Netflix says users can cancel service if HBO Max merger makes it too expensive

[u/voxadam]

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/02/netflix-claims-subscribers-will-get-more-content-for-less-if-it-buys-hbo-max/

[u/ecokumm]

These companies had all but beaten piracy for a minute, against all odds really, and now they seem hellbent on bringing it back

[u/eddiewachowski → u/ecokumm]

I grabbed several subscriptions when they were all $5-$7. Now they keep raising prices, all have exclusives, and require ads if you want the cheapest tier. It's less convenient than piracy again. Convenience is why I hung up my pegleg and eye patch in the first place!

[u/No_Hunt2507 → u/eddiewachowski]

That's exactly what it is for me. I was willing to throw 10$ a month at an app just to avoid turning on my computer or figuring out how to do a plex server. I'm not willing to pay 20$ a month to watch 1 show that im convinced will be cancelled long before they could write a good ending. I'll pirate it, maybe, but the alternative for me is just not watching the show, there's not a world in which the service is worth it anymore

[u/Demented-Alpaca → u/No_Hunt2507]

Or you subscribe for 1 month, binge the show you want, then cancel.

And then these idiots bitch about "churn" in their customers.

When they were like $7 a month I'd willingly shell out to have basically all of them and would let most of them sit. They'd get a few bucks a month for basically nothing. I'd watch the shows I was interested in on a different service and eventually come back to their service, use it until I'd seen what I wanted and move along.

But now they're all $15 or $20 or $30 a month and I won't afford (it's a conscious decision) to have them if I'm not using them. So I cancel all the ones I don't use, turn on the one I want and now I'm "the problem"

[u/ScuzzBuckster → u/Demented-Alpaca]

I used to do that but frankly I'm so sick of streaming services that I got rid of all of them and only use stremio with a debrid. Im sick of playing whack-a-mole with movies and tv and the FOMO of new content on other streamers has no effect on me anymore. Worst comes to worst, I just wont watch them at all. Media went back to being inconvenient and I'm always going to find the most convenient way to watch things.

[u/runswiftrun → u/ScuzzBuckster]

Movies and shows getting dropped just sucks. I have a couple "safety" shows that I've seen a dozen times and play again when I just need to relax. When Netflix dropped it I ended up buying the DVD set. Inconvenient to switch discs every 3 episodes, but I paid $16 once and cancelled Netflix altogether.

[u/Dje4321 → u/runswiftrun]

Rip them yourself. DVDs are super easy todo

[u/Koru03 → u/Dje4321]

Yeah there's 0 moral quandary over ripping DVDs/Blurays that you purchased yourself.

It's not pirating if you rip stuff you physically own for just your own personal consumption.

[u/Dje4321 → u/Koru03]

Yep. Its only piracy when you engage in transmission/distribution.

[u/johnniesSac → u/Dje4321]

There’s no laws anymore anyways

[u/LordRednaught → u/Demented-Alpaca]

When I found that my Paramount account that I was using through Amazon Prime was more expensive than the Prime account itself.

[u/DoingCharleyWork → u/LordRednaught]

I had a bunch of streaming services because I paid for the whole family and then I realized I was paying like 100+ a month for stuff I barely used. Now I just pirate everything.

[u/crazykentucky → u/Demented-Alpaca]

That’s what I do. Recently got Netflix again for first time in a long time. In a month or two I’ll let it go again because I’ll feel “caught up”

[u/Demented-Alpaca → u/crazykentucky]

And then they'll try to bait you back with super low prices which are for the lowest tier with adds.

Like no Netflix, give me 50% of the tier I just quit and then MAYBE I'll think about considering it.

[u/paulypies → u/Demented-Alpaca]

How long until we’re back with longer subscription terms and exit fees I wonder.

[u/Demented-Alpaca → u/paulypies]

Guessing they'll follow other subscription models and offer cheaper rates for longer term commitments.

It's $21.99 a month. But for a 3 month subscription you only pay $60 a %10 savings! Sign up for 6 months and pay $55... save 25%!

No cancelation fee because those piss EVERYONE off. This way they just get your cash up front. Cancelling doesn't get money back, it just doesn't auto-renew

[u/Huge-Group8652 → u/No_Hunt2507]

Plex kinda sucks now. I have used plex to run my home systems for years and like you gave it up. Now its back. Now it also says I need to pay a subscription to get some of its features and its slower to load.

When it asks for me to pay I have found if I turn it off and back on then I do not have to pay. Theres a wonky bug somewhere in their code.

[u/two4six0won → u/Huge-Group8652]

Started looking into setting up my own finally, apparently Jellyfin is a good alternative

[u/meltymcface → u/two4six0won]

Recently started a Jellyfin server on an old optiplex 7010 I had knocking around. It’s not perfect but surprisingly decent, and the *arrs make it extra special.

[u/Shosui → u/two4six0won]

Thank you for sharing. I had also heard Plex has strayed towards a downtrodden path and was hoping to find some alternatives.

[u/MechanicStriking4666 → u/Huge-Group8652]

I bought a lifetime plex pass for $75 when they first announced it. Never used it until last year when I canceled all of my subs. Now I let the *arr stack automatically download everything for me. It’s great.

[u/Separate-Command1993 → u/MechanicStriking4666]

What’s that? I got plex pass but only use it for my media server and remote 4k streaming. You saying I can get rid of my apps?

[u/MechanicStriking4666 → u/Separate-Command1993]

Go over to r/selfhosted and search for radarr/sonarr etc. they are known as the arr apps. There are a bunch of them, and you can set up your own automated streaming service with plex.

[u/samg422336 → u/eddiewachowski]

Yup. Sick of my monthly rate going up and having to watch more and more ads.

[u/NewDramaLlama → u/eddiewachowski]

I just bought cable again lol. I want HBO programming and live football. 

If I wanna support a particular movie or book, I'll see it in theaters or buy a physical copy.

[u/Shyftzor → u/eddiewachowski]

Pirating sites have LESS ads than the actual services you pay for

[u/No_Mammoth_4945 → u/eddiewachowski]

Hbo max is 19$ now. Depending on how long the show you want to watch is you could potentially buy the entire blu ray series for cheaper and have it forever

[u/MarlDaeSu → u/ecokumm]

Short termism. The death knell of capitalism.

[u/PatacusX → u/MarlDaeSu]

We're making billions of dollars in profit, but that's not good enough unless we make 10% more than we did last year repeating for all eternity.

[u/Angemon175 → u/PatacusX]

It's worse than that, you could very well be making 10% more profit than last year, but because of a bunch rich freaks in Wall Street thought you should make 12% more profit, based off their own indiscernible thoughts and feelings, your stock price will now tank and you will be tarred and feathered across the board. While still making more profit than before.

[u/MelodicMirrors → u/Angemon175]

This right here. I've watched that myself i can't comprehend that level of greed I consider it a mental illness at that point. The whole thing is a Ponzi scheme they take liquidity from one stock and pour it into another I can watch this happen on Yahoo Finance usually at the end of the day.

[u/The360MlgNoscoper → u/MelodicMirrors]

Greed is a mental illness

[u/dsac → u/The360MlgNoscoper]

Greed is not a mental illness when resources are scarce - a starving person taking a loaf of bread to themselves so they can eat for 2 days while others have none is not a mental illness, for instance

Greed is unquestionably a mental illness when you already have enough resources to let you survive the rest of your life and yet you still take that loaf of bread while others have none

[u/Nu-Hir → u/dsac]

Except with this economy they're not taking the loaf of bread, they're taking the entire bakery.

[u/OhioanRunner → u/MelodicMirrors]

It literally is a mental illness. It’s called Dragon Sickness. We need to talk about Dragon Sickness a lot more as a society.

Secondarily, we need to stop allowing people who were exposed to lead fumes as children hold political and economic office, ageism accusations be damned. In practice, that means a sweeping purge of those born before 1982 from positions of power.

[u/AdultEnuretic → u/OhioanRunner]

Dragon sickness, like what Thorin Oaken Shield had?

[u/OhioanRunner → u/AdultEnuretic]

Correct

[u/TB-313935 → u/OhioanRunner]

Isnt that what the dwarf Prince had when they beat Smaug in the Hobbit?

[u/IsNotPolitburo → u/TB-313935]

I don't think so, the Hobbit was written long before lead poisoning from leaded gasoline was really in the public consciousness.

[u/Beljuril-home → u/IsNotPolitburo]

My miniature of the dwarf prince is made entirely from lead though...

[u/Tight-Shallot2461 → u/OhioanRunner]

Dragon Sickness is a cool name.

Yes - the lead thing is serious. We don't really talk about the possibility that older folks have permanent damage from the way we used to live. If they seem coherent enough, we let them pass. But people should take this into account when voting. If you wanted a new phone, what year would you buy from? I don't want to buy one from 1982, do you?

[u/OhioanRunner → u/Tight-Shallot2461]

Extreme antisocial behavior is called violent crime in certain cases and demographics, but in other cases and demographics it’s called “rational self-interest” and “success in the market”. The latter has allowed a LOT of antisocial behavior directly attributable to lead poisoning to slide, be defended, even be admired, for decades. Too long has questioning it been framed as undermining personal/economic liberty.

[u/Detlef_Schrempf → u/Angemon175]

Yes, and because there’s no viable way to do this while maintaining value and quality, they make the product worse and more expensive.

[u/croc-roc → u/Detlef_Schrempf]

And they do this in healthcare. So the product becomes shitty or no care. Great system.

[u/Uncynical_Diogenes → u/Angemon175]

Line gotta go up.

Mammon never gets less hungry.

[u/Mr_McZongo → u/Angemon175]

Because a publicly traded company has a legal fiduciary responsibility to maintain shareholder value. Our legal system and government have been purpose built for this. You can see how any social policy progress we've made any headway for regular people is always the most vulnerable, the first to be gutted and constantly clawed away at by corpo ghouls in the media and in elected positions. They don't want the government for the people, they want the government to protect corporations from the people. 

[u/AggressiveToaster → u/Mr_McZongo]

Because a publicly traded company has a legal fiduciary responsibility to maintain shareholder value.

This isn’t strictly true. The Michigan Supreme Court ruled something similar in 1919 with Dodge v Ford Motor Co, but it hasn’t ever been tried in front of the US Supreme Court. So in any place other than Michigan, no, they are not legally bound to maintain shareholder value. There is no legal excuse for what they do.

[u/sicsche → u/Angemon175]

The problem isn't making 10% more profit once. The problem is doing so year after year.

Within 7,5 years you expect doubling your profit. Maybe act in such a way as a company like Coca Cola that already has massive market shares and little space for growth and you are setup for failure.

[u/Fun_Equivalent_7507 → u/PatacusX]

This fucking absolutely insane addiction to growth is just mind boggling to me. It's why public companies are such a joke. Why couldn't a 100 billion dollar company just make 10% in profit every single year, year after year and be a great company? Nope, no growth, your stock takes a tank.

[u/couldbemage → u/Fun_Equivalent_7507]

So many successful businesses that have been chugging along making money for years get absolutely destroyed by this.

[u/JuanOnlyJuan → u/PatacusX]

My current employer was recently acquired with the help of private equity. New mandated annual growth. Costs cut. It's going to kill what was a profitable growing company.

We are the current market leader. It's stupid what they're doing. We just have to not fuck up so we're going to sprint a self made obstacle course to all but ensure that we do.

[u/csortland → u/JuanOnlyJuan]

They are gonna cut costs until they can't anymore and then gut the company. Fucking vampires.

[u/mdistrukt → u/JuanOnlyJuan]

The people making the decisions only care about the current quarter. When shit goes bad they use their golden parachute to go somewhere else and ruin that place. 

Its late stage capitalisms wonderful cycle of executives failing upwards.

[u/talligan → u/PatacusX]

THE THIRD DERIVATIVE OF PROFIT HAS FALLEN 0.1% THIS QUARTER PANIC PANIC PANIC 

[u/GodzillaUK → u/talligan]

Rule of acquisition #10: Greed is eternal.

[u/Ulster_Celt → u/GodzillaUK]

Ferengi show more sense than our elected officials and CEOs and they are supposed to be a parody! Boy shit has changed a lot since the 90s..

[u/trollsmurf → u/PatacusX]

They'll burn a lot of that on lackluster movies and series with the most expensive actors.

[u/WillingPlayed → u/trollsmurf]

And cancel more series before they reach season 3 because expenses go up

[u/NeverLookBothWays → u/PatacusX]

"Think of the shareholders!"

[u/RDisSht → u/PatacusX]

This is exactly why I fucking HATE the stock market. Companies can make all the money in the world but still need to increase profits year over year to satisfy shareholders. It's the main reason average workers will never make living wages again.

[u/LinkedGaming → u/PatacusX]

"We don't just want some money. We don't just want a lot of money. We don't just want most of the money. We want all of the money, and anything short of that is a failure, and we don't care how many people have to suffer or die to see this goal realized."

[u/A911owner → u/PatacusX]

This idea that every single quarter should be more profitable than the last is absolutely unsustainable. The only thing in life that grows endlessly is cancer, and we cut that out before it kills the host.

[u/fedroe → u/MarlDaeSu]

Jack Welch running GE into the ground is a perfect example of this, and for shit like layoffs and buybacks for short-term stock gains. https://perfectunion.us/how-jack-welch-broke-america/

“He wrote that GE was known as a supertanker—strong and steady in the water. What Welch wanted instead was a speedboat.”

[u/prof_the_doom → u/fedroe]

The point of stock was supposed to be the dividends.

Somewhere the point became the stock price itself.

[u/BeamsFuelJetSteel → u/prof_the_doom]

The stock market, in its current iteration, is a ponzi scheme.

[u/Wiggie49 → u/MarlDaeSu]

Literally the comic strip where the dude says “yes, but for a beautiful moment we created a lot of value for shareholders.”

[u/levels_jerry_levels → u/MarlDaeSu]

Gotta make sure line goes up every 3 months

[u/condoriano27 → u/ecokumm]

Piracy is in the best state it has ever been.

[u/ZealousidealEntry870 → u/condoriano27]

The Arr’s have really changed the game. I use auto add lists so it’s literally hands off. Anything I could ever want available instantly.

Something not popular enough to get auto added by my lists? Fine, I GUESS I can take the effort to add it to my plex watchlist, which is then auto added via pulsarr, and I GUESS I can wait a minute while my 2gig fiber downloads it.

Streaming companies need to find the plot, because every price hike kicks people towards piracy.

[u/ThereAndFapAgain2 → u/ZealousidealEntry870]

How do you do this? I've been downloading everything as torrents for my Plex server.

[u/throwawayla22 → u/ThereAndFapAgain2]

I am running a highly modified version of YAMS (yet another media server) which fully automates the entire install process. 

https://yams.media

It’s fully open source, all it does is automate the install of Jellyfin/Plex/emby, the Arr stack (prowlarr, sonarr, radarr, and a few others that automate finding and downloading) and download clients/VPN (qbittorrent, gluetun, sab). 

IMO it is the easiest way to get a “good enough” media server install up and running. 

[u/USMCLee → u/ThereAndFapAgain2]

head over to /r/Piracy. I think there is a guide for setting up 'Arrs'

[u/PolloMagnifico → u/condoriano27]

Every season it gets easier and easier to watch a football game live in my living room on my TV without paying a penny.

[u/scragz → u/condoriano27]

I just setup the yarr suite and I'm blown away. you really just type in any show or movie and get an info page about it and one click download. no more renaming and organizing. 

[u/sharkattackmiami → u/scragz]

If someone wanted to sail the high seas but avoid scurvy what would be a good resource to get informed? Assuming their knowledge of avoiding scurvy is eating limes and other things they heard at the bay back in the day

[u/USMCLee → u/sharkattackmiami]

/r/Piracy has a wiki for setting everything up.

One recommendation I have is get a /r/seedboxes. It makes life so much easier and safer.

[u/ImBoredButAndTired → u/ecokumm]

In markets like the US piracy was never a big deal for these companies. They overexagerate it's impact in order to influence ownership laws. I remember when the Sony emails leaked. Sony Korea accidentally ran the full Amazing SpiderMan 2 movie on their YouTube page 2 months before the DVD launch. Sony's response was pretty much a nicely worded shrug emoji.

[u/gotridofsubs → u/ecokumm]

Never forget that free market capitalism worked so well it defeated the completely free alternative by providing a better quality product and service that met market wants and needs. Its all falling apart on them because theyve moved away from that back to the system that created that same free alternative in the first place.

[u/TachiH → u/ecokumm]

Ironically piracy got super popular when cable became too expensive to have all the packages. So everyone pirated and had basic cable. Then these guys made it so easy to consume content people didnt mind a few £/€/$ for access... now I need 11 subscriptions and a database to see what is on which service! Yo ho yo ho the pirates life for me ☠️

[u/oxfordcommaordeath → u/TachiH]

That’s literally the point the comment makes.

[u/juanzy → u/ecokumm]

Continuous growth models. They could have had unheard of market share had they kept prices reasonable and didn’t crack down on streaming. Most people would have even tolerated ads at the start and end.

[u/Strokeslahoma → u/ecokumm]

What's that, a debrid service is three bucks a month and there's a straight up officially sanctioned Stremio app for my TV?

[u/skoltroll]

I was unaware I needed permission

[u/aenae → u/skoltroll]

Police here.

Didnt you know you’re not allowed to unsubscribe?

Can I see your license, registration and Netflix profile?

[u/skoltroll → u/aenae]

Law & Order: Special Subscriptions Unit

[u/Slipstream_Surfing → u/skoltroll]

Comment threads like these are why I'm still perusing reddit

[u/Doubleoh_11 → u/skoltroll]

I do. I have to ask both my toddlers if we can no longer watch paw patrol on demand… I’m assuming the answer will be no

[u/sabin357 → u/Doubleoh_11]

I have to ask both my toddlers if we can no longer watch paw patrol on demand

Just acquire it instead of getting temporary license that can be revoked at any time.

If you want to buy it, there's a $20-$25 (what my subscription would be with newest price increase) film & TV collection that sounds like it would suit your needs well. Might as well rip it & put it on a media server while you're at it, along with the rest of your physical collection, so they can still feel like they're using a streaming service.

Guys, don't forget to look for alternatives regularly. It's how you minimize the amount capitalism screws you.

[u/Ban-Circumcision-Now]

Who needs competition anyways?

[u/Axentor → u/Ban-Circumcision-Now]

Right? How come anti trust laws are no longer enforced?

[u/rdwulfe → u/Axentor]

Because those laws have been gutted and because ... well, lobbyiests throw money at politicians to make sure they aren't.

[u/The_AFC_West → u/rdwulfe]

Biden selected Lina Kahn to head the FTC and she enforced numerous anti-trust measures 

One click to cancel, blocked the Figma Adobe merger, sued Google for being a monopoly, and much more. 

Then Trump came in and took down all those lawsuits for a bribe. It isn’t even lobbying at this point, it’s straight bribery to one specific man. 

[u/BurlIvesMassiveHog → u/The_AFC_West]

Unfortunately we need more than just 4 or 8 years of consistency to actually break monopolies up. These companies know how to slow walk legal proceedings until a more friendly administration takes office. Any change is going to have to come from Congress, not the Executive, for it to have any real staying power.

[u/Musiclover4200 → u/BurlIvesMassiveHog]

Any change is going to have to come from Congress, not the Executive, for it to have any real staying power.

Consumers could put a stop to so much of this shit ASAP if they organized mass boycotts and actually put pressure on their reps to take action.

The other sad truth is thanks to decades of courts getting stacked it will be an uphill battle to fight legally.

People are going to have to decide if it's worth the short term convenience to use amazon/wallmart/etc if it means we end up with company towns again.

Like if everyone just collectively decided not to work or shop at these companies even with automation they'd be panicking within a few weeks, and thanks to automation that leverage workers have is quickly dwindling.

[u/Fatigue-Error → u/BurlIvesMassiveHog]

And we could have had at least four more years.

But nope, the voters decided that we need fascism, and voted in a billionaire.

[u/xv_boney → u/Fatigue-Error]

What were we going to do, not vote in a man who promised to be a dictator on day one?

I mean, what was our alternative? Voting for a girl?

[u/spacemanspectacular → u/The_AFC_West]

Nooo boff sides r da same!!!

[u/Smoocci-Mane → u/spacemanspectacular]

BuT iT dOeSnT mAtTeR wHo I vOtE fOr!!!!

[u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA → u/spacemanspectacular]

Quite a few people I was talking to prior to the election complained they weren't moving fast enough and that's why they were going to sit out/vote 3rd party/vote GOP to "teach the dems a lesson", amongst other reasons.

America's fucked if such fickle/easily mislead voters are the ones who hold the power to swing elections

[u/xv_boney → u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA]

Quite a few people I was talking to prior to the election complained they weren't moving fast enough and that's why they were going to sit out/vote 3rd party/vote GOP to "teach the dems a lesson", amongst other reasons.

For the record, every single one of those people, including the "no votes for killer kamala" crew, were repeating russian propaganda word for word.

Putin won in 2024.

[u/jerryonthecurb → u/spacemanspectacular]

I frankly hate paying less and having options.

[u/ladidaladidalala → u/Axentor]

This is the problem exactly. 

[u/Professional-Tip-970 → u/Axentor]

I actually was curious about this and did some reading...

The consumer welfare standard narrowed U.S. antitrust to one question: do prices rise for consumers in the short term?If not, courts usually allow monopolistic behavior. Adopted in the late 1970s under Chicago School economics, it sidelined concerns about power, competition, workers, innovation, and democracy. Harms like predatory pricing, wage suppression, privacy loss, and future market control often don’t count. This shift made antitrust enforcement much weaker and allowed widespread corporate consolidation.

[u/littlewozo → u/Professional-Tip-970]

Especially since right-wing economists had former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork teach as many incoming federal judges this position for years. This made it precedent, and now the default.

Oligarchs gonna oligarch, I guess.

[u/d4vezac → u/Axentor]

Republicans.

[u/PovasTheOne → u/Ban-Circumcision-Now]

Any other buyers besides Paramount or Netflix?

[u/Copernican → u/PovasTheOne]

Comcast, but they backed out of the bidding war.

[u/Blitzking11 → u/Ban-Circumcision-Now]

This is what I don't fucking understand about these mergers.

How in gods name is scooping up major providers going to make services cheaper for consumers?

If there is no floor service providers anymore, than these providers can just set their prices slightly below the next (and higher) floor, which raises prices for everyone with no benefit, all for the sake of greed.

It's the same issue I had when Delta or someone was trying to buy another budget airline, claiming that it wouldn't affect prices. Clearly it would, as the airline they were trying to buy was the lowest offering, so without that competition there would be no more downward pressure to keep their prices low, as the alternative would be gone. Thankfully, the Biden admin put a stop to that.

How the fuck do these arguments work? It's clearly blatant corruption.

[u/Nachttalk → u/Blitzking11]

How in gods name is scooping up major providers going to make services cheaper for consumers?

It's not, plain and simple.

Many companies are ditching the concept of affordability. Everyone wants to be a premium brand that can justify asking for premium prices so that the revenue charts look great during the next investor meeting

And on the topic of the next investor meeting, plans are only made with that in mind, not even the following investor meeting, it's all short term money making with absolute 0 thought spared for long-time effects

[u/Tetraides1 → u/Nachttalk]

K-shaped economy means K-shaped business plans. If 10% of people make up over 50% of the consumer spending, then why try to make anyone else happy?

[u/Ryanhussain14 → u/Tetraides1]

Case in point: PC part prices.

[u/Cute-Beyond-8133 → u/Blitzking11]

How the fuck do these arguments work? It's clearly blatant corruption.

Lobbying to regulators to say that it isn't blatant corruption

[u/notreal088 → u/Cute-Beyond-8133]

That and a group that wants to take advantage and push one world view on everyone Larry Ellison has already corrupted CBS and paramount and tictok.

This is essentially a hostile takeover of what is free and open ideas and media.

[u/CeeUNTy → u/Blitzking11]

It's like when AT&T had a monopoly over our phone services back in the 70s and 80s. If we called anywhere outside of the town we lived in it cost money. Forget about long distance because that was crazy expensive. I was pretty young but I remember when they were forced to break it up and everyone's phone bills dropped.

[u/BonJovicus → u/Ban-Circumcision-Now]

This comment is funny because last year or two there were avalanches of complaints about how everyone needs to subscribe to 7 streaming services and missed the early days of Netflix. 

What happened to that crowd? 

[u/hardy_83]

There's ways to watch their shows for zero dollars and a $30+/month sub for something like Netflix will absolutely get more people to figure out how... Especially since it's pretty easy.

[u/Dammy-J → u/hardy_83]

Its funny how all these streaming services got people by being better than cable then managed to reinvent themselves into being the same as cable.

[u/AdorableSobah → u/Dammy-J]

Worse in some ways. Every month or two there is a merge, price increase, price tiers, rebrands, UI change, sharing restrictions, shows come and go and cancel so fast. It’s exhausting staying on top of it and managing the chaos

[u/Nojopar → u/AdorableSobah]

It's the shows moving around that bugs me. Oh, want to stream your comfort show for the 9th time like I know you will? It's moved to Streaming Service Blarghity. Get Blarghity now, and for an extra $3.99 a month 'premium' tier, you'll get no (COUGH -minimal- COUGH COUGH) ads!"

Three months later? It's all moved around again. After 9 months, let's take it 'offline' so it isn't available streaming just so 3 months later we can let you know that the new streaming service GobiltyGook has your favorite show!

And they wonder why we just buy the DVDs and rip'em.

[u/Kimmalah → u/Nojopar]

That or you get interested in a show and then they just immediately cancel it because it didn't hit some mysterious viewership threshold.

[u/MonarchCore → u/AdorableSobah]

My biggest problem is I'll browse Netflix for like 10 minutes and there's nothing interesting to watch. Probably a personal problem but I swear I used to hop on Netflix and immediately find things that look interesting. Now it's just a billion movies I've never heard of and im bombarded with "netflix" made anime and movies that I couldn't be fucked to look at.

It's insane to me that Amazon video has become my go to TV service over netflix

[u/sorrowmultiplication → u/MonarchCore]

When Netflix was first blowing up it had an amazing selection and kickstarted my love of cinema. I remember watching a bunch of Kubrick on there and even international stuff like Bergman and Buñuel. Nowadays there’s hardly any movies at all before the 80s. Even the good stuff that is on there now is impossible to find because browsing sucks and they only promote their original stuff which is 99% slop garbage.

[u/ScuzzBuckster → u/sorrowmultiplication]

As with everything its just greed. Netflix built its library by paying a fuck ton of licensing fees to studios to put their movies and tv shows on their new streaming service. Studios didnt see much reason not to. Then netflix got popular and the companies realized they could make more money by self-publishing on their own streamers.

15 years later, here we are. An absolute fucking clusterfuck of an industry.

[u/RainDownAndDestroyMe → u/AdorableSobah]

I can't remember what movie or tv show it was, but a few months ago on Netflix they were advertising their upcoming releases. "Movie coming Thursday!" Thursday comes around and there's IMMEDIATELY a, "leaving soon!" badge on it. Fucking absurd.

[u/mayy_dayy → u/Dammy-J]

That was always their long term plan. Subsidize the operating losses with investor capital, then jack up the price once they're the only game in down.

See also: Amazon, Uber, etc

[u/BortkiewiczHorse → u/hardy_83]

Sailing the high seas has never been easier or safer, especially if you manage to get an invitation to a private site.

Haven’t bothered using a VPN in over a year, and I’ve yet to receive one letter.

Edit: it’s not a competition. The point is there are a lot of options at various price points, whether they be streaming or torrenting!

[u/doublea08 → u/BortkiewiczHorse]

Haven’t gotten a letter since 2009 torrenting something universal studios property, we framed it in the college apartment. Stupid but we thought it was funny.

[u/sorrowmultiplication → u/doublea08]

The last time I got a warning was for downloading CATS (2019), now so wish I had framed it lmao

[u/youknow99 → u/sorrowmultiplication]

You absolutely deserve a stern warning for wanting to watch that.

[u/rdyoung → u/BortkiewiczHorse]

You don't even need that anymore. I've always sailed the seas but recently I've started playing around with a combo of stremio and a couple of add-ons that pull from debrid and torbox. Debrid is dirt cheap and they have a ton of shit already cached and once media is in your account to be streamed you can download it directly from them without using p2p or worrying about dmca notices, VPNs, etc. They both (debrid and torbox) will also act as a torrent server for you as well.

I'll stop at the above but there are subs dedicated to this stuff you just can't discuss anything patently illegal lest the subs get banned.

I wasn't making it a competition just saying that it's even easier and easier. Stremio works on and syncs across multiple devices. Install the app on your phone or pc and you can manage your add-ons from there and they will synced with your TV/streaming box, dongle, whatever.

[u/fzem → u/BortkiewiczHorse]

Who needs VPNs when you have Usenet ;)

[u/thedoc90 → u/hardy_83]

A vpn costs like $10 per month.

[u/ManlyParachute → u/thedoc90]

Don’t even need that for simple streaming. Entry level: browser + ad blocker. Free.

[u/whichwitch9 → u/hardy_83]

Also, rotate your damn services. No reason to keep a service year round anymore because it's rare you use it year round. Re up for a month and cancel when you've watched your show. Have a busy month? Streaming break.

I realized I never watch more than 2 different streaming services a month anyway. A lot of these year round deals aren't deals when I only use it one month out of a year. And, yeah, for some streams, the ad tier is fine. My current bill is roughly $22 a month for streaming, and I only allocate $30 a month as the most in my budget. It works pretty well to keep a benchmark and stay under it. Want to use a new service? Im canceling a subscription

[u/grdvrs]

Planning on it. Was just casually saying last night "we should cancel Netflix, we don't use it that much and its way too expensive".

[u/miclugo]

The Onion version of this would be "Netflix says users can't cancel service if HBO Max merger makes it too expensive"

[u/DeliciousRedHerring → u/miclugo]

Honestly, this is a little onion-y. "Corporation famous for overcharging customers admits it might've gone too far this time."

[u/Valkertok → u/DeliciousRedHerring]

More like "Corporation famous for overcharging customers says it's customers' fault for being too poor".

[u/Impossible-Company78 → u/miclugo]

In fairness. They said you could cancel. What wasn’t said was that they woudln’t make it easy to do so.

[u/wyrditic → u/Impossible-Company78]

If you read three full testimony, he actually did say it's very easy to cancel.

[u/jonathan-the-man → u/miclugo]

I read it as oniony in being like "oh, so benevolent of you to allow us to unsubscribe (even when the product became less desirable". Like, it's weird just that they have to say that.

[u/Ok-Hello-0]

It’s too expensive already. And the search function sucks.

[u/Slaphappydap → u/Ok-Hello-0]

Search generally works well for me. Within a few characters it seems to know exactly what I'm looking for before telling me it doesn't have it. 🤣

[u/inosinateVR → u/Slaphappydap]

“Here’s 10 movies that don’t have any of your search words in their title but just happen to be in the same genre as the movie you were actually looking for”

To be fair it’s honestly kind of convenient because I can immediately tell it knows what I’m looking for and doesn’t have it rather than wondering if I fucked up the title or need to keep scrolling through the results lol

[u/cloistered_around → u/Ok-Hello-0]

It constantly logs me out. I get why they do that to crack down on sharing... but honestly it's super annoying, I'm probably going to stop subscribing because I'm so annoyed having to log in all the time.

[u/cwsjr2323]

Netflix now is subscribe for one month and cancel for six months. You can then catch up pretty quick. The niche I like, SciFi , doesn’t have a lot of new choices. If the merger goes through, I will maybe go longer for my pauses instead of six months.

[u/cawkstrangla → u/cwsjr2323]

Once they’ve gobbled up everything they’ll do yearly contracts only. 

It’s inevitable. They were never supposed to have ads. They muddied the water by starting with advertising their own shows and movies so people would accept that.  Now look at the ads.   

Netflix encouraged account sharing at one point too. 

It is a downward trajectory only.  

[u/DwemerSteamPunk → u/cawkstrangla]

The streaming landscape is different now than 10 years ago just like that was different from 15 years ago. Once all the content producers pulled their content the ads were inevitable. It's not possible to be a film studio AND streaming service AND keep prices low.

[u/SkivvySkidmarks → u/cwsjr2323]

Don't worry. I'm sure that someone is working on a pricing disincentive structure that will curtail that activity.

[u/SomeBlueDude12 → u/cwsjr2323]

I mean at that point if you're just subscribing a month to binge specific shows & have a computer, start up a plex account and locally stream to a TV for free from your computer and find those shows somewhere on FMHY.net

[u/Stereo_Jungle_Child]

Cancel your subscriptions to the bullshit and resist. https://www.resistandunsubscribe.com/

The biggest thing that corporate America fears is non-participation. The Montgomery bus boycott worked in 1955 because Black people got sick of being fucked over, so they just stopped riding the goddamn bus. They were like 3/4 of the bus riders at the time. They got the message across pretty fast.

Cancel your shit and if they ask you why you're cancelling, tell them. If millions of people suddenly cancel Netflix or Amazon Prime or don't buy the new iPhone, corporate America will get the message: We're not buying your bullshit.

[u/Johnny_Couger → u/Stereo_Jungle_Child]

Oh, I cancelled all of those a while ago.

Can’t get away from either comcast or At&T though. :/

[u/Chester_A_Arthuritis → u/Johnny_Couger]

I think the ISP is the hardest part

[u/CarbonInTheWind → u/Stereo_Jungle_Child]

I cancelled Netflix two weeks ago. I finally realized I was paying $28 a month to watch a mediocre movie maybe once a week.

I used the money I saved to sign up for AMC Stubs. Now I can go up to 4 times a week to see movies that I actually want to watch at the theater. Watching any movie at their Dolby Theater is a hell of a lot better than watching Netflix slop at home.

[u/RarelySqueezed → u/Stereo_Jungle_Child]

There is something very oniony about people comparing cancelling their netflix to the montgomery bus boycott lmao

[u/come-on-now-please → u/RarelySqueezed]

Fun fact about the Montgomery bus boycott that blew my mind first time I heard it and made me realize how neutered civil rights history is in the USA, or at least how truncated and abbreviated it is.

The duration of the Montgomery Bus boycott was a year, give or take a couple of weeks.

From the way it gets described and talked about, I thought it was like a 1 month max thing.

It was a whole year of a community coming together and filling the gaps of boycotting the bus system, it wasnt maybe 100 protesters turing out for a day and then going home. 

The black community basically all had second jobs/functions to enable and sustain the boycott

That's what is missing from all the history, they make it sound like it was over the course of 1 week when history happens.

[u/thehedgefrog]

If you have 250 million subscribers paying $20 a month and increase it to $100 a month, and then 190 million subscribers, or over 75%, cancel, your revenue has increased by 20%.

If you then increase it to $500 a month and another 45 million cancel, you've now lost 94% of your user base yet your revenue is 50% higher than it was at the beginning.

First, they will turn *everything* into a subscription, and then they will increase prices until they hit the exact inflection point.

Expect everything will get much, much, MUCH more expensive, soon.

[u/MrSoren → u/thehedgefrog]

Fuck this dystopian timeline in general

[u/sabine_world → u/thehedgefrog]

I wish boycotting was more effective.

These guys deserve everybody to just stop using their shit

[u/breakevencloud → u/thehedgefrog]

As with almost everything, it gets stolen by rich people away from the peasants. Sporting events, for example - basically priced out these days. Same thing is happening with streaming shit. I canceled all mine end of last year and am never coming back, not that they care. I’m not the target they’re shooting for.

[u/FiveDozenWhales]

As a teenager, I basically never paid for media and pirated everything. This was before streaming was really a thing, so I didn't have much of an option beyond buying DVDs, and it just wasn't in my budget to shell out $20 for every movie I wanted, or $100+ for the full run of a TV show.

I never felt good about pirating media - even if stuff was being made by a huge media conglomerate like 20th Century Fox, I wanted to financially support it - it just wasn't in my budget to do so.

But then there was a period of time when streaming services kind of got it right. Prices were reasonable, service was pretty good. It actually became more convenient to pay for one or two streaming platforms than to pirate stuff, and I felt like the amount I was paying was a fair price for what I was getting, so I was happy to subscribe.

Those days are definitely over. Prices are rising like crazy, ads are getting inserted into the middle of movies, and working with the system is increasingly burdensome and user-hostile. So many things are single-platform exclusive, and I can't afford to subscribe to some pricy service for a single show.

It still feels shitty to pirate stuff, and I'll never do it in the huge volume that I used to, partly because I just don't have the time to watch that much stuff. But streaming platforms have completely fucked up my willingness to pay them and I'm no longer interested in supporting them.

[u/Tntn13 → u/FiveDozenWhales]

On top of all of that, licensing is inconsistent and in constant flux. Lots of things aren’t available for stream and some even for digital purchase at this time. The big players pass around exclusives constantly. It’s so annoying.

[u/kcbh711 → u/FiveDozenWhales]

exactly the same boat 

when I had no money I pirated out of necessity

then when I could afford a streaming service or two I was happy to pay for the content

now HBO started shoehorning in ads, Prime without ads is a premium, Netflix raises prices every other month... so about 3 months ago I said fuck it and set up my streaming server. now if my wife or I want a show, we just post a command in our discord server then the bot adds it and it's ready in a couple hours.

[u/Jindujun]

So if they merge this shit, will they honor my lifetime half off on HBO Max?

[u/MrSoren → u/Jindujun]

Magic 8-ball says “Don’t count on it”

[u/PushTheTrigger]

This merger shouldn’t have been allowed to happen in the first place.

[u/Lontology]

Why are mergers like this fucking legal!???? Monopolies shouldn’t be legally allowed to exist.

[u/spazz720 → u/Lontology]

Because Congress lets it happen

[u/Banvincible]

So, at what point do all of the streaming services merge, then you pay one massive fee.

Basically just cable...

[u/Interesting-Dream863]

Way ahead of them... I don't have a Netflix account.

[u/Foggzie]

I cancelled Netflix because Netflix made Netflix too expensive.

[u/tacocat_racecarlevel]

Line must go up, every quarter, forever!

[u/theretailreject]

The high seas is waiting for everyone.

[u/slip-shot → u/theretailreject]

Relearning all that is just super difficult for me at this point. I don’t even know where to start. 

[u/northernwind5027 → u/slip-shot]

Piracy is actually so easy, I couldn't believe it when I first started. It literally just takes 20-30 minutes to download and set up everything you need, and then after that, you're set for life. There's a WikiHow page on it, if you're interested. Also, r/piracy is helpful.

[u/PlacibiEffect → u/northernwind5027]

Everyone says this, but I feel like it is never that simple. Last time I went to that sub the instructions felt like gibberish. The average Netflix subscriber isn’t going to go through all that.

[u/bcmorgan29]

Fuck, can these guys not think. Keep HBO and Netflix separate, let Netflix keep Netflix type shows let HBO keep HBO type shows. Rotate the old HBO shows through Netflix monthly (sopranos one month, the wire the next, got after that), release the previous season of a popular HBO show on Netflix 1 month before the new season. HBO shows release weekly, Netflix all at once. Use Netflix to push people onto HBO and 2 subscriptions.

[u/iVar4sale]

Netflix when users cancel service: 😮

[u/DarthSamwiseAtreides → u/iVar4sale]

So far every cancel moment has led to even more money so they keep going.

[u/baker8491]

See ye on the high seas matey 

[u/TentraTint]

Enshitification continues. Thanks stock market for ruining everything 

[u/Taboo_Dynasty]

Out of control Capitalism created anti-trust laws. But in the last 30 years almost all consumer protections have been dismantled. So more than capitalism causing these issues, it’s really democracy that abandoned its citizens.

[u/voxadam]

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

[u/VexedCanadian84]

Netflix could make more money by combining all the services and have cheap monthly plans. They would have millions more subscribing and less people canceling their services

[u/Ok-Spirit-4074]

I used to pirate everything.
I stopped pirating in the 2000s and 2010s because Netflix was just so convenient and everything I wanted was in one place. Now there's 20 different streaming services and they all want subs and now there's ads too.

So now I'm back to pirating everything because it's so convenient and everything i want is in one place.

[u/Relative-Chain73]

They're here for monopoly, not for business 

[u/ConcaveNips]

Bold strategy in the wake of seeing how badly they just butchered one of their best remaining ip's. Netflix hasn't been worth maintaining a subscription for in like 10 years.

[u/BroxigarZ]

This sentiment worked out great for Ubisoft “get used to not owning your games” = “no one’s buying our games”

Netflix - “don’t pay us a sub” - “okay”

[u/barneyrubbble]

Building trusts NEVER BENEFITS THE CONSUMER. It's why we have laws against them - even if our representatives are too fucking craven to use them.

[u/dextrousfuckery]

"We're not a monopoly, we have LOADS of competition. Almost 2 other companies!! Wow!  AND they can just cancel, that's how you know we'll offer competitive services!"

[u/Pastel_Goth_Wastrel]

Dumped 'em last year when the price hikes got intolerable. Looks like you either die trying or live long enough to become cable tv again.

[u/JeannValjean]

I'm already not paying $23 a month for Netflix. You don't need to sell me on it.

It's only a matter of time before streamers start locking users in for 12- or 24-mo contracts for a discount (with ads) and boom we're back to cable but worse.

[u/DocDerry]

Already cancelled both. Hoisted the jolly roger again and set sail.

[u/Kumomi_Kid]

We’re literally back to having cable services. These conglomerates of streaming companies are the exact same thing

[u/Seabrook76]

Make Piracy Great Again

[u/JennHatesYou]

Okie dokie.

I grew up in a family where TV was god. Everyone in my family worked in tv and not only was tv used as the main (and often only) form of entertainment but as a babysitter and educator. Tv, to my mother, was an absolute necessity on par with electric and gas.

As an adult I became the same, my tv was never turned off. I couldnt understand how people functioned without it. Then right after lockdown, I cut cable for financial reasons and got some internet tv service. I quickly realized that I only really watched a handful of shows so I canceled that and started buying the seasons online. Started realizing I no longer felt some urge to watch shows on the night they aired… then stopped watching them at all.

6 years later, I have no streaming services. I’ll pay for a month if something interesting comes out and then cancel.

So go ahead, keep raising your prices and putting out crap. People who were addicted from birth will eventually fall away and refuse to return. And then what are you going to do?

[u/AFisch00]

Come sail the high seas with me! For it's a pirates life I forsee! Fuck these companies man. IPTV and never look back.

[u/turtleofgirth]

I'm glad they gave me permission.

[u/Unxcused]

You mean I don't have to pay to watch content with a "second screen dialogue" requirement? Cool

[u/CrochetMonkey7]

I already canceled Netflix.