Meh. I cancelled Netflix when they did it and I cancelled my Hulu bundle when I got the email a couple of days ago. I know I won't make a difference, but I also won't miss either one of them.
this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2024
371 points (98.2% liked)
Technology
60073 readers
2807 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I'm sure just like Netflix, it will only effect Smart TVs. Netflix never stopped you from watching on your phone or browser.
I can get around password sharing rules on every streaming service that has them by using my phone and mobile data lmao.
load more comments
(1 replies)
I decided I would help Disney out with their password sharing problem by canceling my Disney Plus account a few months ago. No, they never have to worry about it again.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Oddly enough, the price hikes earlier last year were enough to move me to spend four times as much as an annual subscription for a NAS and 16TB of storage. I made digital backups of my media and set up my parents and sister's family with Jellyfin accounts to access my media as needed. Now they can watch videos of our wedding and my niece's dance recital from the comfort of their living rooms. All without worrying about arbitrary changes to TOS. And I'm learning about all kinds of horrible children's shows. OTOH my niece and nephew are learning about cool things like Batman: The Animated Series and Tiny Toons.
I've only run into a couple small issues when it came to backing up my media, but I'll get them sorted.
I'd like to use Jelly Fin, but it has not been a great experience for me on a Mac with an Apple TV. HDR doesn't carry over, some videos are blocked due to music licensing or something, and the library syncing doesn't always work. I'm not sure if it's a Jellyfin problem, a lack of support for Mac hardware, or just my personal incompetence with this sort of thing (very likely). I managed to get Plex to work without issue, so I'm using that even if I don't really like the UX all that much.
load more comments
(4 replies)
four times as much as an annual subscription
If you're gonna waste money, you might as well waste money on something big.
load more comments
(4 replies)
🏴☠️
If we can't use my MIL's account I will pirate the shows instead
Damn, Steamboat Willie going into public domain really has Disney tightening the purse strings /s
load more comments
(1 replies)
I'm not surprised. It went really well for Netflix.
Everybody said they'd cancel Netflix over it, even that it would be a mistake that would kill Netflix, but when it came down to it, most continued paying/bought a plan and Netflix became more profitable.
Everybody said they’d cancel Netflix over it
What's probably more likely is that the "everybody" that you heard from was an incredibly unrepresentative sample of people from a bubble of nerdy tech enthusiasts.
load more comments
(1 replies)
The people who said they'd cancel probably did, they were just the minority.
Ironically I dropped Netflix for the Hulu Disney package because of password sharing and I was the one paying.
Great news to be honest. I hope disney sees a similar spike in profits so they can make more great shows for me to pirate.
Ay someone gets it. Everyone can win
load more comments
(2 replies)
Was no surprise that other platforms would follow Netflix with not allowing sharing passwords.
What does surprise me is that people actually pay their own subscription for these platforms. Netflix had a win in profit/revenue. I’m surprised that these people did not go for the Piracy method even though, they complain about:
- Price increases
- Not allowed to share password/ account
- Content not available on said platform and having to go to others platforms
- Cancellation of shows after one or two seasons
Of it were up to me I'd drop it in a heart beat. I'm outvoted by kids grandkids and wife who watch random things throughout the day.
I barely watch TV these days and would happily hooky the odd things I do want to see
I totally get that the couple of bucks a month is worth saving any headache from doing tech support for family members.
However, if you want to try switching them to pirated sources, Stremio + Torrentio add-on and a Real-Debrid sub (which is paid but much cheaper than a streaming service) is great for giving you a Netflix-like interface for pirated content. It's easy enough that I coached my dad on how to set it up via text.
Cool ill give em a look
Most people don't even know how piracy works unless it gets as mainstream as Napster did. You tell them about torrenting, -arr programs, debrid services, and they'll have no clue what you're talking about.
load more comments
(1 replies)
What does surprise me is that people actually pay their own subscription for these platforms. Netflix had a win in profit/revenue. I’m surprised that these people did not go for the Piracy method even though, they complain about:
Most people don't like change. Maybe they have a habit of switching on Netflix daily during dinner or something. There's also a big "Netflix" button on their remotes and their TV's homescreen, which serves as a constant reminder. They probably even have the app on their phones. All of this leads to mental conditioning and addiction, it's now a part of their daily lives. Humans are a creature of habit, and it's hard to break out of a routine ingrained over several years.
Piracy could be a option for some people, but it's still either too technical, or not as convenient, for the average Joe. Sure, there are even websites you could simply go to without installing any app, but most people won't bother with that - they just want to hit a single button on their remote/TV and watch something, without needing to go to some website, a website which may eventually stop working.
You'll find that most people would prefer to take the path of least resistance, even if it means paying (more) money. Don't forget that even pirates may sometimes pay money to make things easier - eg usenet/seedbox/debrid users - and that's simply because they too would prefer to take the path of least resistance, even if it means being in the ironic situation of paying to watch pirated content. So it's not too hard to imagine why normal people would just prefer to cough up the extra cash for Netflix and continue with their lives, routines unchanged.
load more comments
(1 replies)
There are millions of people who can afford $140/yr. They just don't complain on forums.
$140 a year, sure. That's just Netflix or Disney Plus though. If you want all of the services these days you're up to $140 a month.
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)