Streaming Jumped the Shark

Disney+, HBO MAX, AppleTV+, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, CBS All Access, Peacock… Will it ever end?

Photo by Ann Kathrin Bopp on Unsplash

When I cut the cable some years ago I was promised a golden age of entertainment. Instead of paying for hundreds of channels I’d never watch, I could pay for content I cared about. At least, that was the thought.

In reality streaming became the new cable and it’s gone off the rails.

Scott Budman, tech reporter for NBC, tweeted a comparison of current and announced streaming services, sorted by price:¹

• HBO NOW / MAX: $14.99²
• Netflix: $12.99 (most popular plan)
• Hulu: $11.99 (no commercials)
• Showtime: $10.99
• CBS All Access: $9.99 (no commercials)
• Amazon Prime Video: $8.99
• Starz: $8.99
• Disney+: $6.99
• AppleTV+: $4.99
• Peacock: TBD

If you subscribed to all these services, you’d pay $90.97 a month. Ouch. But this isn’t the full list. Do you like sports?

• NBA.tv: $28.99 (all teams pass)
• MLB.tv: $12.49
• NHL.tv: $12.08 (all access pass)