Hulu price increases TWICE this year!

I carry a TV which I connect to phone/laptop/tablet which have a library of videos which I can watch. Cost almost zip. May not work for you but it's an alternative.

Lwiddis wrote:
Hulu is in trouble IMO

Not really. Disney controls them as of May 2019, and will own them outright by 2024.

The biggest cost for TV providers is content. This is catching up with the streaming services. They are all currently operating at a loss to gain subscribers. Once they start trying to make a profit you will see their prices come in line with cable and satellite services.

I work in the cable industry, and see the prices charged by the different channels. The margins are very small.

The streamers can be a little cheaper since they don't actually get the service to your house, they rely on your internet provider to do that. Probably 80-90% of your internet traffic is streaming video. So add $30-40 of Internet cost to that $61 for Hulu, and it gets you close the the price of cable/satellite.

So when you streamers/cable/sat prices go up, it's not just because they want more money, it's because Discovery/ABC/ESPN/HGTV etc want more money. They want more money because NFL, actors, producers, etc want more money.

I subscribe to none of it. Very little to watch anyway.
DW seems to switch providers every three months and makes a sport about getting the best deal.

wowens79 wrote:
The biggest cost for TV providers is content. This is catching up with the streaming services. They are all currently operating at a loss to gain subscribers. Once they start trying to make a profit you will see their prices come in line with cable and satellite services.

I work in the cable industry, and see the prices charged by the different channels. The margins are very small.

The streamers can be a little cheaper since they don't actually get the service to your house, they rely on your internet provider to do that. Probably 80-90% of your internet traffic is streaming video. So add $30-40 of Internet cost to that $61 for Hulu, and it gets you close the the price of cable/satellite.

So when you streamers/cable/sat prices go up, it's not just because they want more money, it's because Discovery/ABC/ESPN/HGTV etc want more money. They want more money because NFL, actors, producers, etc want more money.

Cord cutter and Internet streaming folks NEED to reread and listen to wowens79 posted..

From what I can tell, most "cord cutters" seem to totally ignore the mere fact of the cost of the Internet service that YOU directly pay for when adding up their savings.

You NEED to add that cost in to make a good comparison of services and IF you will really see any savings.. Something else to consider, Internet providers will also increase rates to cover new faster technology so don't expect your Internet cost to stay low as streaming traffic causes more congestion..

Additionally, while you MIGHT save a little right now by subscribing to ONE streaming service, what happens down the road when some of the programing you want is on a DIFFERENT streaming service??

Not all programing on Sat service is available on ALL/every streaming service so the end result is you WILL end up paying for more than one streaming service IF you want to get all of what the Sat service offers. That can get extremely expensive in a hurry if you subscribe to more than ONE streaming service.

Additionally traditionally when a "service" goes away, ALL of the remaining services automatically increase their pricing.. Competition results in lowered pricing, less competition and the result is increased pricing..

From what I can tell, most "cord cutters" seem to totally ignore the mere fact of the cost of the Internet service that YOU directly pay for when adding up their savings.

You NEED to add that cost in to make a good comparison of services and IF you will really see any savings.. Something else to consider, Internet providers will also increase rates to cover new faster technology so don't expect your Internet cost to stay low as streaming traffic causes more congestion

I would guess that most folks are like me and have had internet a long time before going to streaming. Even with DTV I had internet so no I don't pay that internet cost for streaming.

I have OTA with Roku streaming Sling, Netflix, Amazon prime. Sure, the cost may be approaching cable, but at least I'm paying for what I want to see instead of silly cable bundles with home shopping, food channel etc. I'm a news addict, so I need that on demand and am willing to pay for it.

Yep. Unbundling hasn't been successful with satellite due to the (no pun intended) overhead costs, but for streaming services it's a lot more practical. My guess is that I'll be able to eventually have a way to pick out only the 10 or so channels we watch and dispense with the rest...

T18skyguy wrote:
I have OTA with Roku streaming Sling, Netflix, Amazon prime. Sure, the cost may be approaching cable, but at least I'm paying for what I want to see instead of silly cable bundles with home shopping, food channel etc. I'm a news addict, so I need that on demand and am willing to pay for it.

You mean that everything on those channels/boxes you mentioned is worth watching? I really find that kind of hard to believe. So you're still paying for content you don't want/watch.

The thing that really irritates me about cable is that I have to pay a surcharge for sports' channels. I HATE professional sports/advertising, but I cannot opt out of that surcharge. Stupid.

I would guess that most folks are like me and have had internet a long time before going to streaming. Even with DTV I had internet so no I don't pay that internet cost for streaming.

Agreed. Most already have internet so it does not come into play.