We are all victims of the streaming service epidemic. Having a Netflix account used to mean having access to every show or movie you could want to watch and never needing to deal with ads, all for just $7.99per month. Then a new streaming service, Hulu, arrived shortly after, and bought up licenses. Suddenly, content was fractured between two different companies. This was okay, though. It’s only two small fees per month for a wide variety of shows and movies. Way cheaper than cable. Then came Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, Apple TV+ and many, many more. The landscape of streaming services became overcrowded, ruining the concept altogether.
The fragmentation of content between different streamers destroyed the simplicity that made streaming services so appealing in the first place. Having one or two meant having access to nearly every piece of media one could want to consume. Now, if you want to watch “The Office,” you need Peacock. Do you finally want to watch “Friends” for the first time? I hope you have HBO Max. “Black Mirror?” That’s on Netflix. It has become too much.
The amount of streamers has also brought on a financial burden. Each service has a “small” monthly fee that users must pay to access the content. The small fees quickly add up to big costs. According to Deloitte’s 2025 Digital Media Trends data, the average subscriber pays $69 per month on streaming services. Although this is less than the average $125 per month the average cable user pays, the prices are still costly, and will only become more expensive as more streaming platforms are created and these companies continue with the dreaded price increases. The affordability once characteristic of streaming platforms is gone.
The expenses do not end there, as many platforms have thrown ad-supported tiers into the mix. Netflix currently has three tiers: Standard with ads, Standard and Premium. Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max and Prime Video have also created a similarly tiered structure to get users to pay more. Netflix’s cheapest option, Standard, with ads, costs $7.99 per month, and the user does not even get access to Netflix’s full catalog. Removal of ads was one of streaming’s biggest selling points. Watching your favorite show without constant interruptions made for the perfect television experience. Now, this standard feature has been repackaged as an upgrade, allowing the companies to charge customers even more money.
Another major issue with streaming services is how they handle their original shows. Many platforms pour millions into creating new shows, release them with little to no marketing and then quietly cancel them after a season or two when they do not perform well. Shows are no longer given the time to develop an audience; they either must go viral immediately or they will be canceled. Overall, streaming services had a television cancellation rate of 12.2% while cable’s was 7.2%. HBO Max has one of the worst cancellation rates. Between January 2020 and August 2023, they cancelled 26.9% of their shows. Audiences feel cheated because, after getting emotionally invested in the story, it gets left unfinished. Worse, people become discouraged from starting new shows at all, in fear of liking the show and then finding out they will never get to see a second season.
Streaming services have also begun to crack down on password sharing, a move that has angered both those who pay for streaming and those who do not. Platforms like Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ have implemented strict limits or extra fees for additional users outside of the household. For college students, this is one of the worst features of all. Who has not had a late night where all you wanted to do was just lie back and watch an episode of “Gilmore Girls” to get into the fall spirit, only to be met with the dreaded “Your device isn’t part of the Netflix Household” message because the account is connected to your house’s Wi-Fi network. It is either too late to text your parents to send you the code, or you just know they will not get back to you in time. For students juggling classes, internship applications and social lives, these restrictions take away a much-needed moment of relaxation.
Streaming services, while great in theory, have lost much of their convenience, affordability and freedom that once made them so special. The cheap, ad-free alternative to cable has evolved into a fragmented, expensive and frustrating landscape. Had streaming services stayed as they initially were, they would be the perfect option over cable. Unfortunately, there are far too many platforms and the prices are too high, taking away from the simplicity and value that made streaming appealing in the first place. I still opt for streaming over cable because the shows tend to be made at a higher quality, but the model needs to be fixed soon to maintain their relevance, or streaming platforms will become seen as another costly system that feels just like the cable bundles they replaced.
We are all victims of the streaming service epidemic. Having a Netflix account used to mean having access to every show or movie you could want to watch and never needing to deal with ads, all for just $7.99 per month. Then a new streaming service, Hulu, arrived shortly after, and bought up licenses. Suddenly, content was fractured between two different companies. This was okay, though. It’s only two small fees per month for a wide variety of shows and movies. Way cheaper than cable. Then came Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, Apple TV+ and many, many more. The landscape of streaming services became overcrowded, ruining the concept altogether.
The fragmentation of content between different streamers destroyed the simplicity that made streaming services so appealing in the first place. Having one or two meant having access to nearly every piece of media one could want to consume. Now, if you want to watch “The Office,” you need Peacock. Do you finally want to watch “Friends” for the first time? I hope you have HBO Max. “Black Mirror?” That’s on Netflix. It has become too much.
The amount of streamers has also brought on a financial burden. Each service has a “small” monthly fee that users must pay to access the content. The small fees quickly add up to big costs. According to Deloitte’s 2025 Digital Media Trends data, the average subscriber pays $69 per month on streaming services. Although this is less than the average $125 per month the average cable user pays, the prices are still costly, and will only become more expensive as more streaming platforms are created and these companies continue with the dreaded price increases. The affordability once characteristic of streaming platforms is gone.
The expenses do not end there, as many platforms have thrown ad-supported tiers into the mix. Netflix currently has three tiers: Standard with ads, Standard and Premium. Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max and Prime Video have also created a similarly tiered structure to get users to pay more. Netflix’s cheapest option, Standard, with ads, costs $7.99 per month, and the user does not even get access to Netflix’s full catalog. Removal of ads was one of streaming’s biggest selling points. Watching your favorite show without constant interruptions made for the perfect television experience. Now, this standard feature has been repackaged as an upgrade, allowing the companies to charge customers even more money.
Another major issue with streaming services is how they handle their original shows. Many platforms pour millions into creating new shows, release them with little to no marketing and then quietly cancel them after a season or two when they do not perform well. Shows are no longer given the time to develop an audience; they either must go viral immediately or they will be canceled. Overall, streaming services had a television cancellation rate of 12.2% while cable’s was 7.2%. HBO Max has one of the worst cancellation rates. Between January 2020 and August 2023, they cancelled 26.9% of their shows. Audiences feel cheated because, after getting emotionally invested in the story, it gets left unfinished. Worse, people become discouraged from starting new shows at all, in fear of liking the show and then finding out they will never get to see a second season.
Streaming services have also begun to crack down on password sharing, a move that has angered both those who pay for streaming and those who do not. Platforms like Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ have implemented strict limits or extra fees for additional users outside of the household. For college students, this is one of the worst features of all. Who has not had a late night where all you wanted to do was just lie back and watch an episode of “Gilmore Girls” to get into the fall spirit, only to be met with the dreaded “Your device isn’t part of the Netflix Household” message because the account is connected to your house’s Wi-Fi network. It is either too late to text your parents to send you the code, or you just know they will not get back to you in time. For students juggling classes, internship applications and social lives, these restrictions take away a much-needed moment of relaxation.
Streaming services, while great in theory, have lost much of their convenience, affordability freedom that once made them so special. The cheap, ad-free alternative to cable has evolved into a fragmented, expensive and frustrating landscape. Had streaming services stayed as they initially were, they would be the perfect option over cable. Unfortunately, there are far too many platforms and the prices are too high, taking away from the simplicity and value that made streaming appealing in the first place. I still opt for streaming over cable because the shows tend to be made at a higher quality, but the model needs to be fixed soon to maintain their relevance, or streaming platforms will become seen as another costly system that feels just like the cable bundles they replaced
Johanna Brooslin, FCRH ’27, is an English major from Medfield, Massachusetts.
