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  • Streaming services will soon cost you more than cable TV.

  • Well, maybe not more, but those $10 to $15 monthly subscriptions are definitely gonna start adding up because you want access to all this exclusive content on specific platforms.

  • Just look at all these popular shows.

  • "Stranger Things"? Netflix exclusive.

  • "Handmaid's Tale?" Hulu exclusive.

  • "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel?" Amazon exclusive.

  • That's already three different services for a total of about $30 a month.

  • Think about how you get your content, your movies, and your shows.

  • Is it from cable or is it from a streaming service?

  • Or multiple streaming services?

  • I have Netflix.

  • Netflix.

  • Netflix, Hulu.

  • Amazon Prime.

  • Xfinity Stream.

  • A little bit of Showtime.

  • Now I have Starz, and I pay for HBO when "Game of Thrones" is on.

  • Streaming media is where the viewers are.

  • Cable TV lost almost 4 million subscribers over the past six years, while streaming services like Netflix gained over 27 million subscribers.

  • Like, I didn't watch a lot of TV growing up, just because I didn't want to sit through the commercials.

  • But now I watch a ridiculous amount of TV because I can go straight to the content.

  • There are Netflix originals like "Queer Eye," and "Nailed It," and "Stranger Things," and "Big Mouth."

  • I like the ability to binge watch TV.

  • There's a huge backlog of things like "The Office," and "Parks and Rec."

  • I don't have to wait until next week to see the next episode.

  • And then there's all these comedy specials that I love to watch like John Mulaney and Trevor Noah.

  • And it's just the best.

  • It makes sense for streaming services to gravitate towards more exclusive and original content to keep their viewers locked in.

  • But us viewers kinda lose, because our favorite movies and shows are being distributed in many different places as opposed to one place.

  • And we have to pay for multiple services to get all the content we want.

  • But then again, how many people actually pay for their content?

  • According to research, about one in 10 Netflix homes share their accounts.

  • (record scratching)

  • I don't pay for any of my streaming services.

  • I'm on my family's phone plan, and through T-Mobile we have free Netflix.

  • I do pay for all the services I use, except for my sister pays for Netflix and we share.

  • Why do I pay for Netflix?

  • And what happens when you want to watch something that isn't available on Netflix or Hulu?

  • You guessed it. Online pirating.

  • Streaming services helped curtail online piracy significantly over the years.

  • But it's starting to increase now that movies and shows are becoming more and more fragmented across an increasing number of platforms.

  • One 2018 report showed BitTorrent traffic increased 9.2% in the Americas, 19% in Asia-Pacific countries, and a staggering 32

  • The report even found that countries with a delay to get the latest and greatest content, especially American content, are seeing extremely high growths in piracy.

  • As one writer of the report put it, "To get access to all of these services, it gets very expensive for a consumer, so they subscribe to one or two and pirate the rest."

  • Just think, how are people gonna stream all the episodes of "Friends" if it gets pulled from Netflix?

  • They could either watch it on TBS, pay for it on YouTube, Amazon, or Google Play, or might try to Google "watch this movie for free online."

  • I hate to break it to you, but searching "watch free online" doesn't exclude you from online pirating.

  • And the reason shows are no longer available on streaming platforms has a lot to do with licensing.

  • Netflix already canceled most of its Marvel shows, like "Daredevil" and "Luke Cage," just as Disney, which owns Marvel, is getting ready to launch their own streaming service called Disney+ in 2019.

  • Remember, Disney owns Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, 21st Century Fox, part of Hulu, and more.

  • So, if you were hoping for "Coco" to stay on Netflix in the future, you probably should enjoy it as much as you can before Disney+ comes out.

  • And AT&T, which owns Warner Bros. and DC Comics is also planning to launch their own streaming service for 2019.

  • The company already has DC Universe, which has shows like "Batman: The Animated Series" and the Superman movies, and naturally, exclusive shows like "Titans" and "Young Justice."

  • It's hard not to imagine them launching separate services for "Harry Potter," "Looney Tunes," and every other franchise.

  • Look, I get it.

  • Companies like Disney want to control access to their content rather than letting someone else make money off of it.

  • But this doesn't benefit the consumer in any way.

  • This fragmented distribution makes content harder to find and consumers are forced to pay more.

  • Plus, it looks like there's a correlation between the service fragmentation and piracy increase.

  • It looks like consumer wallets are gonna have continue to be dinged with an increasing amount of $10 to $15 services, which may lead them to quit some, turn to piracy, and force companies to take a different approach.

  • It just says Netflix.

Streaming services will soon cost you more than cable TV.

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