Netflix hiking prices again?! I’m going back to cable TV
Streaming was a mistake.
That’s the only thing I can think of after hearing that yet another streaming service, this time Netflix, is raising its prices again.
When streaming first took off a decade ago, it was led by people like me, millennial cord-cutters who saw the high monthly price of cable TV and chose to save what little money we had (this was the endless aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis). , after all) and just watch the best Netflix shows.
Back then, those of us who grew up on Napster and Kazaa, Limewire and The Pirate Bay didn’t think twice about sharing our streaming passwords with each other.
Now streaming services have done away with that, which is fair enough, but they’re also raising their prices and showing ads on their basic plans. Which, again, is fair enough. With the end of the Writer’s Guild of America strike, streaming services will have to pay the writers of the shows on their platforms more for their work so that those costs are passed on to the customer (full disclosure: I am a member of the Writer’s Guild of America, East, although digital media members were not on strike and are not covered by the contract negotiated by the studios and the guild).
And it’s not just Netflix. Disney Plus is increasing its prices, Discovery Plus is increasing its prices, Max is increasing its prices, and all three services have ad-supported tiers. That doesn’t include Hulu, Peacock, and any other services that do or will soon do the same. Put it all together and we’re talking serious money, which makes me wonder what this was all for?
So fuck it, I’m going back to cable TV.
Yes, cable companies are terrible and their plans are expensive, but it’s simpler
The things that drove me away from cable TV in the 2010s still exist. Cable TV subscriptions are still expensive, customer service is generally terrible, and the, we can’t call it, cartel cartel divisions of US states, cities, and even neighborhoods by cable providers getting exclusivity deals from landlords means which cable company you in the US is entirely determined by your address. Your cable company sucks? Too bad, you get what you get.
This way of doing things is a big part of why I left cable TV behind and turned to streaming services in the first place a decade ago. You know, when Netflix cost you $9.99 and you could form your own cartel with your friends and bundle your streaming services like we were all still in Zuccotti Park.
But with the end of password sharing and the inability of most streaming services to get a reasonable price for their products, I can’t help but feel like we’re back to where we were when all this happened. started, and it’s honestly exhausting. I just want to watch TV when I get home from a long day, maybe catch a Yankee game or a NYCFC game (it’s been a tough year on both counts unfortunately), and the last thing I really want right now is to more choice.
I wouldn’t have to think so much about what I’m going to watch, which service I’m going to browse and what my password was for this or that service, because I keep getting logged out when I log into another service device.
I now have a life full of long hours, family commitments, relationships, and friendships, and at the end of the day, I couldn’t even tell you how much I pay for all the different streaming services I sign up for and only use once or twice a week.
Unfortunately, the answer is right there in front of me. I’m going to crawl back to the cable provider that supports my pre-war apartment building in Brooklyn and sign up for a TV package with a mix of sports, movies, and premium-style TV (nothing prestigebut what does it matter).
Ultimately, too much choice is a burden that I don’t want to pay that much for
If there’s one thing we know about the tech industry right now, it’s that the vast majority of tech companies cannot survive without negative interest rates, Netflix included.
After the Great Recession, the US government’s response was to let companies borrow money at negative interest rates, so that companies actually… Money earned simply by borrowing. This fueled rapid expansion in the technology industry, as companies that were struggling to make a profit from their core business model were able to stay afloat thanks to this government-backed debt. In itself it is controversial, but not necessarily a bad thing, as it helps companies build a bridge to profitability that might not otherwise exist in the free market.
Netflix was one such beneficiary. All those great shows and movies that Netflix produced? Fueled by free money from the US government.
However, with interest rates rising to combat inflation, every business must make an effort to actually make a profit on its actual business, and the only way to do that in any media is to run ads and charge higher subscription fees. to ask. reimbursements. Just like cable companies have been doing for decades. They do it because in practice it is the only way it works.
So eventually, streaming services will have to become just like cable companies. Higher costs, more ads, and lower production quality content. The days of Andor and high-production TV shows that last a season or two before being canceled, no matter how many subscribers they bring in, have no desire for this world, and many popular shows are being canceled even now. It’s only going to get worse now that streaming services actually have to ensure that every show makes its money back.
Without those production values, what’s the point? They don’t even let us binge watch an entire season in one session like the glory days of the 2010s.
What made streaming great is gone or rapidly deteriorating, and what’s left won’t be worth the aggravation. At least with cable I know what I’m getting, no matter how awful it is.