How streaming services control the media industry
As tariffs and inflation continue to rise in the country, so does the cost of our standard subscription services. Many people enjoy streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu because of convenience. However, the problem with all of these subscription models is that the content hosted does not belong to you and can be taken away at any time. Netflix and Hulu were seen as some of the first streaming services; however, after they were deemed successful in the mid-2010s, major movie studios wanted to get in on the business.
This led to surfaces like Disney Plus, Max, Discovery Plus, Paramount+, and Peacock. These services are owned by massive media companies such as HBO, Disney, and Warner Bros Discovery, which produce the media. Hulu was even ultimately acquired by Disney in 2023.
Allowing massive media corporations to create content and run different streaming businesses gives them unchecked power and complete control over the media industry. Nowadays, it feels like a constant hunt for that one show that I may want to watch; after searching through every streaming service that I am subscribed to, I have come to the realization that the content I am looking for has been taken down with no way to access it, even though I may pay a hefty monthly fee. The worst part is that some studios don’t even sell the content for purchase, leaving that one movie or show wholly lost to time at the studio’s discretion.
Freedom of choice:
I firmly believe that consumers should have the choice of how they want to consume their content, either owning a physical disk, purchasing the movie outright digitally, or via a streaming service. When more and more consumers believe that streaming is the future or the only way to get good content, I encourage them to explore other venues. Des Moines still has at least two excellent video stores located in Meryl Hey Mall; while content may not be exactly what you are looking for, supporting these local media shops rather than streaming services could be a way to reverse the streaming monopoly.
While piracy is illegal, I completely support the use of piracy to watch content taken off streaming services or to physically or digitally purchase outright. If media companies want to stop piracy, they should allow other options to consume content or make subscriptions cheaper. Even while paying so much per month for access to media, ads have started to be injected into some content on streaming services. Usually, I would be against piracy to support the creators of the content. Still, with the ridiculous measure of adding ads to content you already pay for, there is no way to get non-ad-supported content without paying more than a cable subscription cost.
If media monopolies are not stopped, the media could become inaccessible to some people and allow corporate America to censor every piece of video content we watch.
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