487

With the simultaneous rollout of restrictions on account sharing and price increases/addition of advertising, I’m cutting back severely on streaming services.

I allowed my streaming subscriptions to grow without thinking about it. Without trying to remember the constant merging and bundling, I was subscribed to probably a dozen services at one point. They ranged from Netflix and HBO and Hulu to Shudder and Showtime. I had Paramount, Criterion, Disney, Peacock, and others. I’d do the typical thing where I’d search for a movie, find it is exclusive to a platform, and grab the free trial and forget to cancel. I excused it if I found a movie even every couple of months on it. There were still nights where it’d take an hour to find something I wanted to watch. I was probably closing in on $200/month all told, and I don’t have sports subscriptions.

I’m interested in learning what other people are doing regarding the price hikes and service compromises. Are you cancelling? Are you taking advantage of bundles with your internet services? Are you rotating on some interval? Or are you not changing at all?

(page 4) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] VinesNFluff@pawb.social 3 points 1 year ago

No because I never subscribed to any. I mooched off my father's subscriptions :U

I did switch away and have been trying to convince him to use my Emby homeserver though.

[-] FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I cancelled the last of mine years ago. Been watching a lot of free stuff like Pluto.tv, Roku, Tubi, YouTube, etc.

[-] rockandsock@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

I'm deciding what to keep and what to cancel based on what kind of holiday deals I can get over the next few months.

[-] skybreaker@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I already canceled Netflix. They rarely have anything good anymore. If there's something that I want to watch, I'll get it for a month and then cancel it.

[-] cricbuzz@hexbear.net 3 points 1 year ago

Great results streaming movies with any of these services https://rentry.co/megathread-movies-and-tv#streaming

[-] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

Yup, cleaned out some of my subscriptions, will buy physical copies of seasons, pirate, or worst case only sign up month at a time

[-] CoolBeance@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I'll probably keep two at most, though I'm pretty close to dropping one in favor of an eyepatch and a peg leg

[-] hawgietonight@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

We have a budget for streaming services. ATM Netflix, HBO max and Showtime. About 20€ a month. Me and my wife like a good classic flick every now and then, so the two latter stay. The kids eat up crap Netflix series like candy. Everytime they ask to get prime or Disney they have the choice to give up Netflix to change.. but they don't.

If ads come, or the price goes up too much will consider canceling. Until then, it suits our wants.

[-] peter@feddit.uk 3 points 1 year ago

Yes, the lionsgate+ and paramount+ existing was the tipping point for me. I paid for Netflix when it had good stuff. I still try to watch on official platforms where its available but sometimes it's literally impossible to get

[-] robsuto@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The only one I have is Netflix and that is only because it comes with my cell service for like $3/mo extra.

[-] SurpriZe@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

It's pisseasy to download the highest quality movies imaginable at any point in time, anywhere, totally free of charge. Makes no sense to ever even think about paying for any of the "streaming services".

[-] SecretPancake@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

I’ve been cutting down and only keep the ones I actually watch. I had a constant Netflix subscription since 2014 but a month ago I cancelled it. Will resubscribe temporary once enough shows pile up that I’m interested in (which might take a while).

Since Futurama is done, I’ll probably cancel Disney now.

Youtube Premium is the one I will keep for longer because I watch it all the time and I’m splitting the costs with family.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] overkill0485@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Only service I have is prime video, but its because I order frequently from Amazon. I use YouTube primarily and only my Plex server on movie nights with family

[-] Michal@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I only have 1 (youtube) but on occasion i will subscribe to a service if there's a tv show i want to watch.

Currently watching pottery throw down on channel 4 but i can't purchase a subscription without a British card, so I'm watching with ads...

[-] morphballganon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I never use these. My wife does though, so keeping them is her call.

[-] RickRussell_CA@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

RiffTrax Friends, The Gizmoplex, and Twitch Turbo give me everything I need.

[-] DeadNinja@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Europix for me above anything else. Netflix and Disney can go and self-serve their backsides...

[-] krush_groove@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I get a lot of value out of Netflix, I watch tons of their shows every month.

I use Prime quite a bit also obviously for Amazon shopping and try to watch Prime Video a few times each month, and now they've expanded the music I'll try that too.

I will be canceling Disney and just pirate what I want to see, which isn't much, literally just one show.

E: I canceled Spotify ages ago and use their free version but for my favorite bands I downloaded their MP3 discographies. I buy their music on CD because it pays them better than streaming their songs thousands of times, plus I buy merch and go to the concerts so I'm OK with that.

E2: someone mentioned Patreon, I cancelled most of those as well because my gaming group broke up and all my patreons are for gaming 3D files. I have years worth of stuff to print and will never reach the end.

[-] tryptaminev@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

We cancelled Netflix recently. With the quality ever going down there was nothing new left to watch and just rewatching old series out of habit can be replaced with browsing random youtube videos or so. And those end up often having some curiosity or educational value.

[-] Natal@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I have tidal for music and I really want to drop it since their price hike. The only thing still blocking me is that I don't have a decent way to listen to music in my car without a subscription service. It sucks.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] OnichiCub@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

Canceled everything but my Youtube premium. The beauty of streaming, and why it killed piracy for a time imo, was that it made it so easy to access everything there was no need to bother with anything else. I was happy to pay for a media subscription when it was one subscription. I was even happy to do it when it was two, then three. By the fourth, fifth, sixth, so on and so forth forever, I'd had more than enough. They've done away with the ease of access for consumers and made it painfully obnoxious again, so... back to piracy.

[-] z2k_@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 year ago

Cancelled my Netflix account when they announced the password sharing crackdown (even though I wasn't password sharing), and recently cancelled my Spotify family account when they increased the price.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

I wish we had HBO+ or Max or whatever the fuck it is now in the UK.

The only legal way to get their stuff is via NowTV, which is fucking dreadful and think 1080p should be behind an extra paywall. Also, they carried on charging me after I cancelled, because apparently fuck me for thinking that a cancel option in an app they made would work.

[-] averyminya@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

I support the services that have what I'm interested in. I want more It's Always Sunny, so I subscribed to Hulu to watch it. Bonus of finding a couple other shows that made it worth it. I want more Star Wars and Marvel content (and my parents use it), so I pay for D+ yearly, and the same for formerly HBO where I want DC content.

That doesn't mean I don't keep these shows for myself as well, because at any given time something will happen or a server will be down or the internet will have an issue and I want to watch what I've rightfully paid for.

However with the recent direction of HBO I may cancel when the year lapses. It's the struggle between Zaslav and Gunn there lol

[-] pinkdrunkenelephants@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 year ago

I don't use them.

[-] JohnWorks@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Pretty much just have Spotify+Hulu, YouTube premium (should cancel Spotify maybe but I like seeing what songs get removed from my playlists rather than them just disappearing), Amazon prime, and Disney+. Thinking about cancelling Disney+ soon but I want to see Loki s2 still.

[-] Kaiserschmarrn@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Canceled my Netflix subscription a few months ago and I'm now using Kodi + Real Debrid. As of yet, I'm really happy with my decision.

[-] Abracadaniel@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

Eventually Netflix will kick me off the family account but there's no way I'm paying for that garbage. I might pay for Hulu as they have a much better selection for my tastes.

[-] hellweaver666@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago

I cancelled Netflix about 8 months ago after realising that my wife and I weren’t enjoying it and my kids were just watching the same 2-3 shows on repeat. Cancelled Netflix and bought the shows my kids like via AppleTV.

[-] octobob@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Haven't had any for like 6 years, and back then it was just Netflix and Crunchyroll.

Embrace the pirate lifestyle out on the seven seas

[-] danie10@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

About 3 months back I cancelled Netflix (after being in it for many years) and moved to free Tubi.

[-] YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Nope, we pay for Netflix and Disney+. Our friends pay for Hulu and HBO so we swap passwords so we all benefit.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›
this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
487 points (98.4% liked)

Asklemmy

43941 readers
546 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS