I’m your average girl. I enjoy the holidays, I like iced coffee, and I love Disney movies. So, you would think that when Disney launched their new streaming service, Disney+, I would be all over that. Well, you thought wrong.
Streaming services were created as an alternative to traditional cable; Netflix started the trend with a one-stop service to get all your favorite TV shows, movies, and documentaries at a flat monthly cost that rivaled cable networks. And it was a great idea – millions and millions of people now use streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. The bad thing is, it seems like every single network that provides the content for these streaming services have decided to get in on that cash cow, and it sucks.
Disney decided to pull their content from other streaming services, so now unless you want to buy the movie or TV show or break the law to stream that content illegally through other bootleg servers, you can no longer view your favorite childhood movies and shows. Disney isn’t the only one taking content for their own exclusive use. HBO recently bought “Sesame Street” and now all new content will premiere on HBO for users with a subscription.
Hulu and Netflix have their own exclusive content, of course, like “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Stranger Things,” respectively. But the beauty that was held by these streaming services is that they were the one-stop shop for almost whatever type of content you wanted. Now, you have to have multiple streaming subscriptions to watch the same content that used to be available on one platform.
The problem isn’t necessarily that these platforms want to capitalize on their own content; after all, if it is their original content, they can do what they want with it. The problem is that the concept of streaming services, started by Netflix, was that it was an alternative to a cable television pack that costed more. Now, we’ve basically just turned streaming subscriptions into the same situation as cable television services – which defeats the whole point of the concept of streaming services that were supposed to be an alternative to traditional cable television.
So, no, I won’t be getting a subscription to Disney+, or CBS All Access, or Amazon Prime Video – partly because I’m stubborn, but also because I don’t want to deal with a million subscriptions for content that I was previously able to access with just one or two services. I will, however, be watching all of the Disney content I possibly can on Netflix before it’s removed in January.