription for awhile.

30

Netflix and Amazon for us. We have used Acorn in the past to get some good BBC programming we didn’t have elsewhere.

We also are not cord-cutters. The GF is an AT&T employee and they give us DirecTV for $10/month. They even gave us HBO for free when the Time-Warner purchase was approved. It’s too cheap to pass up. We watch a lot of International House Hunters on it and dream of living abroad!

31

I don’t think the current model work.

Netflix have a small catalog, and much of what they have is mediocre.

Good stuff they can have, is not available maybe because nobody is selling it or the rights are lost.

Capitalism just don’t work here.

32

It works fine, Netflix is making a solid profit. Their business model is workable.

33

TV offerings in general are mediocre.

It’s all about original content now. Netflix is a leader in that category.

34

I think @teiman is saying Netflix relies on content agreements with other providers and when those lapse, their model won’t work any more. They can’t afford to produce original content at the pace required to sustain the current “keep growing subscribers to outrun expenses” model. I tend to agree, but it’s likely to be a long death. If Netflix can hold out long enough for some other services to fail, and get those catalogs back, they could pull out of it.

35

I don’t see why not. Again, Netflix is actually making money, and that’s before they just raised their prices.

36

I think we’re entering an era that’s even less predictable than the one that preceded it. Every competitor just needs one or two good original shows to get traction, and predicting what will happen is impossible.

37

The reason why Netflix is investing billions of dollars into original content is precisely because of the fact that established studios have more leverage now around signing deals to get their content onto streaming services.

While many Netflix shows and movies have disappointed so far, there are just as many hits with millions of users - some new, and some which have been around for years.

Just look at the viral nature of things like Bird Box, Bandersnatch, Mario Kando’s show, Nailed It!, and many others of the last few months. That’s on top of shows like Glow, Stranger Things, and even Orange is the New Black which is surprisingly still popular.

38

Their Santa Claus movie with Kurt Russell was a lot of fun and had huge viewership. Now they have an exclusive new holiday classic and I wouldn’t be surprised if they do a sequel.

I guess if Netflix couldn’t license third-party content it would hurt them but I don’t see that disappearing anytime soon. There’s a lot of content out there. They’ll lose some but they’ll pick up other stuff.

39

I think this is true. Five months from now we could all be shouting AMAZEBALLS about the new Apple TV service because (who knows?) - they have 10 new awesome sci-fi series and crime dramas and war movies etc and its only $9 a month. So it’s unpredictable.

Netflix seems to have critical mass for me at least to stay subscribed. Just too many good shows.

40

Just thought I’d throw this stat into the thread, when considering the size of Netflix library. (though it IS 6 months old…)