Netflix’s streaming competitors have kept prices low since launching in order to build a subscriber base, but with rising content costs and slowing subscriber growth, that’s becoming untenable. Profits are becoming a bigger focus.
Adam Levy for The Motley Fool:
The cost of streaming is going up, and for once Netflix isn’t to blame.
The competition is finally starting to focus on becoming profitable after several years of keeping pricing low to grow their subscriber bases. That means price hikes. Walt Disney and Apple have already announced price hikes, while Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have clearly stated intentions to do so next year.
Disney saw its budget balloon last year. Warner Bros. Discovery is working to get a handle on HBO Max’s budget. Apple’s budget seemingly has no limits as it focuses on sports and prestige programming. And Paramount raised its long-term budget by 20% earlier this year.
As price hikes come to market, Netflix’s pricing doesn’t look nearly as expensive. In fact, Netflix’s new Basic with Ads tier is priced below Disney+ and Hulu and could eventually become one of the least expensive options on the market if Netflix keeps the pricing steady.
MacDailyNews Take: An Apple TV+ ad-supported tier for the old price of $4.99/month makes sense.
As MacDailyNews reported in August via our little birdie, Apple looks to be planning to launch an ad-supported version of its Apple TV+ streaming-video platform, likely in 2023:
Hearing from a little birdie that Apple is planning to launch an ad-supported version of its Apple TV+ streaming-video platform. pic.twitter.com/tfbt7JyMLs
— MacDailyNews (@MacDailyNews) August 4, 2022
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Shop The Apple Store at Amazon.
We knew that they won. Corporate America never does anything to save someone money. They just screw you every chance they get.
Streaming used to be great until they major content produces decided to treat it like cable. I ‘cut the cord’ so to speak back in 2017 because I didn’t want to be part of the cable cabal anymore! Tubi and Roku TV still have that same cord-cutting spirit that brought me to this in the first place.
At least you pay for what you want and don’t have to deal with hundreds of channels that you’ll never watch.
What will save me money is that I’ve stopped watching almost all of the fictional TV (along with the overwhelmingly agenda-driven news). The problem is that I also will have to give up some of the sports I like to watch. But, there’s always radio…
“Cut the cord” used to mean something like this, giving up paying for propaganda/garbage, not substituting a cord for wireless brainwashing instead.
Yes, I could not care less about the widespread Liberal agenda news constantly promoting Democrats and slamming Republicans, but particularly the fictional stuff and same with Apple’s higher level of fictional prestige. Prog rock Styz in a classic song sang you’re just watching someone else’s fantasy. Occasionally sit on a magic stool for sports…
It costs exactly how much you decide to spend each month instead of multi-year contracts, hardware lock-in, and being coerced to pay for a higher tier to get a single channel. Live TV is dead and the quality of new shows is dropping considerably. Streaming costs my family a fraction of what cable TV used to.
Well, starting about ten years ago on this very site, I tried to explain why it was going to eventually cost more either cutting the cord or if the Cable Cabal offered a la carte.
Of course I was trying to explain how a business worked to some of the same people that thought ObamaCare would lower medical cost.
In both cases they had no idea how or why cost were like they are so they IMAGINED a way it would be cheaper then DEMANDED these choices.
Now the same type people are doing energy and food.
God help us….
I’ve only begun to address the sticker shock. Regional sports programming over streaming is a DISASTER. Every game requires ANOTHER streaming provider and a subscription. NO THANKS. They and the public will find out this model does not work in long run.