I recently had a conversation with a close friend from the TV streaming world concerning the cost of streaming services. While we were talking he mentioned the often repeated line that when cord cutting started “It was supposed to make things cheaper”. I understand why people thought that, but I hate to tell you. There was never a promise from any sort of collective that streaming would be super cheap.
It’s not like there is actually a company behind the cord-cutting trend with a motto like, “Never pay more than $30.00 a month”. Amazon, Hulu and Netflix never said that prices would not ever be raised. HBO Max (Now MAX), Paramount+ and others never said that anything was locked in forever and neither did what I call the Cable replacement services, being Sling TV, Fubo TV, YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV.
The one thing the cable industry was totally straightforward about when it came to pricing, was that it would be expensive to replace it. Executives said for years that “the bundle” was a bargain. And that without the bundle and the fees that were paid to channel owners as a result of it, that channels would disappear etc.
Some of those services do advertise that they cost less than cable. And they back it up. Without new customer discounts cable TV can easily cost you $250.00 And no, I’m not talking about a combined cost of Internet and TV services and phone services. I am talking about just the cost of getting TV channels. Companies can advertise Service bundles all they want but actual long-term cable customers can read their itemized bills and see for themselves how much things cost. I personally looked over my own mother’s and grandparents’ bills before recommending they join me and the millions of other cord-cutters and save a few thousand bucks a year.
I make this point because too often a reporter who doesn’t know their head from their foot will do a story on the TV industry and look up intro prices and say it costs $100.00 for internet and TV without doing the slightest bit of research past the front page of a local cable company website.
Has the cost of essentially every streaming option risen in the last 5 years? Yes. Without a doubt. But here is another question. Is there some kind of mafia boss making anybody sign up for them? No. Hearing people complain about the cost of a streaming service reminds me of hearing people complain about the cost of Disney World. I get it. You don’t want to pay as much as they charge. Then don’t go.
If you think that Max is charging too much, don’t get it. If you think Amazon Prime is a waste of money and are angry that it added a few commercials to the beginning of a show or movie then don’t renew and go drive to the store everytime you want anything. If you value online shopping but have a grudge against Amazon there are alternatives. But it means getting in bed with Walmart another giant worldwide corporation. Nothing is stopping you. And certainly don’t sign up for 10 streaming services just because they exist. Cancel the ones that you don’t use.
Look it sucks that there are so many things making things expensive right now. I cut out a lot of quick service and fast food meals from my life when I realized that myfavorite McDonalds combo meal cost about $11.00 or more. People have begun to push back on fast food prices and that industry is beginning to take notice and adjust. But the pricing of various streaming services is not a betrayal, or a bait and switch or a broken promise. It is due to the fact that all of these services spend money to produce original content and pay ever-increasing fees. It is also because streaming services for the most part launched charging too little for the cost of maintaining the services in the first place.
And furthermore the big one. Yes. There is also profit to be taken into consideration. But let me ask you, the reader? How little money are you interested in being paid for your services and skills? Besides the cost of just maintaining staff and infrastructure companies have to make more money every quarter or their stock price takes a hit and then layoffs hit the staff. Is it stupid that a company can make 800 million dollars two years in a row and be considered a failure? Absolutely. But that is the way the stock market works. And lower profits mean job losses not lower pay for executives. It must be nice to be part of the golden parachute class.
The key to saving money with cord-cutting is not hoping that Disney will decide “OK that’s enough money we will stop now”. It is making value-based purchases just like you do or should do when it comes to everything else essential and nonessential. And streaming services make it easy to opt in and out monthly. You can love Star Trek and have Paramont+ for one month and see every new season of each of their originals and drop it. You can love WWE and get Peacock for a month and watch Wrestlemania for less than ten dollars. Remember when it used to cost about $100.00?
But if you want access to daily live TV services from the most demanded networks like ESPN, Fox News then you have to pay at least $70.00 for them. Yes they started at around half that cost. But as more channels and partnerships got set up and rights fees rose, the cost went up. And it is not going to change unless the richest people in the world just decide to fund TV providers out of the goodness of their own hearts. Do you see that happening?
In the meantime, there really are lots of ways to enjoy content, many free including antennas (for many people), free ad-supported services and even inexpensive ad-supported streaming services that provide hours of entertainment. And for a hell of a lot less than cable. Let’s all take a breath ok.
