Streaming was the rage a couple of years back. Investors were so excited about getting that constant and steady subscription revenue. The gift that keeps giving, right?! Wrong! Easy come, easy go.
The whole idea of retailing is to get someone to try something, to get them addicted and then to steadily raise the price. It isn't much different than the drug dealer does on the corner (or cable's model)!
Subscriptions provide a nice steady stream of revenue, but consumers are starting to push back by dropping them much more quickly than in the past. With each increase in price, more consumers are saying, "F that!".
With technology, cycles in everything are happening much more quickly. The cable industry was around for 40 years before they finally burnt their subscribers out with their constant price increases. Consumers took a few years to find out that two or three streaming services can easily eclipse the cost of cable. Wasn't streaming the way to get away from onerous and ever-increasing cable costs? That didn't happen. So streaming services are now getting pitched in the trash. Point - consumer!
With all the interest in streaming, lots of companies jumped into the fray. I love capitalism. More competition puts big pressure on providers to cut costs. The only thing is that many streaming services didn't "get the memo" and they are moving forward on the false premise that they can fool the consumer. Wake up, the consumer is becoming enlightened (maybe because of budget constraints).
Too bad we no longer have very much competition in many industries. It would surely keep a cap on prices and, thus, inflation. Competition is essential to have fair prices in most markets.
Greed causes people and companies to do very bad things. But, there is a price to pay once it goes too far too fast!
Be smart, be well-read, be aware and be successful.
