EntertainmentStreamingFed up with paying multiple subs to see your favourite shows? Change could be comingWe really shouldn’t need to have stacks of different apps to watch a handful of streaming showsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
EntertainmentStreamingFed up with paying multiple subs to see your favourite shows? Change could be comingWe really shouldn’t need to have stacks of different apps to watch a handful of streaming showsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
We really shouldn’t need to have stacks of different apps to watch a handful of streaming shows
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: HBO / Sky)
(Image credit: HBO / Sky)
Does this sound familiar? You’re putting your feet up after a long day and you reach for the remote. “Can you remember which one it’s on?” you ask your partner, your kids or the cat, shuffling through all the streaming apps on your smart TV. You tryAmazon Prime, andNetflix, andApple TV+, and maybe a Rakuten orSamsungTV too. Eventually you find it, on a completely different app from the one you thought it was on.
The reason for that is obvious enough. All the different streaming services' owners want to be theOne Thing To Rule Them All. But despite their best efforts, nobody seems to really be ruling over anybody else – and the result isn’t exactly consumer friendly. How many streaming subs are you paying for now? Are you getting value for money, or are you largely paying for content you’re not watching? I know for me, it feels like the latter.
But it looks like at least one media giant is starting to think differently: if you can’t beat them, sell to them instead.
Follow the money
According to financial news and analysis siteThe Motley Fool, at a recent Morgan Stanley tech and media conference Warner Bros. Discovery’s chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels put it simply: “We want to use all cash registers that are available to us to get the highest return on every dollar spent.”
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It makes clear sense for consumers too. One of the reasons the rise of Netflix was so refreshing is that in a market where TV was getting seriously expensive, here was a much simpler, cheaper, customer-friendly proposition. But the market now feels very familiar to anyone who used to bemoan the cost and complexity of cable TV bundles.
Don’t get me wrong. We’ll always have to pay more to see the big hits first, so they’ll almost always be exclusives to specific streamers for at least a short period. That’s how you make your money, and it’s why so many movies go to the rental and purchase options long before they reach streaming. But I do think Warner Bros. Discovery has the right idea here. You don’t need to keep all your content locked away from everyone else forever.
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