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I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of "streaming aggregators" that bundle together Netflix/Hulu/Disney+/etc. subscriptions into a single thing so you don't have t

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of "streaming aggregators" that bundle together Netflix/Hulu/Disney+/etc. subscriptions into a single thing so you don't have to manage several individual subscriptions. I'm sure that exists already, actually. Thus completing the cycle back to whence we came (from cable subscriptions), but on the internet instead of television.

steamer25 8y ago
If I'm interested in a particular show, I usually use https://justwatch.com https://justwatch.com to see which streaming service(s) carry it. Once that's narrowed down, it's usually not a problem to pull up the respective app and start the show. Something integrated might save the redundant in-app search but that's probably less than one minute of the average 45 minute viewing session.
- sergiotapia 8y ago
  First time I've ever done this but there's this show I literally cannot find anywhere online legally. I had to buy some old DVD's which I fully intend to rip into x265 hevc and spread around online - just to preserve it. It's called The Jamie Kennedy Experiment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJVCr7H3rco https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJVCr7H3rco
  - TazeTSchnitzel 8y ago
    Thank you for trying to make media accessible in this way. I know you're breaking the law, but someone must restrain copyright's long arm.
  - crtasm 8y ago
    Looks like it all got released by scene groups back at the time but I haven't checked if it's still shared anywhere - another copy never hurts! https://predb.me/?search=Jamie+kennedy+experiment https://predb.me/?search=Jamie+kennedy+experiment
jarfil 8y ago
I think those are called "torrent sites", where people get the streams from multiple services and aggregate them on a single site. Meanwhile, everyone else seems to be interested in forcing users to pay for and use as many different services as possible, starting with 5G's network slicing features.
- bognition 8y ago
  Meh, I get what you’re trying to say but ultimately I’d rather pay content providers for making the content.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    I don’t have a moral qualm about pirating. But I’d rather pay for convenience. I stopped pirating music when the iTunes Music Store came out. It wasn’t worth dealing with the hassle of Napster/Kazaa/Limewire. I’m not above getting a movie or tv series “off the back of a truck”, but if I want something now I’ll rent it from iTunes. I’ve even bought a few movies from Amazon, Google, and iTunes now that you can sync most purchased movies between all three services via Movies Anywhere. I also pay for Hulu, Amazon Prime, DirectV Now, and get Netflix free from T-mobile.
  - ThePadawan 8y ago
    That is a startup idea I've shelved. It would allow "pirates only due to laziness" to go "You know, I quite like that show/game, give the creators $5/$10/$20" anonymously. Of course, this would need to be so easy that someone lazy would still use it at all...
  - Sir_Substance 8y ago
    These guys have a legion of lawyers, maybe they can put them to good use and draft up a profit sharing agreement that underpins a shared service that has all their collective content on it. If they try to downstream their inability to play nice with each other to me by asking me to juggle the updates, breakages, outages, and platform incompatibilities of 5 different streaming services, I'm just gonna go hit the high seas because it's objectively easier. It's not about money.
threeseed 8y ago
On the AppleTV there is an app called TV which attempts to aggregate all of the streaming services into one place. Only a few players are on board however.
- SllX 8y ago
  Well, almost all of them except Netflix are pretty much on-board. The same app is on iPhones as well, and I use Netflix a lot less as a result of their lack of integration. That said, it doesn't aggregate the actual subscription charges, the parent is thinking of something more like VRV, or I don't know, the free Netflix subscription you get with some T-Mobile plans.
  - pfranz 8y ago
    Netflix is the big player that's not participating, but there are a lot of decently sized companies that don't show up. I'm pretty sure I was searching for things the PBS app offered for free, but the only result was the same things for sale through iTunes. Hoopla and Kanopy are services that offer feature films through your local library. They both have appleTV apps, but neither appear in the TV app.
scarface74 8y ago
Jim Barksdale: Gentlemen, there’s only two ways I know of to make money: bundling and unbundling
- mlthoughts2018 8y ago
  Avon Barksdale: “You know the difference between me and you? I bleed red and you bleed green.”
CrazedGeek 8y ago
VRV works on that model, but it's mostly a niche subscription bundle -- Crunchyroll, HIDIVE, Shudder, that sort of thing.
ryacko 8y ago
Forget that, I’m still waiting for affordable a la carte cable channels.
forgot-my-pw 8y ago
Youtube TV seems to be one of them: https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/ https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/ Though it aggregates digital cable channels on the net.

steamer25 8y ago

If I'm interested in a particular show, I usually use https://justwatch.com https://justwatch.com to see which streaming service(s) carry it. Once that's narrowed down, it's usually not a problem to pull up the respective app and start the show. Something integrated might save the redundant in-app search but that's probably less than one minute of the average 45 minute viewing session.

sergiotapia 8y ago
First time I've ever done this but there's this show I literally cannot find anywhere online legally. I had to buy some old DVD's which I fully intend to rip into x265 hevc and spread around online - just to preserve it. It's called The Jamie Kennedy Experiment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJVCr7H3rco https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJVCr7H3rco
- TazeTSchnitzel 8y ago
  Thank you for trying to make media accessible in this way. I know you're breaking the law, but someone must restrain copyright's long arm.
- crtasm 8y ago
  Looks like it all got released by scene groups back at the time but I haven't checked if it's still shared anywhere - another copy never hurts! https://predb.me/?search=Jamie+kennedy+experiment https://predb.me/?search=Jamie+kennedy+experiment

jarfil 8y ago

I think those are called "torrent sites", where people get the streams from multiple services and aggregate them on a single site. Meanwhile, everyone else seems to be interested in forcing users to pay for and use as many different services as possible, starting with 5G's network slicing features.

bognition 8y ago
Meh, I get what you’re trying to say but ultimately I’d rather pay content providers for making the content.
- scarface74 8y ago
  I don’t have a moral qualm about pirating. But I’d rather pay for convenience. I stopped pirating music when the iTunes Music Store came out. It wasn’t worth dealing with the hassle of Napster/Kazaa/Limewire. I’m not above getting a movie or tv series “off the back of a truck”, but if I want something now I’ll rent it from iTunes. I’ve even bought a few movies from Amazon, Google, and iTunes now that you can sync most purchased movies between all three services via Movies Anywhere. I also pay for Hulu, Amazon Prime, DirectV Now, and get Netflix free from T-mobile.
- ThePadawan 8y ago
  That is a startup idea I've shelved. It would allow "pirates only due to laziness" to go "You know, I quite like that show/game, give the creators $5/$10/$20" anonymously. Of course, this would need to be so easy that someone lazy would still use it at all...
- Sir_Substance 8y ago
  These guys have a legion of lawyers, maybe they can put them to good use and draft up a profit sharing agreement that underpins a shared service that has all their collective content on it. If they try to downstream their inability to play nice with each other to me by asking me to juggle the updates, breakages, outages, and platform incompatibilities of 5 different streaming services, I'm just gonna go hit the high seas because it's objectively easier. It's not about money.

threeseed 8y ago

On the AppleTV there is an app called TV which attempts to aggregate all of the streaming services into one place. Only a few players are on board however.

SllX 8y ago
Well, almost all of them except Netflix are pretty much on-board. The same app is on iPhones as well, and I use Netflix a lot less as a result of their lack of integration. That said, it doesn't aggregate the actual subscription charges, the parent is thinking of something more like VRV, or I don't know, the free Netflix subscription you get with some T-Mobile plans.
- pfranz 8y ago
  Netflix is the big player that's not participating, but there are a lot of decently sized companies that don't show up. I'm pretty sure I was searching for things the PBS app offered for free, but the only result was the same things for sale through iTunes. Hoopla and Kanopy are services that offer feature films through your local library. They both have appleTV apps, but neither appear in the TV app.

scarface74 8y ago

Jim Barksdale: Gentlemen, there’s only two ways I know of to make money: bundling and unbundling

mlthoughts2018 8y ago
Avon Barksdale: “You know the difference between me and you? I bleed red and you bleed green.”

CrazedGeek 8y ago

VRV works on that model, but it's mostly a niche subscription bundle -- Crunchyroll, HIDIVE, Shudder, that sort of thing.

ryacko 8y ago

Forget that, I’m still waiting for affordable a la carte cable channels.

forgot-my-pw 8y ago

Youtube TV seems to be one of them: https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/ https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/ Though it aggregates digital cable channels on the net.