To Subscribe Or Not To Subscribe, That Is The Question: Paid Streaming Services

[shapeshifter]

9 hours ago, buttersister said:

Thanks for the Peacock reminder! I needed to cancel by 2/24 when my 99 cents trial expires. Hadn’t watched in months! Ha, now I see I have til then to watch Oppenheimer for free. Or 99 cents.

I just got Oppenheimer cued up on Peacock. 
3 hours seems so daunting. 

 

58 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Paramount+ & Peacock Are Reportedly in Talks to Merge Into a Single Streaming Service

Yoiks! That must've been my son-in-law's motivation to hook up the antenna yesterday that he found in their house's attic from before they bought it 3+ years ago.

With Oppenheimer in Peacock's pocket (under Pecock's wing?) this was probably seen as the moment for merger talks. 
I wonder if the merger momentum will steam roll over any questions about the real benefits of such.

Edited February 17 by shapeshifter

[meowmommy]

37 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I wonder if the merger momentum will steam roll over any questions about the real benefits of such.

I wonder what it will do to the price.  Have to think it can't go anywhere but up.  Mergers are for their benefit, not ours.

Just like the article the other day where Kroger insists that merging with Albertson's will lower consumer prices, even though in my town it will eradicate any competition.  Cue my skepticism.

[Soapy Goddess]

15 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

3 hours seems so daunting. 

If you made through the Godfather, you'll be fine 🙃

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

If you made through the Godfather, you'll be fine 🙃

Actually, I only ever read The Godfather novel.

But I realized I've spent more than 3 hours binge watching, and with streaming alone, I could take long breaks at my own whim.

3 hours made the character development more natural and, whether or not on purpose: made the lengthy time periods more realistic.😉🕐🕑🕒🙃

[Raja]

21 hours ago, meowmommy said:

I wonder what it will do to the price.  Have to think it can't go anywhere but up.  Mergers are for their benefit, not ours.

Just like the article the other day where Kroger insists that merging with Albertson's will lower consumer prices, even though in my town it will eradicate any competition.  Cue my skepticism.

There is the difference since Krogers and Albertsons share the same content except the labels on the house brand. In this case Americans get CBS and NBC to go against the ABC and FOX on Disney +Hulu.

[shapeshifter]

9 minutes ago, Raja said:

There is the difference since Krogers and Albertsons share the same content except the labels on the house brand. In this case Americans get CBS and NBC to go against the ABC and FOX on Disney +Hulu.

Right.
But isn't some corporate consultant going to tell the higher-ups what they want to hear?
That is: The subscribers will pay the amounts they've been paying to both Paramount+ and Peacock combined —
— not considering that most don't.

[Raja]

10 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Right.
But isn't some corporate consultant going to tell the higher-ups what they want to hear?
That is: The subscribers will pay the amounts they've been paying to both Paramount+ and Peacock combined —
— not considering that most don't.

I remember a character on something cutting off a business school instructor setting up some wild hypothetical situation for the class when the protagonist came up with the answer immediately. The price we charge is the price everyone else charges because you lose if you charge less and don't get any money if you charge more.  In my case it would be if modern Star Trek was a thing I would have to buy Paramount along with Peacock for my mom's surviving soap opera. But nuTrek is not so I might be putting out more money as a present to mom to keep her soap. So how many like me are out there?

[Miss Anne Thrope]

Xfinity, my internet (only) provider, threw in Peacock at no charge for 2 years expiring sometime in 2025.  I'm sure that perk will be dropped if/when this merger goes through.  But much as I love my guilty Peacock pleasures, I don't see myself paying for them. If this merger goes through, my evil half kind of hopes the resulting service falls flat on its face. 

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Miss Anne Thrope said:

If this merger goes through, my evil half kind of hopes the resulting service falls flat on its face. 

TPTB behind the merger should not underestimate the number of viewers who believe they spend too much time watching. 

[meowmommy]

9 hours ago, Raja said:

There is the difference since Krogers and Albertsons share the same content except the labels on the house brand. In this case Americans get CBS and NBC to go against the ABC and FOX on Disney +Hulu.

But Peacock/NBC has nothing I want.*  I had free Peacock for a while until Cox took it away, but I had basically never watched it.  I don’t want to be forced to pay for their programming because I have Paramount+.

* - Might get Peacock long enough to watch the Winter Olympics, maybe.  

My point about the grocery merger is that they’re falling all over themselves to claim the merger will result in lower prices for consumers.  I struggle to think of any time that’s ever happened. 

Have a question.  I signed up for Sling Blue (and have already cancelled), and within a day or two of setting it up, their channel guide included the Showtime I get through Paramount.  How does Sling know I subscribe to Paramount/Showtime?

[Soapy Goddess]

7 hours ago, meowmommy said:

How does Sling know I subscribe to Paramount/Showtime?

I have Paramount+Showtime. When you sign in to P+, on the home page, at the bottom of the left hand column (where your List and other selections are), there's a selection for Showtime. At least that's the way it appears on my Roku.

Edited February 19 by Soapy Goddess

[paulvdb]

Not surprising that they'd merge. In Europe we already have the streaming service SkyShowtime that has content from both Peacock and Paramount. So I guess it makes sense that they'd do the same thing in America.

[Raja]

14 hours ago, meowmommy said:

But Peacock/NBC has nothing I want.*  I had free Peacock for a while until Cox took it away, but I had basically never watched it.  I don’t want to be forced to pay for their programming because I have Paramount+.

* - Might get Peacock long enough to watch the Winter Olympics, maybe.  

My point about the grocery merger is that they’re falling all over themselves to claim the merger will result in lower prices for consumers.  I struggle to think of any time that’s ever happened. 

Have a question.  I signed up for Sling Blue (and have already cancelled), and within a day or two of setting it up, their channel guide included the Showtime I get through Paramount.  How does Sling know I subscribe to Paramount/Showtime?

The lower grocery prices are hidden under general inflation. The claim is that it would have cost even more if they were trying to staff another store with the exact same products a few blocks away.  Beyond cost the bigger social disruption would be those who had to travel a bit further if their local outlet was the building that the merged corporation  closed.

TV wise we have gone from the large service that had access to almost everything to a large selection of companies that only had their one thing. Those producers who tried to hold exclusives are now finding that they don't have a big enough base of products to keep folks on their service. And the only way to build their base is to get closer to the model where you had the dreaded bundle and a bit of everything. With a few trying to offer a la carte prices for specific programming and episodes to supplement their limited subscription offerings. The problem there being the a la carte prices and/or the time cost of selling your eyes to the advertisers is proving too high.

Edited February 19 by Raja

[CrazyInAlabama]

So several joined to make Max, now Paramount + and Peacock merge.    How many more streaming services will join together?   With all of the package deals, and mergers, they are going to end up just another cable company, but you still have to buy internet from someone else. 

[Jaded]

There are rumors floating around saying Amazon may want to shut down FreeVee. They are denying it's true for now.  I'm wondering if Amazon may have put said rumors out there to see how much attention speculation of shuttering would garner and to get people talking about FreeVee again.

[Raja]

Did anyone talk about Freevee at any time? I just went to Amazon only for my show to have ads and be under that banner and now the Prime stuff has ads too.

[DearEvette]

54 minutes ago, Raja said:

Did anyone talk about Freevee at any time?

LOL.  That was my reaction.  I mainly just get it mixed up with FreeForm.

I actually was watching Leverage Redemption again (Don't Judge me!) and almost every single ad that came on was about.... Amazon Prime. 

[ABay]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

I actually was watching Leverage Redemption again (Don't Judge me!)

I do judge you--you are obviously a person with great taste.

[peachmangosteen]

I'm still holding onto hope they're gonna renew Primo but this news is making that a little hard lol.

[shapeshifter]

On 2/22/2024 at 5:13 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

now Paramount + and Peacock merge.    How many more streaming services will join together? 

Well, Hulu is the ABC streamer, so if Paramount+ and Peacock merge and then add Hulu, it would be like the old days of CBS, NBC, and ABC with rabbit ears 📺, only HI-Def and high cost💸

[CrazyInAlabama]

I currently have internet and streaming on Spectrum TV.   I think if I added up the other streaming services, i wouldn't really save much.   If you figure in my time paying for the various services I would need to duplicate the channels I have now, it would be a bigger pain too. 

For my local channels and the ones I really want would have to get Hulu + for locals, Philo + the extra package for Reelz, and You Tube TV.   I don't think I would save anything by switching.    

Edited February 28 by CrazyInAlabama

[Popples]

On 2/22/2024 at 5:13 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

So several joined to make Max, now Paramount + and Peacock merge.    How many more streaming services will join together?   With all of the package deals, and mergers, they are going to end up just another cable company, but you still have to buy internet from someone else. 

I can't find it, but last week someone tweeted that all the streaming services will eventually merge into one and be called "Cable+".

[EtheltoTillie]

7 hours ago, DearEvette said:

LOL.  That was my reaction.  I mainly just get it mixed up with FreeForm.

I actually was watching Leverage Redemption again (Don't Judge me!) and almost every single ad that came on was about.... Amazon Prime. 

Thanks for reminding me. I have wanted to watch this. 

[meowmommy]

8 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I actually was watching Leverage Redemption again (Don't Judge me!) and almost every single ad that came on was about.... Amazon Prime. 

I've had AP for a number of years and have actually watched very little on their video side.  Their interface has always been clunky and their search function is about as bad as it is on the product side.  Since they added ads, I have watched none of it.

My current pet named Peeve is my so-called ad-free Paramount+ that forces me to watch an annoying long ad for some Paramount show or movie at the start of a show or movie.  I can't FF out of it.  And that I have to go on the browser -- and Paramount doesn't work on either Firefox or Brave on my computer so I have to open Safari -- to delete something from Keep Watching.

[Eri]

1 hour ago, meowmommy said:

Their interface has always been clunky and their search function is about as bad as it is on the product side. 

I felt that way about Peacock last year.  I subscribed in order to gain access to the 2023 Women's World Cup last summer and the navigability was not user friendly imo. Load times lagged, sometimes rewinding was problematic, and scrolling through the home screen was a pain since it never remembered the last programs I watched. Sometimes I had exit out the app altogether and reload just to fix some of the lags. 

The day after the tournament ended, they had already charged me for another month so I had it for a few extra weeks. I unsubscribed anyway (but not before they tried to bribe me into staying with a 50% discount 🙄). The user interface alone was a major turn-off. 

[peachmangosteen]

I find there are glaring issues with all the services. You can't remove things from 'continue watching' unless your on the website for Hulu or Paramount+. Hell, you can't remove them at all on Peacock! The rewind and fast forward on several are horrible. You never know whether what you watched will or won't be on your watching section on Peacock or Hulu. GAH!

[AstridM]

On 2/14/2024 at 1:25 PM, stewedsquash said:

It should be yet this wasn’t. Prime automatically did a 7 day trial. It did not show up in my subscriptions. I then had to go through a lot of fine print to find the opt out link on the email. The link was not highlighted as a link. Then I was taken to three options which were accept trial,  accept trial/sub/autorenew, accept trial/sub. When you accepted trial you then had to put your email into a tiny, tiny box that did not show the whole email. Then you had to start the process of cancelling the subscription and auto renewal. 
 

It was very tedious and deceiving.

This has happened to me as well. It’s not always easy easy!

[possibilities]

This is a not safe for work comment on the possible merger of Paramount+ and Peacock. I think I managed to embed it without exposing it (fingers crossed this worked):

https://twitter.com/ZackBornstein/status/1758579271084265506

Edited February 25 by possibilities

[Unclejosh]

Do people actually use Freevee? I have never used any of those "Free" streaming services. They have ads don't they? Defeats the whole purpose of streaming. Might as well just have cable which I haven't had since 2016.

[SoMuchTV]

2 hours ago, Unclejosh said:

Do people actually use Freevee? I have never used any of those "Free" streaming services. They have ads don't they? Defeats the whole purpose of streaming. Might as well just have cable which I haven't had since 2016.

I've watched a few things on Freevee that I couldn't get elsewhere.  The revival of Leverage.  Jury Duty.  Primo.  Mad Men, several years ago (I think before they rebranded it from IMDBTV).  I prefer watching it through the Prime app rather than standalone - easier to keep track of things.  There were ads but nothing I couldn't live with.  Basically, if it has something I'm interested in that I don't have other access to, it's fine.

[Broderbits]

3 hours ago, Unclejosh said:

Do people actually use Freevee? I have never used any of those "Free" streaming services.

I've watched a couple of shows on Freevee that I would've had to pay for elsewhere. Also I watch stuff on Pluto via Roku, like Perry Mason and Frasier.

[Irlandesa]

38 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

Leverage.  Jury Duty.  Primo.  Mad Men

And Sprung which is an underrated comedy.  Bosch also moved over to Freevee.

Many of those free versions offer old shows that you can't find elsewhere so I do watch those free services from time to time.

[peachmangosteen]

17 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

And Sprung which is an underrated comedy. 

Thanks for the reminder. I've had that on my list since it first aired but haven't got around to it yet. I better do that soon in case they remove all the Freevee stuff at some point lol.

Jury Duty and Primo were easily 2 of the top comedies of last year so Freevee was kinda killing it.

Edited February 26 by peachmangosteen

[SoMuchTV]

29 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

And Sprung which is an underrated comedy.  Bosch also moved over to Freevee.

How could I forget!  One of my favorites!  Shares a lot of DNA with Raising Hope and My Name is Earl, if anyone was a fan of those. 

[possibilities]

I also have found stuff on Freevee that wasn't available elsewhere, and which I really liked. 

 

[Bastet]

5 hours ago, Unclejosh said:

Do people actually use Freevee?

Not for any original programming, but sometimes when I'm looking for an older or even semi-recent movie, that's the only place it comes up (through Prime; it will say something like "available free with ads on FreeVee").

5 hours ago, Unclejosh said:

I have never used any of those "Free" streaming services. They have ads don't they?

Yes (so do half the streaming services I have access to at this point), so it's like watching TV, which I still do (I have Dish). 

Sometimes I get the urge to watch a few episodes of Cold Case, which is available on the Roku channel, and I've watched a few random other things there over the years.  Tubi has several '80s and '90s movies that never air on TV I wanted to see/re-watch, so I've used it but not in some time.  Pluto had an America's Test Kitchen spin-off during the pandemic (Julia cooking at home), but I haven't watched much else on that one, either.  I now have access to a friend's paid Peacock account, but prior to that I had the free version (no longer open to new subscribers); it doesn't have everything the paid versions of Peacock do, but has a nice selection of cheesy horror movies for when I'm in that mood, plus some decent documentaries.

The only free streamer I've tried and almost immediately rejected was FilmRise (IIRC) -- way too many ad breaks, and in ridiculous places, so I didn't even make it through the first half hour of whatever movie I was trying to watch.

[Soapy Goddess]

13 hours ago, Unclejosh said:

Do people actually use Freevee?

I watch Jeff Lewis' show on Freevee.

I think Judge Judy's new show is also there or on another free streamer.

[Mabinogia]

On 2/26/2024 at 7:02 PM, Bastet said:

Not for any original programming, but sometimes when I'm looking for an older or even semi-recent movie, that's the only place it comes up (through Prime; it will say something like "available free with ads on FreeVee").

Yeah, I rarely go directly to Freevee to watch anything but will often watch Freevee shows when I'm looking for something to watch on Prime and it shows up so I don't technically know what I watch on Freevee vs Prime other than Leverage and I think Murder She Wrote is Freevee not Prime but I could be wrong. 

[shapeshifter]

On 2/26/2024 at 1:33 PM, Unclejosh said:

Do people actually use Freevee?

I’ve watched episodes of the original Perry Mason on FreeVee.

 

My son-in-law is canceling their ridiculously expensive Spectrum internet +TV package.

• They pay over $120/month! 
  I got a deal 2 years ago for just Spectrum internet at $5/mo. that might go up to $40.

So, my antenna reception is hit-and-miss, but I am able to login to the ABC app on my Roku TV using my son-in-law’s Spectrum credentials. (NBC blocks that.)
So I guess that will no longer be an option. But I can get ABC next day on Hulu (and, for now, NBC on Peacock).

[Anela]

We had Spectrum, until October 2020. Dad was paying at least $120, and he would get the price down a bit, only for them to increase it even more. We had no premium channels, and it was still way too much.

I keep forgetting to cancel a few streaming services. Dad has been checking them out more (Paramount and Peacock), but I want to watch a few things, and then cancel them for a while. 

I've watched Freevee, but only a little bit of the Bosch spin-off, and a bit of "Reba" last Summer, after someone mentioned it in a reddit thread about comfort shows. that's one I want to get back to. Judging Amy, was on youtube, too. 

[Bastet]

17 hours ago, Anela said:

and a bit of "Reba" last Summer, after someone mentioned it in a reddit thread about comfort shows. that's one I want to get back to.

The first and last seasons aren't great, but two through four are surprisingly enjoyable (I say surprisingly given what sounds on paper like a really tacky premise and that McEntire very much does not act as well as she sings).  I haven't watched it in quite some time, but have the DVDs; you may have inspired a re-watch.

[AheadofStraight]

My Black Friday deal for Paramount+ has ended. I cancelled and was surprised to see that they did not offer any deals upon canceling as I've seen mentioned here in the past. We aren't able to get over-the-air CBS so I've been using it for shows like Ghosts, Amazing Race, etc. I'll have to keep an eye out for new deals.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, AheadofStraight said:

My Black Friday deal for Paramount+ has ended. I cancelled and was surprised to see that they did not offer any deals upon canceling as I've seen mentioned here in the past. We aren't able to get over-the-air CBS so I've been using it for shows like Ghosts, Amazing Race, etc. I'll have to keep an eye out for new deals.

Do you have an antenna?

If not:

• How far are you from the local broadcast station? 
• Are there brick buildings between you and the direction of the broadcast? 
• Is putting an antenna on the roof an option?

[possibilities]

CBS.com often has their broadcast shows available to stream the next day. They only keep a few episodes available at a time, so you can't binge. But I've used that at times, to watch a show I missed due to weather causing my DirecTV service to fail.

[AheadofStraight]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Do you have an antenna?

If not:

• How far are you from the local broadcast station? 
• Are there brick buildings between you and the direction of the broadcast? 
• Is putting an antenna on the roof an option?

We are about 15 miles. We actually have an antenna in the attic but it stopped working. It's matter of getting dh up in the attic to check out what happened.  We've kinda of forgotten about it with having the streaming options (oops). Putting a reminder in the calendar!

51 minutes ago, possibilities said:

CBS.com often has their broadcast shows available to stream the next day. They only keep a few episodes available at a time, so you can't binge. But I've used that at times, to watch a show I missed due to weather causing my DirecTV service to fail.

Good tip - thanks!

[Yogisbooboo64]

Couple of questions from a woman finally done with box televisions and has decided to stream....

I have a T-Mobile 5G Hot Spot, could I also use a firestick to get other channels?

I have Hulu, but not the Live TV part ($89.99?  I don’t think so!)….that said, will I be able to watch this year’s Oscars on regular Hulu?

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

CBS.com often has their broadcast shows available to stream the next day. They only keep a few episodes available at a time, so you can't binge. But I've used that at times, to watch a show I missed due to weather causing my DirecTV service to fail.

Right! I forgot about that because I use my son-in-law & daughter's Paramount account — which they might be canceling soon, so thanks for the reminder!
My antenna doesn't always work (weather) but I can use the CBS app on my Roku TV. 

 

1 hour ago, AheadofStraight said:

We are about 15 miles. We actually have an antenna in the attic but it stopped working. It's matter of getting dh up in the attic to check out what happened.  We've kinda of forgotten about it with having the streaming options (oops). Putting a reminder in the calendar!

My son-in-law just got the antenna in their attic working because they're canceling Spectrum. He got a device that will let them get high speed internet through their cell provider (T-Mobile?).
My daughter was not involved with that decision (she doesn't watch much TV; just needs internet for Work From Home), which means no nagging was involved.😉
But the 2 little guys need their Sesame Street and Bluey.💙
 

[meowmommy]

On 3/4/2024 at 12:23 PM, shapeshifter said:

He got a device that will let them get high speed internet through their cell provider (T-Mobile?).

I think I read somewhere that if you have Hulu, it will not work with T-mobile internet, so I stayed with Cox for my internet.  Hulu may not matter to you.

But for a fraction of the $170 that was just the TV part of my massive cable bill, I have ad-free HBO Max, ad-free Hulu/Disney, and ad-free Paramount+/Showtime.  Those three combined work out to less than $50/month.  I really didn't think I'd find much on Paramount and as I dig through their listings, I'm finding more stuff to watch every day.  Now I'm contemplating getting ad-free Peacock, if I can find enough content to justify the expense.

Plus Tubi and Kanopy and Hoopla and Pluto for free, and all the local channels using Tablo.

I wish Congress would decide to extend the Affordable Connectivity Plan.  $30 a month helps.

On 3/4/2024 at 10:54 AM, Yogisbooboo64 said:

I have Hulu, but not the Live TV part ($89.99?  I don’t think so!)….that said, will I be able to watch this year’s Oscars on regular Hulu?

According to the Hulu app, you have to have their live TV plan to get the Oscars.  But you should be able to watch via antenna, or on the ABC app, or on abc.com.

[shapeshifter]

7 minutes ago, meowmommy said:

think I read somewhere that if you have Hulu, it will not work with T-mobile internet

A quick google search shows both that T-Mobile does and does not work with Hulu, but since I'm the one who currently pays for Hulu (with the one-year cheapo deal with commercials and a "different" email) I'm not sure it matters to my daughter and son-in-law. 
I'll look into it more later.
Thanks for the heads up.

[Bastet]

16 hours ago, meowmommy said:

But you should be able to watch via antenna, or on the ABC app, or on abc.com.

Only antenna out of those, I think -- when I watch something live or less than a week after the fact on a network app or website, I have to log into my Dish account to do so; even though they're OTA stations, I have to show I have access to them via cable/satellite in order to watch via app/site.  Shows become available - but only stay up for a limited time - without a log-in a week after they air.

I just found a page on the ABC site about how to watch the Oscars live, and the footnote about watching on the app or website says:

Quote

Live stream on abc.com and the ABC app is available with a participating TV provider account in select markets only. Visit ABC.com/faq for details.