It seems the amount of streaming services is going to keep on growing. You've got your big names like Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Prime as well as your HBO Go etc. Now DC is launching its own streaming service and so is Disney. ESPN+ Acquired some rights to UFC and WWE has its own streaming service. The point being where does it end? Soon your going to have to get like 6 over the top streaming services to cover your viewing needs.
Film & TV Streaming services
- Thread starter Tha_Wood
- Start date
I hope it doesn't catch up. I'm signed up for Netflix and if something isn't there or isn't available somewhere else easily and for free, too bad. I'm all for competition, so it would be nice if there was a single alternative that had most of the same shows, but I'm not into diversification and spreading shows between 20 different providers, each of them requiring a subscription. I hope people just don't vote with their wallets for that, as it only catches on if they do.
At the moment, luckily, Netflix is the only one popular globally, and I hope mostly everything continues to be available there. If not, the show makers are hopefully going to lose money, learn the hard way, and go for the big services that everyone uses.
One of the main problems is licensing. You can have a shitty no-name service or TV station that nobody watches get exclusive rights to broadcast a TV show or a movie. It's even more complicated if it's a different provider in each of the different countries. That is just stupid and a loss for everyone. It's bullshit that you have to sign up for another service to watch a new show, and it's bullshit for the show makers that 90% of potential viewers won't watch it because they won't sign up.
While still far from perfect, I prefer the way licensing turned out with music these days. You release an album, and you just give rights to Spotify, Apple music and everyone out there to distribute it, and make money on whoever out there listens to it regardless of the platform they chose. I can listen to all of the newest albums on Spotify, and I can also do so on any of the other major music streaming services. I hope the same thing eventually happens to the TV/Movie distribution/licensing industries. I'll be fine with there being 20 providers delivering the services in different ways for different fees, if most of the content is not split and locked between 20 different paywalls. If it is, I'm simply not going to pay, and in the worst case, I'm just not going to watch it.
At the moment, luckily, Netflix is the only one popular globally, and I hope mostly everything continues to be available there. If not, the show makers are hopefully going to lose money, learn the hard way, and go for the big services that everyone uses.
One of the main problems is licensing. You can have a shitty no-name service or TV station that nobody watches get exclusive rights to broadcast a TV show or a movie. It's even more complicated if it's a different provider in each of the different countries. That is just stupid and a loss for everyone. It's bullshit that you have to sign up for another service to watch a new show, and it's bullshit for the show makers that 90% of potential viewers won't watch it because they won't sign up.
While still far from perfect, I prefer the way licensing turned out with music these days. You release an album, and you just give rights to Spotify, Apple music and everyone out there to distribute it, and make money on whoever out there listens to it regardless of the platform they chose. I can listen to all of the newest albums on Spotify, and I can also do so on any of the other major music streaming services. I hope the same thing eventually happens to the TV/Movie distribution/licensing industries. I'll be fine with there being 20 providers delivering the services in different ways for different fees, if most of the content is not split and locked between 20 different paywalls. If it is, I'm simply not going to pay, and in the worst case, I'm just not going to watch it.
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Anyone using any IPTV services? I used to use one then the owner did a runner with everyone's money and shut the service down - he's in prison now and I got a partial refund from my bank.
Since then, I went with another provider but my subscription expired and I'm having difficulty renewing it.
Since then, I went with another provider but my subscription expired and I'm having difficulty renewing it.
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You can find passwords for all major streaming services on forums. I'm not sure if it counts as "the dark web" but technically it's all stolen accounts.
The number of services emerging bothers me a bit but not enough since I'm not paying for them. But I think we will come back full-circle to the days of cable, except it will all be in the form of apps and subscriptions on a smart TV.
I can't even say I use those streaming services too much because if I were to lose access to all of them, I'd go back to the days of pirating. Terrarium is an app for Android that puts a nice UI around streaming links you'd find elsewhere and plays them using your phone's media player, be it MXPlayer or VLC or the one built in to the Terrarium app.
The number of services emerging bothers me a bit but not enough since I'm not paying for them. But I think we will come back full-circle to the days of cable, except it will all be in the form of apps and subscriptions on a smart TV.
I can't even say I use those streaming services too much because if I were to lose access to all of them, I'd go back to the days of pirating. Terrarium is an app for Android that puts a nice UI around streaming links you'd find elsewhere and plays them using your phone's media player, be it MXPlayer or VLC or the one built in to the Terrarium app.
Streaming services are the new cable channels. It's already headed this way but there is going to be over saturation of the market. People don't mind paying for 3 services, maybe more, but when it gets to be more than that it's a little ridiculous. Piracy ain't dead, and these companies are slowly pushing me to it more and more
Yeah, piracy will never die. It was piracy for me since the days of downloading albums right here on SH. A little before that with Kazaa and Morpheus and stuff in 2001. Then in 2011, or so, I started using Netflix and Hulu properly and it had most of what I needed.
But with all these licensing agreements and disputes and shows getting pulled from Netflix or Hulu and networks making their own channel subscription service for streaming, it got too complicated again, as this thread states, and we're back to square one.
Now with the attack on net neutrality, at least in the US, the next game of cat and mouse will be fair streaming rights and internet usage, in general. Comcast loses the cord cutters but we still need internet too stream. Or mobile data, for our phones. So thats the next place the war will be fought. We'll get shit internet speeds and prices like Australia has if nothing is done about it.
But with all these licensing agreements and disputes and shows getting pulled from Netflix or Hulu and networks making their own channel subscription service for streaming, it got too complicated again, as this thread states, and we're back to square one.
Now with the attack on net neutrality, at least in the US, the next game of cat and mouse will be fair streaming rights and internet usage, in general. Comcast loses the cord cutters but we still need internet too stream. Or mobile data, for our phones. So thats the next place the war will be fought. We'll get shit internet speeds and prices like Australia has if nothing is done about it.
It would be cool if YouTube Music could implement their Sound Search feature directly within the app. They can really innovate and have a better product than the competition when it comes to the service as a product. We know how good Allo could've been but Google tend to have a habit of doing too little, too late. They need to be more aggressive in their approach. It's nice they're bundling 3 and 6 month subscriptions to YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium with Pixel 3 and Home Hub.
I think this is the way music streaming services may be going in the future instead of having standalone apps. Apple recently purchased Shazam - so I think there will be some integration there.
I think this is the way music streaming services may be going in the future instead of having standalone apps. Apple recently purchased Shazam - so I think there will be some integration there.
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