According to the BLS data, “Subscription and rental of video and video games” saw inflation of 19.5 percent in December. That is a category that includes subscription streaming services like Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+.
For comparison, “Cable, satellite, and live streaming television service” (which would include YouTube TV, Fubo, and Sling TV) rose 1.1 percent.
There are likely a number of factors driving the surge: Some of the biggest streaming platforms, including Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max, all launched price increases late last year. Peacock and Netflix both raised prices earlier in the year.
The end result is that prices for streaming video continue to rise, and consumers are forced to spend more to access to live sports that are increasingly spread across more streaming platforms.
While the 19.5 percent bump is likely temporary (though Paramount+ will raise prices this month, and Netflix could always adjust its pricing), but it underscores a growing problem for the industry, and rising churn could become an end result.
Yeah it is like it's 2004 for me all over again lately, even though I prefer these days to support the creators.
Outside of outright piracy, I really enjoy physical movies and TV shows again. Over the past four years, I've developed quite the collection! When I have some real money next time, I'm going to splurge on some Criterion stuff
This. We were watching the NFL game on saturday. For whatever reason casting it to my TV the quality kept getting blocky. He even said, yea it happens at his house too and mind you, he pays for YT premium or whatever the thing gives you sports. He then said let's just pirate it and boom, perfect quality.
It's quite terrible that if you pay for something the quality you get is worse
Went back to it late last year after getting sick of being jerked around with the constant price increases, content coming in and out, etc. etc. It just became so annoying to deal with, even if I could afford it.
Little did I realize how easy piracy has gotten over the last 10-15 years. You can essentially set up your own streaming service now with any content you want to watch, better quality, and no ads.
I'm not anti-piracy or anything, but I have started collecting blu-ray recently and was surprised to find the prices are really quite good. Plus, the picture quality stomps all over streaming services with their shitty bitrates.
Yep I’d rather dump a thousands bucks into a plex setup than pay a penny for streaming services. Not spending $100+ a month to watch different shows because the rights are constantly changing. Streaming platforms did it to themselves
Had crunchyroll netflix and hulu for years. then hulu started putting ads in their lower tier, so i scrapped it and started pirating what i wanted to watch there. now netflix wont let me share the account ive used for 5 years with my family because my IP address doesn’t ping there, so i pirated the end of Stranger Things without a modicum of guilt. Crunchyroll is about to be next on the chopping block if it gets any more expensive or they try to seize on advertising revenue for a millisecond. Pirating is so easy these days and the cost of a VPN is so cheap from a per-month cost basis that I will torrent literally everything guilt free as long as these shit eating companies continue to be greedy.
I'm not stealing, I'm viewing. I buy what I want to own, as my blu-ray collection can attest. You don't buy a car before you test-drive it 🤷🏼♂️
*as for sports, I pay for a subscription to watch my team play via Sky and TNT, but when they don't show the game, as they legally cannot for 3pm Saturday games in the UK, thanks to some antiquated law, then I'm going to resort to other means to watch it. I wouldn't have to if I wasn't forced into it. It's fucking ridiculous someone in the US can watch every Arsenal game, but I can't, just one city away....
Is there a go-to guide/resources you'd recommend for getting this set up? I was looking into it for a bit last summer, but with the rise of services I'm really leaning into setting up something in the next year or so to future proof myself.
not all of that is required though really all you need to do is install plex or jellyfin and point it at a folder thats got some media in it. but if you want to get into the automation side of it those guides will help
trash-guides are I think a little advanced for someone just jumping in.
I'd recommend the wiki/servarr site (that trash links to anyway) but moreso just a lot of searching. You'll either end up there or in reddit threads anyway.
I did it like 2 months ago. I don't think i used a particular source, just searched around reddit. It really isn't that difficult you can totally do it.
Thank you for being that person. A media share saved my life!! I was so poor and needed to find relief and video is my happy place.
Not to mention in order to serve the content services often downgrade your quality, while you’re expected to keep paying for the higher quality.
Anyone is welcome to send me a DM about joining one. You can set one up for free or a small investment in a home server (directions are elsewhere on this thread) or you can help someone else cover sever costs for a much lower rate and have virtually anything you’d want to see.
it went negative at first and then had the little controversial symbol for a while showing it was getting pretty equal upvotes and downvotes. now its started to go more positive
Seriously. In no universe, at any point, do I ever give the smallest of fucks about whatever Plex is trying to recommend to me. I am there for one thing only, and that's the server of content my friend hosts. On mobile, there isn't even a "continue watching" on the home screen anymore. I have to find the show, go into the season, find the episode, and resume. Oh, and then it asks if I want to watch from his server or the streaming source. The app on the TV at least still shows my "continue watching" so that's...something
Might be a dumb question but what exactly are the benefits of a plex server compared to Stremio? I can stream Bluray REMUX on stremio with a debrid service for example
But is it on demand? For example, if I'm looking for something new, can I just pick it without having to wait? I don't understand the concept besides for archival purposes
When netflix was great I happily paid it, and piracy was dead to me for a few years. Then they all got greedy, so fuck em, I don't feel bad for riding the ocean waves again.
When I first discovered the Arr apps it was game changing... but then I started getting copyright notices from Verizon... Now I have a dedicated computer for torrents and usenet, always connected to my VPN with a killswitch in case the VPN ever drops. Haven't received a notice since...
All this to say though, if there was one streaming service that had everything I wanted, and was like $20 a month, I'd gladly switch. But no, I have to sign up for 5 different services to get what I want. Fuck that.
100% same with music/Spotify for me. They'll keep raising prices as long as people keep paying for it. They haven't met enough resistance to affect their bottom line so they'll keep raising until enough people jump ship.
Netflix fucked the industry with an extremely low monthly subscription. The rest of the studios scrambled to start their own streaming services, and matched Netflix's price.
This was all fine when dump trucks of investor money was pouring in.
Soon the studios realized Netflix's dark secret: it was never profitable.
So now all the streaming services are merging, shutting down, raising prices, and trying desperately to make square pegs fit into round holes.
I don't feel a single iota of bad for piracy. These companies have created this problem. When you move items from one service to the next, or pull a movie/show completely from one service, you create this problem.
Sorry, did you think a quote from a guy intending to create a monopoly for an entirely different market is supposed to justify your theft somehow? Like, even bringing video games into this makes you sound like 12, to say nothing of the underlying logical reasoning for why you're entitled to free content.
We are no longer "cutting the cord" for the Ala carte pick-a-channel subscription service for $5/mo. We've regressed and now get multiple features we don't want plus advertisements for $10 or $20.
Cable TV is going to start looking like a good deal again.
Until people stop paying, this is going to continue. Speak with your wallets, explore alternative options, or be subject to an increasingly expensive service that will continue to see quality decline.
You could do just those six (and the library card means you can check out basically anything ever pressed to physical media), plus a TV antenna to give you the major networks, all at a cost of about 20-25 bucks a month, and still have more to watch than you could actually fit into a day.
Of course, there's also folks that will increasingly feel it's worth the hassle/self-teaching to figure out how to a) pirate and b) set up a personal home server (plex/emby/jellyfin) to watch it on, but there's also never going to be enough people willing to do that to make it much more than a niche audience. piracy's never been anything but niche - it's why none of the reports about how much something got "pirated" ever includes actual numbers! It can't be used as a big ol' boogeyman if everyone realizes it's like less than 1% of the general audience actually partaking (if that).
edit: OH, Youtube! If you feel like you NEED YouTube, it's worth pointing out that anyone on the GoogleTV platform can sideload apps like SmartTube or TizenTubeCobalt, and get ad-free YouTube pretty easily. While you're on GoogleTV you can also find modded .apks for Tubi that will give you that app ad-free as well.
also roku channel is free w ads,and you do not have to have a roku player. Doesn't have the size of tubi/pluto's catalog but has a lot less commercials.. Also Amazon you don't have to have prime to get a lot of their shows/movies for free and like roku less commercials then tubi/pluto.
They do have some great titles, old and new. Just need to find them amidst the mountain of B-movies & Z-movies on the service. Also, my ad block extension is blocking all ads, so, no annoying ads whatsoever.
Kanopy/Hoopla: free w/ library card
Great services with many domestic and international titles. The only drawback is borrowing limitations imposed by the local library where a user is only allowed 7 or 8 titles per month.
The only drawback is borrowing limitations imposed by the local library where a user is only allowed 7 or 8 titles per month.
This is true, but I've also noticed that both apps have rolled out "no restrictions" borrowing sections on their apps (and Hoopla is including audiobooks too) and those sections are getting PRETTY FAT lately.
still have more to watch than you could actually fit into a day.
I mean if we are just treating all content as equal, I can watch garbage on Youtube for free indefinitely.
For someone who really just wants to watch a few popular shows (eg: Andor, Stranger Things, The Pit, Severance) per year and maybe some office re-runs its gotten quite expensive or annoying to juggle the services.
Personally, I could never accept all those ads. And thankfully, I don’t have to…
I’ve got AppleTV, HBO, Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and Peacock, all at their highest paid tiers (ad-free and 4K) and the total monthly price is still less than the price of a basic cable subscription in my area.
Streamflation is indeed real… but it’s not yet a real problem. That’s 7 services I listed, if people are on a tighter budget they can easily cut several of those out. Or use your advice and stick with the free ad supported options.
I’ve got AppleTV, HBO, Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and Peacock, all at their highest paid tiers (ad-free and 4K) and the total monthly price is still less than the price of a basic cable subscription in my area.
This seems wild to me. Basic cable subscriptions from most of the providers in America:
Comcast: TV Core - $65
AT&T: U-Basic 300 - $60 (they have a cheaper option but it's not comparable to TV Core)
Spectrum: TV Stream - $40
DirecTV: Basic plan - $65
So lets round up to $70 anyway, just to be competitive here.
Your subs:
AppleTV $13 + HBO Max $23 + Prime $18 + Netflix $25 + Disney+ $19 + Peacock $17 = $115
I'm seeing about a $40 difference there. Now maybe what you're considering basic cable are the packages these corps are offering that include ALL the channels, not just some or most of them, but even in those cases you're still looking at something like $90-100 for the cable package vs $115 for all those streamers ad-free at 4K.
Most of that stuff you're probably not even looking at much less watching with any regularity.
No when I say basic cable, I mean truly the entry price. No extra packages. In my city that is $75/m from Spectrum.
It’s the prices on all the streaming services you’re quoting that are too high. Through annual rates, bundles, and mobile provider subsidies, that’s how I’m able to get it lower than $75/m. And those are all options available to most people, I’m not even talking about special one time promo rates.
What city is that? Spectrum starts at $40 in most of the places I looked up, and in the ones they don't, the next tier up is $60-65
I'm also not quoting those prices too high - those ARE the prices. You left out the "I'm getting deals on them" bit, and most of those providers DO NOT provide deals on the top tier subscriptions, either. They'll allow for deals/subsidies on the w/ ads tiers, but you HAVE to pay the full price for the premium ones.
What city is that? Spectrum starts at $40 in most of the places I looked up, and in the ones they don't, the next tier up is $60-65
Los Angeles
I'm also not quoting those prices too high - those ARE the prices. You left out the "I'm getting deals on them" bit, and most of those providers DO NOT provide deals on the top tier subscriptions, either.
No. Annual pricing IS the price just as much as the monthly price is. That is not a deal, that is literally the price, available to anyone that wants to pay it. For example:
HBO Max is $23/m, unless you pay annually then it’s $19.17/m
Prime is $18/m, unless you pay annually, then it’s $14.67/m
They'll allow for deals/subsidies on the w/ ads tiers, but you HAVE to pay the full price for the premium ones.
Incorrect. No one makes you pay the full price to get ad-free. Every single subsidized ad-supported tier I’ve gotten for free lets you pay only the difference for the ad-free tier.
I’m not trying to be difficult here… but the prices you quoted are indeed too high, I’m paying less on almost all of those services, and again that is NOT using special one time only promos. That is using publicly available annual or bundle pricing that is available year round. And mobile carrier subsidies that anyone could have as well, and most major carriers offer.
No one makes you pay the full price to get ad-free. Every single subsidized ad-supported tier I’ve gotten for free lets you pay only the difference for the ad-free tier.
That's interesting! Normally that's not the case in my experience, but if that's what they're doing now to keep folks onboard that's good!
I’m not trying to be difficult here…
I mean, you are, you set the whole thing up as a "gotcha" by leaving out a) your city b) your discounts, I'm pretty sure hoping someone would try to check your math. (Also, Spectrum in LA is $40, there's not even a $75 tier available - it goes from $40 to 100, to 110)
But your specific, individual experience involving scooping deals for spending hundreds of dollars up front for a year-subscription doesn't mean "streamflation isn't yet a real problem." That analysis depends on everyone everywhere literally forgetting what most of these services used to cost 2 years ago, much less 5-6.
That's interesting! Normally that's not the case in my experience, but if that's what they're doing now to keep folks onboard that's good!
That’s the norm I’ve seen from everyone.
I mean, you are, you set the whole thing up as a "gotcha" by leaving out a) your city b) your discounts, I'm pretty sure hoping someone would try to check your math.
No, actually Im not. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to get into this at all actually lol. If I wanted to get into the nitty gritty I would have listed prices from the get go. There’s no gotcha here.
(Also, Spectrum in LA is $40, there's not even a $75 tier available - it goes from $40 to 100, to 110)
Yeah. Now try calling them from my address and get that rate. I’ve been quoted $75. They are scammers.
But your specific, individual experience involving scooping deals for spending hundreds of dollars up front for a year-subscription doesn't mean "streamflation isn't yet a real problem."
You’re exaggerating the individual experience I have. Again, every single thing I’ve listed is available to any American, all year round. No special promos.
That analysis depends on everyone everywhere literally forgetting what most of these services used to cost 2 years ago, much less 5-6.
No, it doesn’t depend on that in the slightest.
Yes, it’s much more expensive than it used to be. And quite frankly, that should shock no one with sense… all of these services launched at too good to be true, wildly unprofitable pricing just to grow subscriber counts. That’s how most new services launch (see Uber/Lyft).
But that’s all beside the point… yes it is more expensive than it used to be. No one is arguing against that, certainly not me. What I AM arguing though, is that it’s not really any worse from a pricing perspective than cable used to be, which is what most of us were using before streaming.
When streaming first started taking off I subbed to everything.
Now I’m down to HBO max, if it’s not on there I don’t need to see it.
If I REALLY want to see something, well that’s what pirating is for, it’s like the better and more accessible streaming has gotten, the same can be said for pirating, couldn’t believe how many good sites there are now compared to 10 years ago.
These free apps need to attempt to advertise better. Just watched some movies on the Roku channel for free on a Fire Stick. Always thought I needed a roku to get it.
Inflation is what usually drives up the cost of things, in the past the cost of things have matched inflation, which is usually around 3% a year.
These days corporations are just jacking up prices in chunks and then seeing how many customers they lose, if they dont lose many they do it again, and again and again and again until they start losing customers. Epescially if all of the companies in the industry jack up prices together, thats price fixing and its happening a shitload these days.
Business Models have totally changed, your average person hasnt realised that.
Subscribing to streaming sites is not compulsary. OTA anntenas remain a viable option for watching TV.
It's a one time expense. Buy it, install it...watch TV.
Further, there are a shit-ton of low price smaller sites that provide just as many titles to scroll through trying to find something to watch as the larger more expensive sites do.
That's not my experience. One key reason why I put up an antenna was access to live sports. Football, hockey, basketball, tennis, golf, auto racing...it's all there.
In the instances where a game is on paid network, what I do is...give no shits. I'm happy to not contribute and do my part to see to that network's rights deal be an expensive lesson to their ability to turn a profit.
Multiple playoff games for instance, along with holiday games quite frequently, are exclusive to different streamers
You can say you're fine with what you can get for free, that's a personal choice. But to say that you're getting all the live sports with an OTA antenna in the US is just wrong. You're not even getting access to all the games that matter quite frequently. It's really shitty for avid fans.
What's wrong here is your reading comprehension. No where did I say I'm getting all sports OTA. In fact, I said the opposite. It is hoever true, the sports I listed, are shown on live TV...routinely.
Games that matter? What game, anywhere ever, matters?
But look, if you believe you absolutely must watch a game, then keep on ponying up the price sites demand from you. They're happy to take your money. And take it while diminishing the experience and value.
What's wrong here is your reading comprehension. No where did I say I'm getting all sports OTA.
One key reason why I put up an antenna was access to live sports. Football, hockey, basketball, tennis, golf, auto racing...it's all there.
I don't think it's my reading comprehension at fault there, you make it sound like you have access to all of those sports in full. You need to learn to say what you mean, which is what you have access to is sufficient for your desires.
You clearly interpreted me saying all the leagues present must mean I'm saying every game in every league is available OTA. Which I did not say. I'll repeat...all the big leagues and other sports are present over the air. You can dispute that all you want. You'd be mistaken yet, you can go ahead and dispute it.
All that I listed are certainly broadcast OTA. Including several that I did not. Triple crown races, Olympics, college sports too. Hell, Saturday during college season football is on every channel, the entire day.
It’s a good thing that I only purchase physical media and pirate then… crazy that people pay for this shit (only to have very limited access and windows to certain shows). I buy a full dvd set of a tv show for less than $30 once, can watch it for years whenever I want, no ads!
People ‘justify’ it because it’s….not very expensive still! Especially compared to how much cable was.
If you’ve got kids and aren’t an adult who feels the need to watch everything $20 for ad supported Disney/Hulu/HBO Max is a hell of a deal for how many movies/TV shows you get.
Live sports are also very easy to access, and with every league giving games to seven different services, it just makes more sense than ever to go that route
For me it's not even the pricing. It's the dividing up of content and reselling. It's watching a show on Netflix halfway, then it gets sold to Hulu and I can't keep watching without a new subscription. It's not knowing if a show is on serivce A, B, C, or D. It's deleting content forever because you want a tax write-off rather than licensing it to a different platform, or just, i don't know, keeping it?
I would be fine with paying higher prices, if it meant what Netflix used to mean. "All the content, in one easy package, for one price."
One thing that we have learned is that piracy is not a pricing issue. It’s a service issue. The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.
—GabeN
And
We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable.
Only things I have left are HBO and Shudder. They're the only services I watch a lot. Even then, they're one price hike away from getting the boot as well. I've collected physical media for a long time. All these services can kiss my ass.
That’s why the only streaming service I pay for is Dropout. It’s the best value for the price, it’s all original content and they actually care about their subscribers. I don’t know of any other service that encourages people to share their account with friends and family.
I just pay for a service every now and again when I want to watch something. If i like a show I would like to support it by watching it officially if it is available.
Cancelled Prime, HBO Max, Disney+ and Netflix at the start of the month. Going to be great saving money and I will resubscribe for 1-2 months out of the year and catch up on a few shows that I want to watch.
I recently went to cancel a bunch of subscriptions I have through prime video and they all offered me 3+ months for like 1 or 2 bucks a month. Worth a try
Its actually way worse than that, because while the streaming services have gotten more expensive, the content itself has become more diluted across different subscriptions
10 ish years ago we basically had
Netflix (ad free)
Hulu for shows that were actively airing before they went to netflix.
Now we have:
Netflix.
Hulu.
Paramount Plus.
HBO (max).
Disney Plus.
Prime video.
Peacock.
AppleTV.
2018-2022 Hugely fragmented our content with the launch of all these services.
Yes we've received more exclusive, high quality/budget content dumped into these services (House of the Dragon, Severance, Rings of Power, Loki, Stranger things etc) but your "Value per dollar" is shrinking more than just the increase in the sticker prices of each of these services.
So to get effective parity with Netflix circa 2018 (which cost $8.99)... You are basically talking: Paramount, Disney, Prime, and Peacock. AppleTV and Max being sort of "value adds"
It's become too expensive and too inconvenient, the two biggest sins in my opinion when it comes to streaming. I'll be pirating until something becomes more convenient and affordable again.
We were all told if we don’t vote for Trump prices on EVERYTHING WOULD BE INSANE!!!! Fucking lies lies lies lies lies and people don’t fight for their freedom anymore they just let the government and corporations steal your money or it’s fine to be ripped off from a Republican but not a Liberal!?!? Fuck you America
It’ll suck when YouTube realises it can do this too with Premium, and the shit thing is I practically have to eat up all the cost increases regardless since my entire family uses YouTube far too much to not have it. The fact they only charge £19.99 for a family subscription of 6 is insanely cheap for how much it is used in my family, so I won’t mind it as much but I still won’t like it.
And no Adblock won’t work because their primary usage is iOS and TV.
But piracy prices stayed the same for like the 25th year running. Bargain!
They keep.making this decision easier. Even if your provider folds the cost savings is huge.
Yeah it is like it's 2004 for me all over again lately, even though I prefer these days to support the creators.
Outside of outright piracy, I really enjoy physical movies and TV shows again. Over the past four years, I've developed quite the collection! When I have some real money next time, I'm going to splurge on some Criterion stuff
So many shows don’t even release physical media. I wanted a hard copy of You now that it’s finaled but it doesn’t exist b
I saw it on dvd wholesale. https://www.google.com/search?q=you+netflix+original+box+set&client=safari&hs=E39o&sca_esv=0557b3fd97f5b576&hl=en-us&ei=wiRnaZeBE9Wvp84Ps4GLMA&oq=you+netflix+original+box&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIhh5b3UgbmV0ZmxpeCBvcmlnaW5hbCBib3gqAggAMgUQIRigATIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKABMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgsQABiABBiGAxiKBTILEAAYgAQYhgMYigVImiJQigVYtxNwAngBkAEAmAGFAaABzAOqAQMwLjS4AQHIAQD4AQGYAgagAvQDwgIKEAAYsAMY1gQYR8ICCBAAGBYYChgemAMAiAYBkAYIkgcDMi40oAfyFbIHAzAuNLgH5APCBwcwLjIuMy4xyAcagAgA&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#ebo=0&piu=ps:20&sv=CAMS8gEatgESABotMmFoVUtFd2oxOGFEUG9ZcVNBeFU2MzhrREhZMUxISU1RZ2kxNkJRaWJBUkFOIlAKFDEzMjc2MDM2MDEwMTE1NTI4Nzg1GhMzOTA0NjkzMzk2Mjk5NzMxMTUyIhMzOTA0NjkzMzk2Mjk5NzMxMTUySgJoZ1IAoAET8AEAggIBMDAAQi8yYWhVS0V3ajE4YURQb1lxU0F4VTYzOGtESFkxTEhJTVFyb2dHZWdVSW13RVFCQSAGKjEKDnB2ZS1TVFJFQU1fUElVEh1wdmVfMXlSbmFiV3FHcnEtcDg0UGpaZnhtQWdfMRgBMAE4ASD92MqDCzABSgoIARACGAEgASgB
It’s also become more streamlined and accessible than ever.
Some platforms even provide a better service than legitimate streaming platforms.
This. We were watching the NFL game on saturday. For whatever reason casting it to my TV the quality kept getting blocky. He even said, yea it happens at his house too and mind you, he pays for YT premium or whatever the thing gives you sports. He then said let's just pirate it and boom, perfect quality.
It's quite terrible that if you pay for something the quality you get is worse
I know for a fact my high seas streaming app has full resolution films compared to the compressed BS they package as 4K on Netflix
Went back to it late last year after getting sick of being jerked around with the constant price increases, content coming in and out, etc. etc. It just became so annoying to deal with, even if I could afford it.
Little did I realize how easy piracy has gotten over the last 10-15 years. You can essentially set up your own streaming service now with any content you want to watch, better quality, and no ads.
Yahtzeee
I'm not anti-piracy or anything, but I have started collecting blu-ray recently and was surprised to find the prices are really quite good. Plus, the picture quality stomps all over streaming services with their shitty bitrates.
Actually cheaper. I have way more bandwidth now and I am not burning CDs and DVDs.
Yep I’d rather dump a thousands bucks into a plex setup than pay a penny for streaming services. Not spending $100+ a month to watch different shows because the rights are constantly changing. Streaming platforms did it to themselves
Had crunchyroll netflix and hulu for years. then hulu started putting ads in their lower tier, so i scrapped it and started pirating what i wanted to watch there. now netflix wont let me share the account ive used for 5 years with my family because my IP address doesn’t ping there, so i pirated the end of Stranger Things without a modicum of guilt. Crunchyroll is about to be next on the chopping block if it gets any more expensive or they try to seize on advertising revenue for a millisecond. Pirating is so easy these days and the cost of a VPN is so cheap from a per-month cost basis that I will torrent literally everything guilt free as long as these shit eating companies continue to be greedy.
Nobody is happier to tell you they steal than Redditors.
I'm not stealing, I'm viewing. I buy what I want to own, as my blu-ray collection can attest. You don't buy a car before you test-drive it 🤷🏼♂️
*as for sports, I pay for a subscription to watch my team play via Sky and TNT, but when they don't show the game, as they legally cannot for 3pm Saturday games in the UK, thanks to some antiquated law, then I'm going to resort to other means to watch it. I wouldn't have to if I wasn't forced into it. It's fucking ridiculous someone in the US can watch every Arsenal game, but I can't, just one city away....
Not wanting to pay for something doesn't give you the right to steal it, no matter how entitled you think you are to it.
I'm not stealing it, just using the material to train my AI model.
Somebody get this man a trillion dollars
You don't need to hide behind their own flimsy loopholes. It's based to steal from corpos.
Tell this to the capitalists that steal the value of your labor
Nerd
Time to walk the plank
It’s weird they lump video game subs in with streaming subs.
That makes absolutely no sense lmao.
That game pass ultimate increase is holding so much water to make television viewers mad.
That's funny I reduced my streaming costs by 90%
Once the price gets too high, cancel that shit.
laughs in jellyfin server
Laughs in Plex server
i actually run both lol. i use jellyfin at home but plex is what i share with my friends and family
edit: i'm surprised this is controversial
Is there a go-to guide/resources you'd recommend for getting this set up? I was looking into it for a bit last summer, but with the rise of services I'm really leaning into setting up something in the next year or so to future proof myself.
this is a good place to start. https://trash-guides.info/
not all of that is required though really all you need to do is install plex or jellyfin and point it at a folder thats got some media in it. but if you want to get into the automation side of it those guides will help
trash-guides are I think a little advanced for someone just jumping in.
I'd recommend the wiki/servarr site (that trash links to anyway) but moreso just a lot of searching. You'll either end up there or in reddit threads anyway.
I did it like 2 months ago. I don't think i used a particular source, just searched around reddit. It really isn't that difficult you can totally do it.
Thank you for being that person. A media share saved my life!! I was so poor and needed to find relief and video is my happy place.
Not to mention in order to serve the content services often downgrade your quality, while you’re expected to keep paying for the higher quality.
Anyone is welcome to send me a DM about joining one. You can set one up for free or a small investment in a home server (directions are elsewhere on this thread) or you can help someone else cover sever costs for a much lower rate and have virtually anything you’d want to see.
Nobody has said this has been controversial dude
it went negative at first and then had the little controversial symbol for a while showing it was getting pretty equal upvotes and downvotes. now its started to go more positive
Ok no need to download just asking
I also run jellyfin and Plex. Jellyfin is used for... Other media ( ꈍᴗꈍ)
God Plex's interface has just become soooo bad though. I really shouldn't complain because, ya know, I'm not paying for anything, but still.
Plex is full of a lot of bloat. It really wants to show me a Home Screen of things that aren’t my content
Seriously. In no universe, at any point, do I ever give the smallest of fucks about whatever Plex is trying to recommend to me. I am there for one thing only, and that's the server of content my friend hosts. On mobile, there isn't even a "continue watching" on the home screen anymore. I have to find the show, go into the season, find the episode, and resume. Oh, and then it asks if I want to watch from his server or the streaming source. The app on the TV at least still shows my "continue watching" so that's...something
My wells have dried up recently.
Might be a dumb question but what exactly are the benefits of a plex server compared to Stremio? I can stream Bluray REMUX on stremio with a debrid service for example
The files are in my house, not on someone else’s service.
But is it on demand? For example, if I'm looking for something new, can I just pick it without having to wait? I don't understand the concept besides for archival purposes
jellyfin = offline
stremio = online
Arr matey join the high seas.
When netflix was great I happily paid it, and piracy was dead to me for a few years. Then they all got greedy, so fuck em, I don't feel bad for riding the ocean waves again.
Same, then I discovered all the arr apps and have never looked back .
When I first discovered the Arr apps it was game changing... but then I started getting copyright notices from Verizon... Now I have a dedicated computer for torrents and usenet, always connected to my VPN with a killswitch in case the VPN ever drops. Haven't received a notice since...
All this to say though, if there was one streaming service that had everything I wanted, and was like $20 a month, I'd gladly switch. But no, I have to sign up for 5 different services to get what I want. Fuck that.
Bind your ip in your torrent client to the VPN, kill switch can still fail
I do this as well, just didn't think to mention it.
Where could I read up on how to get something like this set up? I’m not super techy, but am willing to learn.
100% same with music/Spotify for me. They'll keep raising prices as long as people keep paying for it. They haven't met enough resistance to affect their bottom line so they'll keep raising until enough people jump ship.
Spotify has gone up by like $2 over the past 15 years what are you talking about
They've increased in 2023, 2024 and are expected to again in 2026. It will just keep rising as long as people are paying..
Congratulations you d discovered day one hour one of a basic economy class
Netflix fucked the industry with an extremely low monthly subscription. The rest of the studios scrambled to start their own streaming services, and matched Netflix's price.
This was all fine when dump trucks of investor money was pouring in.
Soon the studios realized Netflix's dark secret: it was never profitable.
So now all the streaming services are merging, shutting down, raising prices, and trying desperately to make square pegs fit into round holes.
Netflix has been profitable since 2003.
[removed]
How computer literate are you? Send me a DM and I'm happy to guide you.
I mean, you should feel bad for theft, but Reddit likes to glorify piracy as if it's anything but childish entitlement.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1p2cfjm/an_interview_with_gabe_newell_we_dont_really/
I don't feel a single iota of bad for piracy. These companies have created this problem. When you move items from one service to the next, or pull a movie/show completely from one service, you create this problem.
Of course you don't feel bad for stealing content: you're twelve.
Cool.
Sorry, did you think a quote from a guy intending to create a monopoly for an entirely different market is supposed to justify your theft somehow? Like, even bringing video games into this makes you sound like 12, to say nothing of the underlying logical reasoning for why you're entitled to free content.
Yo ho yo ho!
And a bottle of rum! 🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
Plex and nordvpn - very stable price. To hell the us and its shitty nazis
I LOVE that they say it’s temporary, as if corporations famously lower prices to benefit their consumers.
I think when they say it's temporary they just mean it's not gonna see another 19% bump next year.
Hopefully. Fingers crossed.
High inflation is temporary, things will stop inflating so much. Doesn't mean prices go down.
That’s amazing, my cost for streaming services has not increased a single dollar since I cancelled all my subscriptions.
Not sure how that works…
We are no longer "cutting the cord" for the Ala carte pick-a-channel subscription service for $5/mo. We've regressed and now get multiple features we don't want plus advertisements for $10 or $20.
Cable TV is going to start looking like a good deal again.
Until people stop paying, this is going to continue. Speak with your wallets, explore alternative options, or be subject to an increasingly expensive service that will continue to see quality decline.
Tubi: free w/ ads
Pluto: free w/ ads
Kanopy/Hoopla: free w/ library card
PBS Passport: $5 a month
AppleTV+: 12.99
Criterion Channel: 10.99 a month ($100 a year)
You could do just those six (and the library card means you can check out basically anything ever pressed to physical media), plus a TV antenna to give you the major networks, all at a cost of about 20-25 bucks a month, and still have more to watch than you could actually fit into a day.
Of course, there's also folks that will increasingly feel it's worth the hassle/self-teaching to figure out how to a) pirate and b) set up a personal home server (plex/emby/jellyfin) to watch it on, but there's also never going to be enough people willing to do that to make it much more than a niche audience. piracy's never been anything but niche - it's why none of the reports about how much something got "pirated" ever includes actual numbers! It can't be used as a big ol' boogeyman if everyone realizes it's like less than 1% of the general audience actually partaking (if that).
edit: OH, Youtube! If you feel like you NEED YouTube, it's worth pointing out that anyone on the GoogleTV platform can sideload apps like SmartTube or TizenTubeCobalt, and get ad-free YouTube pretty easily. While you're on GoogleTV you can also find modded .apks for Tubi that will give you that app ad-free as well.
also roku channel is free w ads,and you do not have to have a roku player. Doesn't have the size of tubi/pluto's catalog but has a lot less commercials.. Also Amazon you don't have to have prime to get a lot of their shows/movies for free and like roku less commercials then tubi/pluto.
They do have some great titles, old and new. Just need to find them amidst the mountain of B-movies & Z-movies on the service. Also, my ad block extension is blocking all ads, so, no annoying ads whatsoever.
Great services with many domestic and international titles. The only drawback is borrowing limitations imposed by the local library where a user is only allowed 7 or 8 titles per month.
This is true, but I've also noticed that both apps have rolled out "no restrictions" borrowing sections on their apps (and Hoopla is including audiobooks too) and those sections are getting PRETTY FAT lately.
I get Apple One included in my Verizon account and Peacock for having Xfinity. Gotta maximize those perks!
I mean if we are just treating all content as equal, I can watch garbage on Youtube for free indefinitely.
For someone who really just wants to watch a few popular shows (eg: Andor, Stranger Things, The Pit, Severance) per year and maybe some office re-runs its gotten quite expensive or annoying to juggle the services.
Its basically full circle back to cable.
Personally, I could never accept all those ads. And thankfully, I don’t have to…
I’ve got AppleTV, HBO, Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and Peacock, all at their highest paid tiers (ad-free and 4K) and the total monthly price is still less than the price of a basic cable subscription in my area.
Streamflation is indeed real… but it’s not yet a real problem. That’s 7 services I listed, if people are on a tighter budget they can easily cut several of those out. Or use your advice and stick with the free ad supported options.
This seems wild to me. Basic cable subscriptions from most of the providers in America:
Comcast: TV Core - $65
AT&T: U-Basic 300 - $60 (they have a cheaper option but it's not comparable to TV Core)
Spectrum: TV Stream - $40
DirecTV: Basic plan - $65
So lets round up to $70 anyway, just to be competitive here.
Your subs:
AppleTV $13 + HBO Max $23 + Prime $18 + Netflix $25 + Disney+ $19 + Peacock $17 = $115
I'm seeing about a $40 difference there. Now maybe what you're considering basic cable are the packages these corps are offering that include ALL the channels, not just some or most of them, but even in those cases you're still looking at something like $90-100 for the cable package vs $115 for all those streamers ad-free at 4K.
Most of that stuff you're probably not even looking at much less watching with any regularity.
No when I say basic cable, I mean truly the entry price. No extra packages. In my city that is $75/m from Spectrum.
It’s the prices on all the streaming services you’re quoting that are too high. Through annual rates, bundles, and mobile provider subsidies, that’s how I’m able to get it lower than $75/m. And those are all options available to most people, I’m not even talking about special one time promo rates.
What city is that? Spectrum starts at $40 in most of the places I looked up, and in the ones they don't, the next tier up is $60-65
I'm also not quoting those prices too high - those ARE the prices. You left out the "I'm getting deals on them" bit, and most of those providers DO NOT provide deals on the top tier subscriptions, either. They'll allow for deals/subsidies on the w/ ads tiers, but you HAVE to pay the full price for the premium ones.
Los Angeles
No. Annual pricing IS the price just as much as the monthly price is. That is not a deal, that is literally the price, available to anyone that wants to pay it. For example:
HBO Max is $23/m, unless you pay annually then it’s $19.17/m
Prime is $18/m, unless you pay annually, then it’s $14.67/m
Incorrect. No one makes you pay the full price to get ad-free. Every single subsidized ad-supported tier I’ve gotten for free lets you pay only the difference for the ad-free tier.
I’m not trying to be difficult here… but the prices you quoted are indeed too high, I’m paying less on almost all of those services, and again that is NOT using special one time only promos. That is using publicly available annual or bundle pricing that is available year round. And mobile carrier subsidies that anyone could have as well, and most major carriers offer.
That's interesting! Normally that's not the case in my experience, but if that's what they're doing now to keep folks onboard that's good!
I mean, you are, you set the whole thing up as a "gotcha" by leaving out a) your city b) your discounts, I'm pretty sure hoping someone would try to check your math. (Also, Spectrum in LA is $40, there's not even a $75 tier available - it goes from $40 to 100, to 110)
But your specific, individual experience involving scooping deals for spending hundreds of dollars up front for a year-subscription doesn't mean "streamflation isn't yet a real problem." That analysis depends on everyone everywhere literally forgetting what most of these services used to cost 2 years ago, much less 5-6.
That’s the norm I’ve seen from everyone.
No, actually Im not. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to get into this at all actually lol. If I wanted to get into the nitty gritty I would have listed prices from the get go. There’s no gotcha here.
Yeah. Now try calling them from my address and get that rate. I’ve been quoted $75. They are scammers.
You’re exaggerating the individual experience I have. Again, every single thing I’ve listed is available to any American, all year round. No special promos.
No, it doesn’t depend on that in the slightest.
Yes, it’s much more expensive than it used to be. And quite frankly, that should shock no one with sense… all of these services launched at too good to be true, wildly unprofitable pricing just to grow subscriber counts. That’s how most new services launch (see Uber/Lyft).
But that’s all beside the point… yes it is more expensive than it used to be. No one is arguing against that, certainly not me. What I AM arguing though, is that it’s not really any worse from a pricing perspective than cable used to be, which is what most of us were using before streaming.
When streaming first started taking off I subbed to everything.
Now I’m down to HBO max, if it’s not on there I don’t need to see it.
If I REALLY want to see something, well that’s what pirating is for, it’s like the better and more accessible streaming has gotten, the same can be said for pirating, couldn’t believe how many good sites there are now compared to 10 years ago.
I'm hitting up thrift stores left and right for DVDs and blue rays
And they will continue to rise as people continue to support them.
VPNs and piracy websites are also real.
I think you mean enshitification.
Just do 1 or 2 at a time and burn thru the catalogue
$13-35/mo (depending) and 5 minutes on the 30th ea month and you’ll never want for anything to watch
Nooooooooo you're supposed to just pirate everything rather than do the sensible thing!
Laughs in using Stremio
Recently cut Netflix. Dont miss it a bit.
Stranger Things is finished. The wave of Netflix cancellations will be legendary.
We spent the last day of our holiday going through our subscriptions and canceled 60% of them.
Consolidation will do that
I use "other" services
This is simply them testing to see how much people are willing to pay
These free apps need to attempt to advertise better. Just watched some movies on the Roku channel for free on a Fire Stick. Always thought I needed a roku to get it.
OH, and that app has a lot of porn 😂
Imagine being stupid enough to keep paying a 20% increase in 2 years.
Has everyone forgotten that a 20% price increase is what happens over the space of 5-10 years?
Why can't people do simple maths anymore to understand value and when they are getting ripped off.
The show "seasons" are getting shorter, and the gap between seasons longer. It's classic shrinkflation already.
Source: just trust me bro
Inflation is what usually drives up the cost of things, in the past the cost of things have matched inflation, which is usually around 3% a year.
These days corporations are just jacking up prices in chunks and then seeing how many customers they lose, if they dont lose many they do it again, and again and again and again until they start losing customers. Epescially if all of the companies in the industry jack up prices together, thats price fixing and its happening a shitload these days.
Business Models have totally changed, your average person hasnt realised that.
Subscribing to streaming sites is not compulsary. OTA anntenas remain a viable option for watching TV.
It's a one time expense. Buy it, install it...watch TV.
Further, there are a shit-ton of low price smaller sites that provide just as many titles to scroll through trying to find something to watch as the larger more expensive sites do.
For live sports it's becoming an increasing problem though
Fewer and fewer games are getting broadcast OTA and more games are becoming streaming exclusives so even cable for sports is no longer a great option
Especially since they've all gotten rid of any kind of free trial period for the most part
That's not my experience. One key reason why I put up an antenna was access to live sports. Football, hockey, basketball, tennis, golf, auto racing...it's all there.
In the instances where a game is on paid network, what I do is...give no shits. I'm happy to not contribute and do my part to see to that network's rights deal be an expensive lesson to their ability to turn a profit.
It's not all there
Multiple playoff games for instance, along with holiday games quite frequently, are exclusive to different streamers
You can say you're fine with what you can get for free, that's a personal choice. But to say that you're getting all the live sports with an OTA antenna in the US is just wrong. You're not even getting access to all the games that matter quite frequently. It's really shitty for avid fans.
What's wrong here is your reading comprehension. No where did I say I'm getting all sports OTA. In fact, I said the opposite. It is hoever true, the sports I listed, are shown on live TV...routinely.
Games that matter? What game, anywhere ever, matters?
But look, if you believe you absolutely must watch a game, then keep on ponying up the price sites demand from you. They're happy to take your money. And take it while diminishing the experience and value.
I don't think it's my reading comprehension at fault there, you make it sound like you have access to all of those sports in full. You need to learn to say what you mean, which is what you have access to is sufficient for your desires.
You clearly interpreted me saying all the leagues present must mean I'm saying every game in every league is available OTA. Which I did not say. I'll repeat...all the big leagues and other sports are present over the air. You can dispute that all you want. You'd be mistaken yet, you can go ahead and dispute it.
All that I listed are certainly broadcast OTA. Including several that I did not. Triple crown races, Olympics, college sports too. Hell, Saturday during college season football is on every channel, the entire day.
-peace
How else will they be able to cancel awesome series after one season to upset everyone? They need that cash money baby.
That's why you buy shit when it's on a steep discount around Black Friday or Prime Day.
Yep, new hard drives for my media server and newsgroup subs.
I don’t have this problem with my media server
Counterpoint: 🏴☠️
It’s a good thing that I only purchase physical media and pirate then… crazy that people pay for this shit (only to have very limited access and windows to certain shows). I buy a full dvd set of a tv show for less than $30 once, can watch it for years whenever I want, no ads!
Main problem is ads. Im just gonna find another way to watch your content if you put ads in it
Eh, black Friday deals can be greater than 50% off for a year.
For now
This all ends when everyone stops subscribing. I've been out for 3 years now. How can people still justify it?
My local library has everything! For free.
People ‘justify’ it because it’s….not very expensive still! Especially compared to how much cable was.
If you’ve got kids and aren’t an adult who feels the need to watch everything $20 for ad supported Disney/Hulu/HBO Max is a hell of a deal for how many movies/TV shows you get.
Libraries are great, but do not have everything.
It’s so unbelievably easy to access media for free. It’s funny that people put up with this. Live sports is really the only one that makes sense to me
Live sports are also very easy to access, and with every league giving games to seven different services, it just makes more sense than ever to go that route
For me it's not even the pricing. It's the dividing up of content and reselling. It's watching a show on Netflix halfway, then it gets sold to Hulu and I can't keep watching without a new subscription. It's not knowing if a show is on serivce A, B, C, or D. It's deleting content forever because you want a tax write-off rather than licensing it to a different platform, or just, i don't know, keeping it?
It's needing NINE different streaming services to watch Pokemon
I would be fine with paying higher prices, if it meant what Netflix used to mean. "All the content, in one easy package, for one price."
—GabeN
And
—GabeN
I honestly just watch twitch now
Twitch is awful, youtube is much better.
Eh my point is these streaming services have made me completely disinterested in them so I don’t engage with them
Only things I have left are HBO and Shudder. They're the only services I watch a lot. Even then, they're one price hike away from getting the boot as well. I've collected physical media for a long time. All these services can kiss my ass.
I just posted a video about this !
Which is why I dropped streaming services
God forbid someone downloads Adblock and types nepu.to in their browser. Whatever that site is
A: YouTube is FREEEEEEEEE
B: I live a block away from a pizza restaurant/ bar that has sports when I care to watch
C: I haven’t been invested in a tv show since Bojack ended in 2019
That’s why the only streaming service I pay for is Dropout. It’s the best value for the price, it’s all original content and they actually care about their subscribers. I don’t know of any other service that encourages people to share their account with friends and family.
I just pay for a service every now and again when I want to watch something. If i like a show I would like to support it by watching it officially if it is available.
Cancelled Prime, HBO Max, Disney+ and Netflix at the start of the month. Going to be great saving money and I will resubscribe for 1-2 months out of the year and catch up on a few shows that I want to watch.
I am currently watching a movie on DVD
yarrrr, subscription are more like... guidelines.
Arrgh ye matey, I be sailing the high streams!
Hulu live tv just raised their prices by $7 in September. Pretty sure that’s more than 1.1% increase
I just wait until Black Friday and sub for the year
I recently went to cancel a bunch of subscriptions I have through prime video and they all offered me 3+ months for like 1 or 2 bucks a month. Worth a try
Canceled every single subscription, except for PS Plus, and setup Kodi + Bingie. I am never looking back.
Going to get a lot worse
"Inflation " is already a word that covers this. We don't need a new, dumb portmanteau.
I have the money. But I'm not going to spend it on yearly purchases. I'll do the rotate method if anything. One month on. 12-16 months off.
Y’arrrrr matey
Weird, just checked how much I'm paying to watch a ton of TV and it's still $0.
I'm sure so is "sea"flation. 🏴☠️
Not a surprise. Streamers started with penetration pricing and sold their product at a loss just to get people to try the service.
I can’t relate 👀
Good now I’ve chopped 50% of the platforms and I’m looking at latest tech for high waters
Its actually way worse than that, because while the streaming services have gotten more expensive, the content itself has become more diluted across different subscriptions
10 ish years ago we basically had
Now we have:
2018-2022 Hugely fragmented our content with the launch of all these services.
Yes we've received more exclusive, high quality/budget content dumped into these services (House of the Dragon, Severance, Rings of Power, Loki, Stranger things etc) but your "Value per dollar" is shrinking more than just the increase in the sticker prices of each of these services.
So to get effective parity with Netflix circa 2018 (which cost $8.99)... You are basically talking: Paramount, Disney, Prime, and Peacock. AppleTV and Max being sort of "value adds"
in 2018 Netflix cost (for 1 screen) $8.99 -> $11.70 inflation adjusted.
Today for the rough equivalent (with no ads) you are paying
Netflix -> $17.99.
Disney -> $18.99.
Paramount Plus -> $12.99.
Peacock -> $16.99.
A whopping $66.96. a 28% annualized increase.
[deleted]
Weird flex to admit your attention span is worth exactly $5 per app but go off I guess.
Thanks, Plex.
Piracy is so easy these days. You can even find live sports streams now.
Between the splintering and the price rises I've fully gone back to piracy and won't be back.
Pay for what you consume. Stop pretending like you’re “sticking it to the man” because you’re too lazy to rotate services.
What you’re doing is actually saying, “I don’t give a fuck what people actually have to work on the content I watch. I don’t care about them at all.”
All of the anti-AI stuff from the same group of people is so incredibly performative and terrible.
This isn't relevant, but I pay $4 a month for a vpn.
It's become too expensive and too inconvenient, the two biggest sins in my opinion when it comes to streaming. I'll be pirating until something becomes more convenient and affordable again.
How exactly is streaming inconvenient? I get its expensive but practically every device can stream Netflix and other streamers.
Content is spread out among too many services.
Welcome to a la carte tv which is what every one was wanting
And now everyone wants everything to be on a single service….
So back to cable where you’re paying for channels you don’t even want
Ahoyyyy mateys
This is the tale of Capt. JACK SPARROW
We were all told if we don’t vote for Trump prices on EVERYTHING WOULD BE INSANE!!!! Fucking lies lies lies lies lies and people don’t fight for their freedom anymore they just let the government and corporations steal your money or it’s fine to be ripped off from a Republican but not a Liberal!?!? Fuck you America
STOP PAYING THESE IDIOTS. Taking everyone straight back to cable tv is crazy work.
It’ll suck when YouTube realises it can do this too with Premium, and the shit thing is I practically have to eat up all the cost increases regardless since my entire family uses YouTube far too much to not have it. The fact they only charge £19.99 for a family subscription of 6 is insanely cheap for how much it is used in my family, so I won’t mind it as much but I still won’t like it.
And no Adblock won’t work because their primary usage is iOS and TV.
watch in browser. lots of ad block extension options for safari
smarttube exists and comes with adblock and sponsorblock built in