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Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

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View Poll Results: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?
Yes, way too many. Limited time, not enough money
72.50%
No, like all the options
25.00%
I already pay enough for cable/satellite, so I have 0 interest in all these services
2.50%
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Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

Old 04-12-17, 12:45 PM
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Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

With NBC announcing plans to launch yet another pay streaming service within the next year, I was wondering if it's time to ask do you think there are too many streaming services out there?

I think yes. There are too many niche services that I wonder if the current marketplace can even support all of them.

I currently have Netflix, Hulu, and CBS All-Access. I also have Shudder, but I barely use it due to not enough time.

If they start pulling shows from Netflix and Hulu to exclusive streaming services, I think the marketplace is going to meltdown. It's just crazy.

There's services with niche content that I am kind of interested in, but I would feel pressure to watch a certain number of shows/movies per month to make the monthly fee worth it.

I already subscribe to the premium channels like HBO, Showtime, Starz and Max through my provider. But, I couldn't imagine trying to juggle paying for all of those a la carte and trying to watch enough to make it worth it. HBO Now is already like $15 per month.

Last edited by DJariya; 04-12-17 at 12:52 PM.
Old 04-12-17, 12:59 PM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

Yup, and we did it to ourselves. Once customers started paying for multiple stream options, everyone wants to get a piece.
Old 04-12-17, 04:28 PM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

Cable customers have been asking for a la carte channel options for years. That ask is now a reality in the streaming age.
Old 04-13-17, 12:40 AM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

At this point it's easiest for me to just pay per movie or show. If I subscribe to something a month might go by when I don't have time to watch anything and thus waste that month's payment for it.
Old 04-13-17, 08:17 AM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

Yep, way too many options and stuff is starting to get spread out everywhere. If I was single and alone, this wouldn't be an issue and I would only watch stuff off VUDU and my Blu-Ray collection and not give a shit.

However, since I'm married, it becomes a problem in the sense that my wife is getting pretty bored with Hulu and doesn't really seem to care for VUDU (except for an occasional movie) or Amazon (same thing).

I'm counting the weeks where she starts insisting that we go back and get an upgraded cable package (and not just the basic one included with the internet) and thus throwing me into a spin with cable fees, possibly switching services and playing this giant game to get the best option. And paying for this stream and then this stream isn't going to help matters either.
Old 04-13-17, 08:21 AM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

I always think choice is good, but the danger is that something like Hulu might cease to exist & you have to have separate service for each network's programming. Which is where we seem to be heading.

But I do think the market is becoming saturated with all these live TV streamers. I try them every time a new one comes out & it always reminds me why I ditched cable. Nothing but junk & commercials.

But there really good streaming services - those offering original programming and a commercial free option, are still pretty rare.
Old 04-17-17, 10:19 AM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

I think the market is saturated with streaming services, however, I'm not one to say there are too many. It's basically the free market at work - driving competitiveness and quality. Some will survive, some won't. At this point, I've pretty much stuck with the 'first to market' streaming services - Netflix, Hulu, Amazon. Unless something else grips me, I likely won't deviate from this.
Old 04-18-17, 10:47 PM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

There are a lot - but isn't choice and flexibility what we've always wanted?

We aren't beholden or tied into any service - so we can subscribe and cancel at will. I wanted to watch some exclusive content on Shudder, so I subscribed for a month, watched what I wanted and then canceled. I've done the same for a handful of other services.
Old 04-18-17, 11:45 PM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

It doesn't bother me. I like having choices. Maybe I'm paying the same as cable. But with cable I never watch 95% of the channels. With streaming, I pay for the services I want to watch.

And with so many niche services, some of them are getting really unique, hard to find content. Every month I'm amazed at the obscure horror flicks that Shudder is able to dig up.
Old 04-19-17, 09:36 AM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

Originally Posted by clemente
There are a lot - but isn't choice and flexibility what we've always wanted?

We aren't beholden or tied into any service - so we can subscribe and cancel at will. I wanted to watch some exclusive content on Shudder, so I subscribed for a month, watched what I wanted and then canceled. I've done the same for a handful of other services.
Pretty much this, although the temporary subscriptions are more my plan for possible future binges than actual practice so far.
Old 08-16-17, 03:50 PM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entert...818-story.html

A good write up about the overwhelming amount of streaming services and how it's affecting consumers. It says it's becoming more of a burden keeping track of shows.

They reference the story that Apple is now entering the world of producing original streaming content.

They also say the market simply cannot support dozens of streaming services.
Old 08-17-17, 01:31 AM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

I think eventually the market will sort itself out and most of these new competitors will go the way of Seeso. And what you will have is 4-6 big streaming sites and a bunch of companies doing what shout factory does with amazon and being 3-5 dollar optional add on's to an existing platform
Old 08-24-17, 09:53 AM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

My 2 cents- in the long run it's easiest just to pay for what I actually watch. If I subscribe to something, I may not have time to watch anything on it within a month thus wasting my payment. I subscribed to SugarDVD (a porn service, on the recommendation of someone else here) for a couple years and thought it was great, but for $8 per month I figured I'd have to watch at least 4 features per month (amounting to $2 each) just to make it worth paying for. I often didn't meet that quota, and I cancelled after a month went by when I didn't have time to watch a single one. If I want to watch any more of that stuff, AEBN seems a better deal since I can rent just one title for about $4, when I actually want to watch it.

I leech off my parents' Netflix subscription (using an older Roku that doesn't ruin the endings of movies like they do on the newer ones) but even then I don't have time to watch it a lot- sometimes I'll watch several movies or a whole series in a couple days, but then months will go by when I don't have time to watch a single thing. I've been wanting to check out Exploitation.tv, Warner Archive and Filmstruck, but won't even activate a free trial until a day/night when I know I'll have enough time to watch at least one complete movie and see how the overall quality is. I'm doing a free trial for Shudder right now just because they had a longer trial if you signed up by last week, but I haven't even installed it on the Roku yet. Haven't done anything with the Roku in a couple weeks as a matter of fact, but I go through some phases where I use it every day for a while.
Old 08-24-17, 10:06 AM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

Yup. I am only paying for Netflix and won't for any others. There is enough content on there and live TV I don't need others. Plus the 100's of DVD and Blu's I own I won't run out of entertainment.
Old 08-24-17, 01:27 PM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

I had heard for years "let me just pay for the channels I want". Here we are. Frankly, it's even better than what those people wanted, because you can pick what you want to watch at any given time.

Personally, I only have Netflix, and it will remain that way. I do think that someone will eventually come along with a studio-approved aggregator. Like a TV guide that you can add your paid services to, and then have a convenient, single place to search all of the offered content. Roku, and I'm sure others, kind of have this. You can search from the main menu, but you have to know what you're searching for.
Old 08-24-17, 02:10 PM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

I have Amazon, but that's mainly because it comes with Prime. Don't think i would pay for that seperately. I mostly watch Netflix. It's the only one I pay for montly and that's because the rest of the family watches it often. If I want to see something on another streaming site I would just subscribe for a month and then cancel. I think it will get to be the same as what we had years ago. It will be like having 3 major broadcast networks before cable.
Old 08-24-17, 02:29 PM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

I have Netflix and Prime, but who even knows what non-original content they'll have in the future? When Netflix started streaming, I didn't sign up because of the thin selection, and we may be back there someday.

I still have cable, but their on-demand selection seems really random: Only certain shows, incomplete season and episode selection, etc. I'm sure the studios and their streaming deals plays a part in it.
Old 08-24-17, 02:50 PM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

Originally Posted by mndtrp
I had heard for years "let me just pay for the channels I want". Here we are. Frankly, it's even better than what those people wanted, because you can pick what you want to watch at any given time.
You're definitely right - it is better than what we used to hope for. I think the one negative is that we (as consumers) are getting kind of greedy/spoiled now, so we kind of want everything for one low price.

While I definitely do think there are too many options, I don't view it as a bad thing, necessarily, but more of a "there is no way to watch/afford it all" scenario.
Old 09-23-17, 02:44 PM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

This writer on Business Insider hates what Cord Cutting has become. Basically says there are too many streaming services and it's a headache to maintain. He went back to cable after bailing for 5 years.


http://www.businessinsider.com/apple...e-of-tv-2017-9


Here's an excerpt.:

I'm one of those rare millennials who's had it with streaming everything I watch.

After five years of living cord-free, getting most of my TV from a combination of Netflix, iTunes downloads, and an antenna that tunes in over-the-air broadcasts, I'm back on cable. I didn't realize how much I'd been missing.

I'm no longer a cord cutter. Now I'm a cord flopper. I love it! And even a new digital set-top box from Apple hasn't changed my mind.

My journey back to the dark side started earlier this year when I moved to a new apartment. I didn't plan to get a cable subscription again, but I caved after some nudging from my TV-obsessed fiancée.

To tell the truth, I didn't need much convincing. Among other benefits, traditional pay TV offers things that can be hard to get via online video services, including live sports, live news, and a reliable DVR.

Cord cutting, by contrast, is a headache. Technology is supposed to make everything cheaper and easier, but internet-delivered video can be just as expensive and more confusing than simply signing up for cable.

You have to juggle multiple subscriptions to services like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Now. You have to wait while your shows buffer. There's often a two-minute or longer delay when you stream presidential debates and other live events.

And when streaming services don't have the shows you want to watch, you have to hunt for them in digital video stores such as Apple's iTunes, Amazon and Vudu. If you can find them, you'll have to spend a few bucks an episode or upwards of $50 for an entire season. Even then, some shows aren't available until the next day, and others aren't available until a year after they're originally broadcast.

We were promised better, but no one has delivered.
Old 09-24-17, 05:28 PM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

This reads like "I cut the cord when I was young and single and going out every night. Now my fiancé and I stay in every night and need something to watch.
Old 09-25-17, 01:22 PM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

There will still be a market for cable service as we know it in the future. There simply won't be as many people that get it as they do today.

I worry a great deal about the economics of the splintered streaming market and how it will affect content. This is reminiscent of the early shake-out in the corporate Internet during the DotCom boom, when companies were throwing things up against a wall to see what sticks as a viable business model on the Net.

Entertainment is still living off the afterglow of the homogenuous mass television market that has existed since the 1950s. It was extremely lucrative and supported content at a level of quality that will almost certainly disappear in a fractured world of pay streaming services. There simply won't be enough dollars to go around for everything made today, now that the mass market is beginning to die off.

Last edited by PhantomStranger; 09-26-17 at 01:28 PM.
Old 09-25-17, 04:42 PM
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Re: Do you think there are too many pay streaming services?

I just realized that we're not considered cord cutters anymore. About 10 years ago my wife and I ditched cable and went to streaming and OTA.

However, the last time we signed up for an internet plan, it was cheaper to have the cable included so we currently have a cable box sitting in our storage locker not being used (it's only SD and looks like crap on our 60" TV).

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