I remember when it was a fairly safe assumption that almost all content would end up on Netflix in time, with only a few odd-balls going to Hulu. Now with the big players — Disney, NBCuniversal, HBO, and Paramount — all having their own streaming platforms, Netflix is no longer the indispensable service it once was.<p>They can try to raise prices and cut features / content in order to return to the golden age of profitability, but I don’t believe they’ll ever get it back.
So you get ads, and unlimited product placement? Whole episodes of Stranger Things revolving around Seven Eleven and Slurpees? You'd be a fool to say no!<p>> Unlimited ad-free movies, TV shows, and mobile games<p>I wish the USA believed in consumer protection, or had false advertising laws that were enforced, because most shows and movies are full of ads, they're just hidden. Ubiquitous computer logos, coca-cola bottles, car brands, etc<p>Maybe they meant unlimited-ad, free movies, tv shows, and mobile games and messed up the punctuation
Steaming services have become the very thing they were supposed to replace. The only advantage they have is that you can drop in and out of subscriptions, although, I suspect, it won't be long before they move towards 12 month lock-ins.
It’s still $20/mo just to watch anything in 4K, even if I only need one stream.<p>They can shuffle all the other plans around all they want but that’s the price point that keeps me away.
I've completely stopped paying for streaming services (apart from Apple Music and TV+, because of Apple One). I pay $5 a month for Mullvad, and "acquire" everything I could ever want and play it using Plex on an old HP Elitedesk with OpenMediaVault installed on it. It's all automatic, so I request what I want using Overseerr, and it does the rest for me.<p>Do I feel a little bit bad for stealing content? Maybe. But I'm not paying for 4+ streaming services just so I can occasionally watch shows a few times a year.
I'm sure the HN audience already knows this, but Tubi is basically an ad-supported version of what Netflix was back in the late 2000s / early 2010s: a handful of marquee movies and TV shows with a ton of filler and diamonds in the rough. I'm finding myself watching Tubi more than Netflix these days.
You can tell a company is in decline when it’s doing everything it can to claw back value. Netflix has enough resources to recover, but it doesn’t seem like a given that it can or will.
I only use Netflix for filler before going to sleep (on timer) on a 32" 720p TV. I should use the Basic plan (still an option in Canada). The only reason I don't is the hassle if/when I travel around devices/IP addresses.<p>From my netflix.com/ChangePlan page<p>> Only people who live with you may use your account. Add 1 extra member with Standard or up to 2 with Premium. Learn more. Watch on 4 different devices at the same time with Premium, 2 with Standard or Standard with ads, and 1 with Basic.
I'm not only thinking about to moving from streaming to own physical copies of movies (best quality, offline, touch an object), but also moving to watch more old and good movies.<p>I feel that the last decade, with the explosion of internet and social media, big part of the culture moved more aggressively to consume the latest releases, the most hyped, the advertised in small doses from months and months.<p>I hope to start buying lovely Blu-rays from <a href="https://www.criterion.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.criterion.com</a> to build my collection.
I adore Netflix honestly, watching them grow up since the 90s. But the streaming hegemony that's grown up around copyright control is so.. well maybe an image is worth a thousand words:<p><a href="https://imgur.com/gallery/IM3Z2ww" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://imgur.com/gallery/IM3Z2ww</a>
What I am not clear about are those ads of other content or more like the ads on tv channels? The former I could live with if it just before the start of a show but they shouldn’t bump the price anytime soon