Streaming Is Not Getting Cheaper Anytime Soon
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I signed up for Amazon Prime in 2017 and have found that even without Prime Video , I would easily get my moneys worth from free shipping. Before the add-on channels were incorporated into the service, there were a lot more movies and series added each month, but a lot of the titles being added are now on streaming services that were not available in Canada at the time. I agree that several of the add-on channels are not worth the cost, there are some specialized channels that are, but they are not Canadian. I love Brit content so Acorn, Brit Box and PBS Masterpiece offer more than I can watch as well as series from other countries. I love the Walter Presents International streaming service that is included with PBS Masterpiece. Cleary, this content is not for everyone, but I suspect that they are among the most popular add- on channels.
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I've never paid for shipping even without Prime. Free shipping is available with most orders over $35. Prime has faster delivery, especially during peak sales times and there may be return restrictions without Prime. Prime pays for itself fairly easily. Some special offers are only for Prime members and it adds 1% to the cash back bonus on the Amazon credit card. Prime video is probably the biggest bonus for me though. Everything considered, it's the cheapest streaming service we have.
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What did people expect? I KNEW this was going to happen. It was only a matter of time.
and what did we gain out of it? sports were expensive with cable, now theyre just as expensive with online streaming platforms. We could watch linear sports with our cable packages when we are away from home using the "Go Apps" or proprietary apps, we can still watch sports using our streaming logins while away from home using the Go Apps or proprietary apps, we pay about the same we were paying before, we lost a bunch of stuff we used to watch on conventional TV such as live news, journalism, footage from the local community, but we replaced it with more useless movies and tv shows which most people unhealthily binge, and we are paying the price not just with our wallets but hurting ourselfs by consuming too much useless crap tv and paying the same if not more for it. we are back to square one, just this square is owned by a different company or companies
and what did we gain out of it? sports were expensive with cable, now theyre just as expensive with online streaming platforms. We could watch linear sports with our cable packages when we are away from home using the "Go Apps" or proprietary apps, we can still watch sports using our streaming logins while away from home using the Go Apps or proprietary apps, we pay about the same we were paying before, we lost a bunch of stuff we used to watch on conventional TV such as live news, journalism, footage from the local community, but we replaced it with more useless movies and tv shows which most people unhealthily binge, and we are paying the price not just with our wallets but hurting ourselfs by consuming too much useless crap tv and paying the same if not more for it. we are back to square one, just this square is owned by a different company or companies
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From my viewpoint, streaming services and expanded cable services have made things considerably worse. Broadcasters and copyright owners have used them to inflate prices by spreading new, quality programming across an constantly increasing number of channels and services. Prices have skyrocketed as a result. At one time, sports were a large part of network television schedules but are now expensive specialty services, though I've seen a minor comeback in the last couple of years. As noted, news services have gone down the drain but that's largely a result of revenue loss to internet based advertising services, not video streaming services.
CBC's Gem streaming service has "live news, journalism, footage from the local community". You have access to even more of this kind of programming if you're so inclined as local newscasts from across the country are available. We've also gained access to vastly more diverse and interesting TV shows (unless you're really hoping for NCIS: North Dakota or Dick Wolf Presents Law and Order: Traffic Court Division). And please don't limit my choices because you or your acquaintances lack self-control unless you're also against selling alcohol because some people unhealthily binge drink. No one is forcing anyone to subscribe to streaming services, same as no one was forced to subscribe to HBO or FirstChoice back in the day. The traditional conventional networks are still there, pumping out the same kind of content as they always did.
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Brilliantly said.
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The CBC has almost no presence and no local newscasts in a lot of markets. That includes London and Kitchener, two of the top 10 biggest broadcast markets in Canada. We haven't had a CBC affiliated station here for 30 years. They had a Toronto station repeater for 20 years but the CBC closed it 10 years ago. It was rumoured that the CBC was going to open a news office here several years ago but I've yet to see a story out of it.
For being a taxpayer funded national service, the CBC has very poor coverage in some areas. There are 14 CBC stations, mostly in provincial and other capitals, and the largest markets. That's down from 25 just 10 years ago when the CBC shut down 11 stations rather than convert them to ATSC. Prior to that 32 CBC affiliates lost their CBC affiliation. Many are now owned by CTV, including the station here which once had good local news before CTV acquired it. That doesn't include the dozens of smaller market analog repeaters that were also shut down about 10 years ago. An outlier is CBC Windsor, a city with a Canadian TV market about half that of London or Kitchener but it still has a CBC station anyway. Detroit gets better CBC service than many Canadian cities.
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No. I'm saying that many Canadians cannot get local newscasts from the CBC. Claiming they can is Canadian Broadcasting Crapola. I listened to and watched the CBC for years but don't recall our city ever being mentioned. The web site has a few stories, the same stories as other local sources, but no local video, as claimed by the CBC. The CBC is now so irrelevant here that I only watch it when a British or Australian show is on.
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I think he's correct for Canadians outside a few cities the CBC had deemed worthy of a local station. I tried GEM a few times but really hated it, as I do most streaming services with forced advertising, but GEM also had technical issues. Would I want to watch CBC news using GEM on the odd chance there may be a video or news story from a community the CBC abandoned and neglected over the past 30 years? That's a big not likely. The same goes for paying the CBC to get rid of advertising.
In the 1990s the CBC made a commitment to serve 90% of Canadians with OTA. That decision was completely reversed and undone less than 20 years later. GEM was created to replace OTA. Unfortunately, many Canadians still don't have internet capable of streaming video.
In the 1990s the CBC made a commitment to serve 90% of Canadians with OTA. That decision was completely reversed and undone less than 20 years later. GEM was created to replace OTA. Unfortunately, many Canadians still don't have internet capable of streaming video.
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How does one watch Festival Italiano di Johnny Lombardi or Omni News Italian on CBC Jem? they Cant! those shows are not even aired on CBC. Local content is NOT just news, its shows produced for the local community, a LOT of local content is created by individuals in the community who then get their shows carried by local stations too. There are tons of content like this which is NOT available on Online streaming platforms, yet no one thinks its important to carry. I'm just highlighting what ExDilbert said, even if an app exists with local content, its NOT the same. THey simply want to wipe their hands clean and say "oh look, we did an online streaming platform of local content", local content my you know what.
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I'm not saying that. Maybe if the CBC had fully followed through on their commitment to serve 90% of Canadians with OTA then that might be the case. That would have involved creating a full CBC station in the larger markets that lost CBC affiliates. All they got were CBC repeaters from a distant city that have since been shut down en mass. What I am saying is that GEM is not a replacement for shutting down OTA stations, at least not yet. Maybe when over 90% of Canadians have affordable high speed internet capable of streaming the CBC it would.
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It does not matter about CBC providing (or lack of providing) television to over 90% of Canadians when over 90% of Canadians are not even interested in CBC content to begin with. This is why people have decided to consume other useless content and a new method to consume it called binging. Lets face it. Just because someone is shoving content in your face, does not mean its good for you or good content for that matter.
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181 Posts
Never understood binging, there,s so little good content now why try to get thru something you actually like so fast?
So many orders seem to be below $35 though - especially of odd cell phone accessories, and various things during the pandemic, I'd normally have gone and hunted for.
Even a book is seldom over $35.
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You must have a lot more restraint than me. If I start a show that really grabs me I don't see much point in turning it off to watch something else .
I think you lose so much when you watch one episode a week as they dole them out. I usually get through a 10 episode season in 3 or 4 nights.
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