exactly. that is why i went to bootleg TV. i stream with adevice. but it is challenging. everytime i leave, i have to reboot the bootleg system. it is annoying but i was paying a LOT with all the streaming channels and trying to remember which show was on which was frustrating

You’re not wrong, between all mine I pay $132/month.

Welcome to capitalism. (Very few movies are worth watching.)

Profiteering is the cause of inflation. Capitalism must be overthrown

And this is why i cut the cord i use sideloaded apps through firestick i have every subscription for free i have Netflix Peacock Apple Tv Hulu HBO and several others for the last 2 years and i havent paid a dime

I watch Tubi, some YouTube content, and a couple of other free services.
No, I don't get acess to everything, but I won't pay to watch ads.
Yes, these services have ads, but I am not paying for them.
YouTube often makes me angriest; the ads are peppered so much throughout the content that I just give up on watching it.

We are dumping Several!!

It's bound to get even more expensive with the recent acquisitions, like Paramount of Warner Brothers. They are building monopolies in the US.

I don’t watch much, but I only use prime video, which is on a per-movie, per-episode basis rather than subscription model.
If I watched a ton it probably wouldn’t be worth it, but I probably pay less this way than I would for Netflix.

I used to pay $200 plus a month for directv until I got streaming services from them now I pay less than half that, same amount of tvs and same channels and same service if not better, now my tv doesn’t go out in storms or heavy cloud cover

The solution, turn the TV off.

I've never given a single cent to a streaming service and I never will.

You are absolutely correct.

No, we're not haha.

It's a choice. If you don't like the choice you're making, change it.

And that's why I don't pay for any streaming services. I used to have Netflix, but once they lied and said you can't share a screen with anyone not in the same house structure you reside in, even though you pay for an extra screen, is when I left them. So I watch YouTube free with an ad blocker on PC and Pluto TV here and there.

It's all about one thing: advertising. Look at TV in the 1950s. They would advertise products in the middle of the show, because having the show go to a commercial break wasn't a thing yet.

i only watch what i find at local library and use their internet free

Which is why I have given up on all of them. I rent what I want occasionally and buy a BluRay if it's something special.

capitalism is always going to do capitalism

and capitalism is always going to value entertainment / compensate entertainers more highly than things / providers that actually matter / are essential (nurses, teachers, scientists, etc.)

if an actor / athlete / musician is a millionaire, but nurses have to quit their jobs to do OnlyFans to make ends meet, your society is doing it wrong

at most there only needs to be one centralized non-profit streaming provider to host content from content owners who don't have any other choice to negotiate with other streamers or develop their own streaming platforms, and who get to spend tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to just produce 90 minutes of entertainment (especially now with energy / water draining AI added to the mix), that is peak idiocracy

2012 was 14 years ago. Prices for everything rise over that many years.

But keep complaining if you think it will change anything. 🤷‍♂

Now you pay for everything.
As well as having your eyeballs pumped with advertising..

We were the customer. Now we pay for the privilege…

The Internet is nothing but some 'puter nerds greedscheme. Like TV, it is a vast wasteland and a waste of time.