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Comment by slovette | Hacker News Reader

While perhaps a nominal iteration of improvement, cable was this way too. You didn’t have to have the $100 /month service package. There was always the $30 /mo basic cable (no guide box).

The industry simply recycling its business model in new delivery methods is a valid complaint/perception.

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Mind boggling that someone can compare the utility to cost ratio of cable/satellite TV requiring contracts and installations to on demand libraries of near unlimited content with instant sign up and cancel abilities on every device.

Exact opposite of a “nominal iteration”.

There is on paper and in practice. Yes, streaming has a ton of content… you still watch a handful of things because there is far more noise than signal.

The noise is far easier to avoid since I have on demand access to exactly what I want to watch when and where I want to watch it. The situation is objectively much better than it was during cable/satellite TV days.

But! With cable, if you didn't buy the upper tier packages, you may have missed out on some great shows/networks (e.g., HBO). And cable companies often use contracts to make downgrading expensive. With streaming services, cancelling after you've binge watch the shows you're interested in comes with no penalty.

> cancelling after you've binge watch the shows you're interested in comes with no penalty.

...for now. We'll certainly see these kinds of shenanigans before too much longer. Take ads. They're creeping in to paid subscriptions now - despite the fact that an allure of online streaming is that you can pay not to see them.

Where there's the possibility of a revenue play, it will happen eventually.

There’s a ceiling on how much pain they can put people through. Too much, and it’s back to piracy. That’s the difference now. Back in the cable days people didn’t have that option.

There's a ceiling but I'm not sure an annual subscription is that. And if a random person feels they have to pirate a random show because they don't care about anything else on a given service, that's in the noise.

I'm pretty sure the percentage of people doing the binge/subscription change dance is pretty small.

The problem with cable was you couldn't have 'basic cable + FX' or 'basic + AMC' it was $30 for lame selection of mostly crap and then $80 - $100 for anything better.

I didn't have a guide box--had a TiVo from pretty early on--and I was still over $100/month before my HBO monthly fee.

The tech industry's definition of "disruption" has been pretty clearly validated by now as "undercut established players then appropriate their business models with little innovation". Streaming is a change from syndicated programming but introduces its own issues.

the last base package I subscribed to was $80

But you couldn’t just choose a single channel aside from the premium channels.

You cannot pick only Star Wars from Disney+ either. Or Orange Is The New Black from Netflix.

You can buy “Orange is the New Black” and Star Wars from iTunes…

Or you can pay for one month, binge and cancel your subscription to each without a contract

You are a power user. Less savvy people can’t or won’t figure this out

Really? Only power users can search on an iPhone and click on a link and go to the TV app or is it only power users who know how to subscribe and cancel a subscription?

And only power users search Google for “Orange is the New Black” and click on “How to Watch”?

yes, switching between Netflix and Disney plus actually is difficult. usually, people just give up to use it.

People have become accustomed to using apps since 2008. I assure that most people - including my 80 year old dad - knows how to switch applications.

You are incredibly cocky and arrogant.

I would say that you are incredibly insulting to most people if you think they can’t use apps in 2023 after a decade and a half of smart phone usage

You are very inexperienced I can tell and it is obvious from your immaturity, cockiness and arrogance

Hint: it’s not hard to figure out my approximate age from my user name…

"Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it."

-George Bernard Shaw

unfortunately, my father know this, but I just give up to watch TV.

Yes, the interfaces are clunky, different and confusing. That’s why people despite the cost eventually liked cable because it is an inclusive bundle.

Well, there is evidence that you are incorrect seeing both the published growth in streaming services and the decline of the number of people who have cable…

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