I Don't Want Another Streaming Service

Don't get me wrong, I am anxiously awaiting the total demise of cable TV.  That bill is one of the biggest sources of the sand in my gears.  I want to be a cord cutter.  But I am beginning to fear that at the end of the day I will wind up paying more for streaming than I do for cable.  The benefit of cord cutting is supposed to be a financial savings, not just a change in form factor.

I'm also a fan of streaming.  We were Netflix subscribers when it was a DVD by mail service and we were early adopters getting the streaming service on a TV using a WII.  We really make good use of Netflix.  Hours and hours of West Wing and hours and hours of DS9.  We watch a lot of Netflix original programs.  I do sometimes wonder why some things that I think should be on service aren't.  I'd love to watch the Speed Racer I watched growing up.  It's more likely they'll reboot it at this point than pick it up.

Ultraman, Space Giants, Superfriends, Doctor Who, Dave Allen...  Lots of titles that could be on Netflix that aren't.

But Netflix isn't the only game in town, and not the only stream currently in our lives.  We were also early Prime adopters.  And the more expensive Prime becomes the more I really want to love their video streaming service.  With a couple of exceptions I really don't.  Given a choice between Netflix of Prime I will almost certainly boot up Netflix.  That is almost certainly about the interface.  The Prime interface, at least on the Roku, pales in comparison to their competition.  I guess maybe it makes them feel like there are more titles, but the decision to list shows separately by season is really confusing.  Mixing Prime streams I've already paid for with titles they have but I will have to buy in confusing.  I am 99% certain I'm not going to see a title I need to pay for and then decide to buy it rather than watch something I have already paid for.  Mixing both of those with premium streams for HBO and Showtime is even more confusing.  One of the things that bugs me about cable is that it shows you channels you don't have in exactly the same way as things you do have.  Prime has emulated that same annoying practice.  If they cleaned up their interface they might get me to drop Netflix.

We've got streams for all the cable channels.  HBO, PBS, MSNBC, FX, TNT, TBS - all the networks, they all have Roku apps with streaming.  They vary in their utility but have one thing in common: they all make you authenticate with an existing cable subscription.  You can't cord cut, you have to have cable to stream.  Why does it seem so likely that will be the endgame?  Pay for it even if you don't really use it, it will just flip from being cable with supplemental streaming to streaming with supplemental cable, with the cost actually going up.  It'll be just like the landline I have to pay for even though I don't want it because somehow my price goes up if I drop the service.

Have you priced naked internet?  The biggest single requirement for true cord cutting?  When cable companies are the internet providers that isn't going to be a bargain.

We've already looked off Hulu - no Handmaid's Tale for us.  We also haven't existed in an iTunes video ecosystem.  That's probably about being a Roku home rather than an Apple TV home.  I haven't looked too hard at YouTube TV or Sling - and I've been a Sling hardware customer for years.

FWIW I also have, you know, antennas on a couple of our sets.  There are a dozen watchable channels there as long as you don't mind losing the DVR and guide functionality.

This week I saw two announcements that had me perk up only to wind up seeing dollar signs.  First was that DC was going to start up their Young Justice cartoon they abandoned three years ago.  This was a regular watch for me and seeing it was coming back was exciting.  Seeing it is coming back exclusively on the DC streaming service, a service that will be $7.99/month was less exciting.  There was also an announcement that there is going to be another season of Clone Wars.  That was another cartoon I used to watch pretty faithfully.  I would love to get another season.  But that show will air exclusively on the yet to be solidified Disney streaming service - no price yet, but any reason to think it won't be another $7.99/month?

I already made the decision to forgo the new Start Trek series exclusively available exclusively on the CBS streaming platform.

The writing is on the wall isn't it?  So you drop cable but keep internet - and they will need to provide more speed and bandwidth because you'll need multiple concurrent streams.  Which will mean that price will inevitably go up.  Then you'll need something from the YouTube or Sling world to pick up a bunch of channels and then Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Disney, DC, CBS, HBO...  I mean you don't need everything, but I have to believe in the end it will be more money.

Hey Amazon, want to disrupt cable bigtime?  Let me authenticate channel apps through Prime.  And clean up your interface.