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Does Anyone Else Hate Streaming Services?

posted 2 years ago by HarveyManFredSin (4877)
35 replies | jump to latest

I made the same complaint a few years ago, and was derided for doing so, but I still maintain that they're annoying.

Back in the day, most films, unless they were TV movies or bad STV b-pics, would go into theaters for a number of weeks/months, then onto video/dvd about 6 months later, and within 3/4 years, they'd appear on network TV. Thus, there were plenty of opportunities to watch a movie, and even if one missed it at the cinema, and didn't bother renting it, was almost certainly going to get the opportunity to watch it on regular, free-to-view, TV (the only exceptions were some low-grade exploitation films, and, for a while, the Disney animated movies, which would get periodic re-releases in the theaters). But, nowadays, if you want to watch a particular film, you have to be subscribed to Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max (or whatever it's now called), and Paramount Plus etc. Who's got the money to subscribe to *all* those services? And, thus, one ends up missing out on a lot of films and shows.

Once again, what we refer to as 'progress' is in fact 'greed' and 'exclusivity'. *sigh*

[–] fooman (307) 2 years ago

I always struggled to find stuff on them I haven't seen or want to watch, but for people like my kids who haven't been watching movies for 50 years they are a goldmine.

They're pretty easy to join and cancel so there's no need to be subscribed to them all at once, and I'm patient I'll wait until there's a few movies or a whole series ready to catch up so I only need a month at a time.

[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) 2 years ago

I suppose you could keep joining and cancelling. Seems like a lot of hassle and certain services update/change their catalogue. It just bugs me that studios now have the exclusive right to stream certain content, since there were so many other options back in the day if one wanted to see a particular film/show, and much of it eventually ended up free-to-view.

[–] M1sterDoct0r (4560) 2 years ago

Yes. I especially hate how many freaking streaming services there are. I didn't mind when it was just Netflix & Hulu.

You could catch up on episodes/shows you missed out on or usually find an old movie you haven't seen in a while.

Now you have to subscribe to individual streaming services to watch something

How's the song go again? Oh yeah, Yo, Ho! A pirate's life for me!

[–] RoboReCop (3381) 2 years ago

You explained perfectly how films were in theaters, then sent to rentals, and then to tv.

I miss those days. But I guess those days are gone. I don't even watch "tv" anymore. I borrow from a streaming site a family member, or I seek out what I'd like to watch on the free version of streaming sites [like Tubi and the like]. I rarely go to the theaters much these days.

The way I see all these paid-for streaming sites to continue is for them to enter into/collapse into streaming "packages", which is just the premium cable movie channel idea in my regard.