The Death Of Streaming Services?

Image+by+Souvik+Banerjee+from+Pixabay

Image by Souvik Banerjee from Pixabay

Jonae Spinks, Staff Writer

According to statista.com, 85% of Americans use streaming services. However, recently the attitude towards these services has changed. Users have started to voice their dissatisfaction with sites such as Netflix and Disney Plus.

In summer of 2022, Netflix announced that they will be increasing their prices. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time subscription costs have gone up. In 2020, Netflix increased all their plans except for the ‘Basic’ one by only two dollars. This time around subscription costs have been altered for every plan, the highest totaling in at $19.99 which is $4.00 more than it was  in 2019.

I’m over it at this point; it may be time to go back to cable.

Disney plus is a streaming service that offers almost every Disney show or movie you can think of. While the idea of watching any and every feel-good Disney classic for only $9.99 a month sounds amazing, users happen to have one big complaint: when a big movie (such as any Marvel film) is first released, it is not free to watch and comes with its own price outside of the existing subscription.

I asked Disney Plus’ loyal subscribers how they felt about this upsetting situation, and here are some of the responses:

“It defeats the purpose of me paying to use the service, you know?” says Hillcrest senior Amari Stokes.

Another user who wished to remain anonymous stated this: “I’m over it at this point; it may be time to go back to cable.”

The responses I received were enlightening, Hillcrest students who frequent these services responded to my question expressing how prices are getting out of control—but I wonder if any of these individuals will ever actually unsubscribe.

Streaming services were introduced as a cheaper alternative for cable TV, but now—the tables have turned. I look forward to seeing what will happen to these services within the next decade—but for now—the question remains…Are we witnessing the death of streaming services?