It Has Come Full Circle... Streaming Has Turned Into Cable

Obi-Wan Kenobi really meant it when he said to Anakin that “he became the very thing he said he’d destroy.”

In this case, it's what Cable television said to streaming services. Because of the current state of the media industries, streaming has been banked upon so much by both profiteers and consumers that it literally has become Cable 2.0. That’s not a great honor though.

First off, there is the factor of paying for cable fees and streaming subscription services. Originally, streaming was touted as being a far cheaper option for television than the growing price of Cable (though after an installation, Antenna TV was technically free anyway).

Then, there is the factor of “paying more for less.” Let’s think about this: do you really watch anything else on Disney Plus that isn’t new "Marvel" or "Star Wars" content? Do you take advantage of the National Geographic documentaries or the old slate of Disney Productions, or if Pixar happened to release something on the platform? That answer is probably no.

It’s the same principle that can be applied to every other streaming service. How often do you really use Apple TV Plus if at all? Do you use Peacock for something other than “The Office” (which isn’t even a streaming original)? Do you use Hulu for the original content or stuff that already exists? Is the new content even worth it?

It was a similar problem for the Cable industry where people were paying astronomical monthly prices for shows that they weren't really watching. Like streaming, Cable used to be in a great abundance of movies and television where everything you could possibly want was right there in front of your face. But shenanigans had to occur, and the best shows left our television screens.

As someone who does work at a Cable station, I can concur that at least 90% of the shows we carry aren’t anything I would watch. Aside from ONE sitcom and maybe two or three other shows, there is nothing that I'd spend my valuable time watching.

Cable also had an abundance of things that one could see. Unfortunately, there could be a rights or distribution problem that displaces your ability to watch “The Price is Right” at 11, and now you have to watch it at 12:30. But you can’t watch “The Price Is Right” at 12:30 because it conflicts with other shows you want to watch, or you must be at work by then.

Like the same problem with streaming, a rights issue might displace your channel or subscription service from airing your favorite movie or TV show. If you paid for Hulu or Netflix before the 2020s for instance, you were almost guaranteed to have all the original six “Star Trek” shows from 1966 to 2005.

But now you can’t watch any of them on those platforms anymore. No, now you must subscribe to yet ANOTHER STREAMING SERVICE just to watch “Star Trek.” Why do I have to subscribe to Paramount Plus just so I can watch the ‘Trek’ franchise?

For one, there’s nothing else of any immediate concern that I want to watch on the service, nor do I want to pay to watch the new ‘Trek’ content (that isn’t even good to begin with).

Isn’t that a pain? At least with Hulu, you could watch those shows among hundreds of others. But no, now we have to add another service per month.

How many is that now: Hulu, Netflix, Disney Plus, ESPN+, MGM+, Paramount Plus, Max, Discovery+, Apple TV Plus, Amazon Prime Video, Tencent Video, YouTube Premium, Peacock, Starz, Crunchyroll, FuboTV, Acorn TV, BritBox, DailyWire+, Shudder, Philo, AMC+... when will this madness ever end?!?

There also was a time (though it seems like ancient history) where there were only one or two streaming services to begin with, Netflix and then Hulu. Of course, that was also back when Netflix recognized the importance of physical media consumption when they had the DVD rental service through the mail.

With the convenience of only ONE OR TWO streaming services, you had everything you could possibly want on just those platforms. They didn’t divvy up anything to individual movie companies (like Warner Brothers) and simply had a movie or television program you were most likely looking for or did not even know you wanted to watch right at the convenience of your living room.

It is at the point now with the streaming wars that it needs to go back to just ONE OR TWO streaming services, whoever they might end up being. It is convenient for consumer’s wallets, and for studios to effectively manage their assets in one proper place. Also, compare what you paid for Netflix in 2014 compared to 2024. Ouch, right?

If we compare this to a game of MONOPOLY, this is the part of the game where the properties of players need to be bought out so that only one remains at the very end. Besides, nobody really expects MGM+ to survive, right? Does anybody even know it exists?

At this point in time, it’s hard to tell how these “streaming wars” will end. It’s preferable to go back to the days of just Netflix and Hulu but it’s hard to tell in early 2024. There’s also talk of Hulu merging with Disney Plus (which would be a start), but the chances of that completing anytime soon are rather small.

But services like MGM+ and Apple TV Plus need to disappear and be absorbed into something else entirely. Clearly nobody is using those as much, and they basically were like the Cable channels you ignored back in the day because you didn’t care.

With soaring prices and stuff nobody wants to pay for, Cable really did come full circle. This time, there’s no cord, and you need to worry if your internet connection is stable...

Logan M. Sharp is a fourth-year student majoring in film production. To contact him, email lxs5590@psu.edu.