• Katya@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    The combination of all these streaming services won’t be cheap. I’ve just used a video downloader to optimise my subscription before I cancel my prime. (As long as I don’t share it with others.)

  • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    With Netflix already having ads we are now 75% of the way to “cutting the cord” going back to reinventing cable again.

    • ares35@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      if it was still just netflix, and everybody didn’t have their own streaming service, that would be different.

      but when you add up netflix, prime, disney, paramount, peacock, max, and whatever else, the wallet definitely says it’s just like cable.

      do one at a time and rotate, maybe have one you ‘always’ have. you can’t watch 10 different services at once anyway.

  • Four_lights77@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    The pendulum is swinging back towards the monopoly model that destroyed cable. Time to dust off the old Jolly Roger and teach streaming an old lesson of what happens when you price gouge people.

    • nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      People were obviously pissed off at cable’s fragmented model, but what killed it was the existence of video on demand services over the internet. The fact that at a certain point Netflix had everything certainly helped in adoption, but the biggest factor was not having to view at a specific time.

      There is no such killer improvement on the horizon. All there is is the fragmented streaming market, or piracy.

  • Iamnoonenowhere@lemmynsfw.com
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    1 year ago

    I had been considering cancelling my Amazon subscription. I don’t know what I’m really paying for, just for expedited shipping? I don’t even use Amazon prime videos since it’s mostly garbage. Thanks to Amazon for making my decision easy to cancel.

    • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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      1 year ago

      I actually realized I almost never take advantage of real prime perks anymore and the cost was ridiculous. Nearly $200 a year and all for maybe faster shipping?

      I can get most the things on eBay or wherever anyways and it’s the same Chinese crap. Or free shipping anyway from Amazon.

      Local is even better and maybe I can actually try shit on and not buy literal garbage. It’s hardly worth it.

  • redimk@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    When do you guys think they (companies/rich people/shareholders(?)) will realize that growth for the sake of growth is not viable and there will be a point of stagnation? Like… What are they gonna do, keep raising prices until nobody can b uy anything anymore?

    • sudo@lemmy.today
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      1 year ago

      When it stops being viable. They have no commitment to the company. They’ll suck it dry and move on to the next project.

    • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      There’s a reason for it, people don’t push back enough. We all need to push back more than we have been.

      They’re noticing the pushback so far, but they’re thinking they can break through it and come out victorious on the other side.

      Do you really want to pay a monthly fee to be forced to watch commercials?

      The whole point of commercials was that you didn’t have to pay otherwise to watch the show.

      • Blastasaurus@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I’ve cancelled everything in my life that requires a monthly payment (asides vehicle and rent).

        It’s not that I can’t afford it, it’s that I’m fucking sick of it.

        • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          It’s not that I can’t afford it, it’s that I’m fucking sick of it.

          And that’s how they win, it’s what they count on. It’s a death by a thousand cuts for us and more profits for them.

          Don’t give up now, you won’t just fail yourself, you’ll fail everyone, if you do.

      • PoliticalAgitator@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Partly, this is because “the free market will solve it” is just a neoliberal lie. Sometimes, there’s simply no other choice as corporations race each other to the bottom.

        So this streaming service might have gotten shitty, espensive or unethical, but you can move to another right? Oh no, looks like they’re shitty and unethical too, just slightly differently.

        Then in six months time, they’ve each absorbed one another’s shitty, greedy practises anyway, ensuring consumers are fully exploited with nowhere else to go.

        But the true power of neoliberalism lies in its giant book of premade excuses, so neoliberals (or neoliberals in disguise) will of course read from the next page:

        “Oh that’s just because there isn’t enough competition. We just need to deregulate heavily and allow companies to do whatever the streaming equivalent of dumping toxic by-products in the river is!”

        But of course, that won’t ever come true either. The companies that already exist will grow more profitable polluting the river and new entries into the market will be either stamped out, bought and stripped for parts or enshittified by the same greed over time.

        Following the flowchart taught at exclusive, expensive schools the world over, the next excuse is to blame the consumers.

        “Oh if people really cared, they’d simply stop buying things entirely. But they don’t, because these companies continue to bring in record profits. So secretly, consumers actually love their chocolate being picked by child slaves”.

        While they do fight back with boycotts, public outcry and (in this case) things like password sharing and piracy, it’s nothing companies can’t crush if it looks like it might actually dent their profits.

        At some point, consumers need to pick their misery and the choices are bleak but obvious.

        They can accept the minor misery of advertising, even as they pay a subscription, just like the corporation knew they would.

        They can escalate their own misery further by boycotting the entire platform or industry.

        But the moral high ground doesn’t make spending your few hours of personal time each day staring at the wall suddenly as entertaining as whatever content you’re no longer watching.

        Also, the company doesn’t care. That was part of their calculations and they’re still making even more money.

        Or finally, they could maximise their misery and actually do something, like busting out the guillotines or becoming a politician that opposes neoliberalism yet is somehow allowed power.

        So anyway, people are tired. The fight never ends and some people have fought it for 50 years already. Encourage them to take the third option by all means, but don’t shame them for taking the first option.

        They might already be miserable enough.

        • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          [very verbose initial response]

          Honestly don’t mean this as an insult, but you might want to consider being more concise, so that your point comes across better.

          So anyway, people are tired. The fight never ends and some people have fought it for 50 years already. Encourage them to take the third option by all means, but don’t shame them for taking the first option.

          I’m not purposely trying to shame people, but I’ll definitely get on their cases if they don’t push back and let this crap continue.

          It’s called consumer advocacy, and it shouldn’t be shamed away and not done. Those who are causing the problems in society would benefit the most if this happened.

          If we all work together, it’s been proven that it does turn things around.

          They might already be miserable enough.

          It’s not my fault they’re that way, it’s the fault of the people making society horrible so they can selfishly make more money for themselves, which must be fought against.

          The ones making Society horrible definitely win when no one pushes back.

          • PoliticalAgitator@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Honestly don’t mean this as an insult, but you might want to consider being more concise, so that your point comes across better.

            I’m cool with ranting. I enjoy the act of writing, blogs are long dead and it’s important to articulate why so many things in the world are fucking shit.

            If we all work together, it’s been proven that it does turn things around

            When?

            The ones making Society horrible definitely win when no one pushes back.

            They also win when people do push back, because thats how the game has been rigged. The extent of the public’s power is making them win slightly less.

            The only way to stop companies doing unethical things is strict regulations, ruthlessly enforced. The only times “consumer advocacy” ever works is when the government steps in, which is why the ultra wealthy go to so much effort to ensure they never do.

            One good person in politics, with power, is worth a million people boycotting.

            • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              If we all work together, it’s been proven that it does turn things around

              When?

              Unions.

              They also win when people do push back, because thats how the game has been rigged.

              Strawman.

              The only way to stop companies doing unethical things is strict regulations, ruthlessly enforced.

              Its the most important way, but not the only way.

              One good person in politics, with power, is worth a million people boycotting.

              Definately agree with this. But its not a zero sum gain, an either/or. Both can happen, and increase the odds of success.

    • cyberpunk007@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I think most of us pay for the shipping, the video is just a bonus. That said, their exclusives aren’t that great and they just end up in medusa.

      • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I think most of us pay for the shipping, the video is just a bonus.

        You’re not wrong, but the point though is to not reward them for bad behavior.

        It’s a death by “1,000 cuts” if you do.

  • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    This is why I refused to ever buy cable: I am not going to pay for a service that forces ads on me. One or the other fuckers.