This.
HBO doesnt have enogh to justify keeping them on all thr time, but once a year ill get it for 2 months to catch up. Then its to another, etc.
I think this is becoming the new normal. Especially when each provider has one or two massive and expensive "hit" shows. But once enough people do this, they'll just change the structure to something that doesn't really allow it, e.g. $50 for the fist month, $20/mo after that or $200 for the year.
Do you lose all content associated with your account each time, though? Like "sub-profiles", already watched shows, language preferences, etc.?
Who cares? Is any of that particularly valuable? Setting up your language prefs again surely only takes a minute or two.
Not having to skim through already-watched or downvoted shows is a gain of time, which is probably valuable if one takes the time to (un)subscribe regularly.
You don't with Netflix - you can just re-subscribe whenever you would like.
You don't with most of them. I do the same as OP. With most of them (Hulu, Prime, and Netflix) you are just "deactivating" it so they don't charge you. All your watchlists, settings, etc. are still saved, so once you resume the service you still have all that setup. It's really not a hassle at all.