this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
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With the simultaneous rollout of restrictions on account sharing and price increases/addition of advertising, I’m cutting back severely on streaming services.

I allowed my streaming subscriptions to grow without thinking about it. Without trying to remember the constant merging and bundling, I was subscribed to probably a dozen services at one point. They ranged from Netflix and HBO and Hulu to Shudder and Showtime. I had Paramount, Criterion, Disney, Peacock, and others. I’d do the typical thing where I’d search for a movie, find it is exclusive to a platform, and grab the free trial and forget to cancel. I excused it if I found a movie even every couple of months on it. There were still nights where it’d take an hour to find something I wanted to watch. I was probably closing in on $200/month all told, and I don’t have sports subscriptions.

I’m interested in learning what other people are doing regarding the price hikes and service compromises. Are you cancelling? Are you taking advantage of bundles with your internet services? Are you rotating on some interval? Or are you not changing at all?

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[–] Michal@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I only have 1 (youtube) but on occasion i will subscribe to a service if there's a tv show i want to watch.

Currently watching pottery throw down on channel 4 but i can't purchase a subscription without a British card, so I'm watching with ads...

[–] yoz@aussie.zone 2 points 1 year ago

Installed smarttubenext , streamio and kodi on my android TV.

Never had a streaming plan πŸ˜†

[–] krush_groove@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I get a lot of value out of Netflix, I watch tons of their shows every month.

I use Prime quite a bit also obviously for Amazon shopping and try to watch Prime Video a few times each month, and now they've expanded the music I'll try that too.

I will be canceling Disney and just pirate what I want to see, which isn't much, literally just one show.

E: I canceled Spotify ages ago and use their free version but for my favorite bands I downloaded their MP3 discographies. I buy their music on CD because it pays them better than streaming their songs thousands of times, plus I buy merch and go to the concerts so I'm OK with that.

E2: someone mentioned Patreon, I cancelled most of those as well because my gaming group broke up and all my patreons are for gaming 3D files. I have years worth of stuff to print and will never reach the end.

[–] RickRussell_CA@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

RiffTrax Friends, The Gizmoplex, and Twitch Turbo give me everything I need.

[–] sour@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

i use free streaming website

[–] Natal@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I have tidal for music and I really want to drop it since their price hike. The only thing still blocking me is that I don't have a decent way to listen to music in my car without a subscription service. It sucks.

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[–] tryptaminev@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

We cancelled Netflix recently. With the quality ever going down there was nothing new left to watch and just rewatching old series out of habit can be replaced with browsing random youtube videos or so. And those end up often having some curiosity or educational value.

[–] quams69@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Canceled everything and now I use smarttube to watch youtube on my tv, soon will pay for vpn to start torrenting again. πŸ‘

[–] morphballganon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I never use these. My wife does though, so keeping them is her call.

[–] Abracadaniel@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

Eventually Netflix will kick me off the family account but there's no way I'm paying for that garbage. I might pay for Hulu as they have a much better selection for my tastes.

[–] sygnius@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I stopped subscribing in my own country and started subbing in other countries to take advantage of regional pricing. Now for the cost of less than a month of Crunchyroll in my country, I'm getting a full year. For Netflix, what would normally cost a month in my country, I get about 3 months worth of service.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

I wish we had HBO+ or Max or whatever the fuck it is now in the UK.

The only legal way to get their stuff is via NowTV, which is fucking dreadful and think 1080p should be behind an extra paywall. Also, they carried on charging me after I cancelled, because apparently fuck me for thinking that a cancel option in an app they made would work.

[–] overkill0485@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Only service I have is prime video, but its because I order frequently from Amazon. I use YouTube primarily and only my Plex server on movie nights with family

[–] mbryson@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We'll be keeping Spotify, and Prime AFAIK hasn't announced anything crazy so that will stay as well. We'll most likely - if we get the "don't share accounts" screen - will subscribe to Disney+ as we enjoy the Star Wars content and regularly watch movies using this together (Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar are our go tos). Netflix may be on the chopping block but my wife enjoys it more than I do so we'll have to see.

We don't subscribe to anything else, partly because the content isn't appealing and partly because - as Canadians - they don't even have it up here anyway!

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[–] DeadNinja@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Europix for me above anything else. Netflix and Disney can go and self-serve their backsides...

[–] Thalion@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

I cancelled Netflix because I kept realizing I hadn't used it since the last time I had my kid. Disney is cheaper and has a huge library, and I keep Prime because I like the shipping and music perks as well.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

I'm trying to get better about canceling services we don't actively watch and only having two at a time. We already have Prime so I don't count it but we have Max and Hulu right now. We swapped Disney+ for Hulu when What We Do In The Shadows released and my wife is an Our Flag Means Death stan so we will probably permanently have Max (but the new season comes out soon anyways).

[–] EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Cancelled long ago. Now only subscriptions I still pay for are Spotify and Proton Plus. The rest I just get it from the high season.

[–] Panda@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah it's insane how expensive everything gets. I'm subscribed to a bunch of streaming services (like Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, etc) and sometimes I use them a lot but HBO, for instance, I've only used a few times and it's just sitting there on our smart TV taking up space and draining our bank account. But I got it when there was a really good deal and if I cancel and resubscribe I have to pay the full amount. Then again, I'm probably wasting more money with it now than I would've if I'd just cancelled and then resubscribed when I actually used it. Oops.

But yeah, I'm definitely not going to pay more for those services than I am now, so if the pricing gets even more ridiculous I'm out.

[–] redballooon@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm usually subscribed to at most 2 at a time. Over a year or so I cycle through 4 or 5 of them.

I will not accept ads in my paid subscriptions.

I haven't been subscribed to a streaming service for about five years. Well, sometimes I pay for a month of Hidive. I usually just buy the show/film on disc and rip it. A decent amount of the shows I want to watch are old and not even on a streaming service.

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