Why the era of cheap streaming is over

2 thoughts on “Why the era of cheap streaming is over”

1. Interesting. Neither the wife nor I are particularly heavy users of streaming. We do however subscribe to three streaming platforms:
   Netflix: this is the only platform we pay for directly. The wife pays for this and I think it’s about NZ$12 or NZ$13 per month.
   Amazon Prime: this is included by our internet provider at no extra charge. It’s the least used of the three platforms and if our internet provider started charging for it, I’d let the subscription lapse.
   TVNZ+: this is a local streaming service provided by our largest television network. It is free, relying on advertisements – one or two 15-second commercials at 15 minute intervals. While not having quite the choice available from Netflix it’s on par with Amazon Prime and includes a large amount of New Zealand content – something that is absent from the other two platforms.

   Our son takes a different perspective. Almost every streaming platform available here have annual or 6-monthly promotions offering one or two months free service when signing up and with no obligation to continue subscribing after the free period ends. So he signs up to every promotional offer and cancels the day before the end of the free period. So he almost always has one or two streaming platforms as his disposal at no cost! Evidently this practice is not very common, otherwise the streaming platforms would include a mandatory minimum subscription period. It’s a practice I would feel uncomfortable about emulating as to me i’d be abusing the offers being made by the streaming platforms. I see the offers as “try before you buy”. He sees them simply as free offers.

   LikeLiked by 1 person

   Reply

   1. Hi Barry. We use 4 streaming services. We use Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, and Ron uses a service named Rakuten Viki that costs us about $60 a year. The Netflix, HBO costs around $20 a month and our prime membership is about $140 a year. We had Hulu but when we decided to cut back we realized neither of us had used it for a couple of years. I use Amazon Prime the most because I can get the Star Trek shows I want, Ron uses all the rest, but mostly Viki.

      Here the promotions are one month only and can be used only once for your address / email / credit card. So to do what your son does won’t work for us. After doing a month in my name and stuff, and a second month on Ron’s stuff, it wouldn’t work anymore.

      I am always amazed at how much better people are treated by both companies and government in other countries. Here in the US where profit is king, people suffer and fall further into desperation of working to survive with no luxuries so the wealthy corporations can make profit for their shareholders. People on Social Security barely can survive and the republicans want to cut it even more so more profit can be sent to the wealthy. Best Wishes. Scottie

      LikeLiked by 1 person

      Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.