5 ms·

Streaming Is Cable Now

33 points by stalfosknight 2y ago

P_I_Staker 2y ago
It's worth reminiscing on what a terrible deal we got with cable. It was over 10x as much for a pretty basic package. Despite all the cost, tons and tons of ads. Well beyond anything we'd dream of accepting today. On top of that they would intentionally play absolutely nothing a solid 10-50% of the time. Even prime hours were used to dump garbage absolutely no one wanted to see. Things are moving in that direction, and I'm looking for new forms of entertainment. Still, it's shocking how poor the value was. Reminded of paying $20+ for one song.
photonthug 2y ago
Well yeah. But there’s no real analysis in tfa. One thing I think is interesting, though: older folks who were used to cable barely cared about streaming, it was like they didn’t even notice how mass media advertising every few minutes was so intrusive and mind numbing that you could almost hear your brain dying. The youngest generation that grew up with YouTube before their parents let them mess with Netflix in the den was actually conditioned the same way. The generation in the middle is the most horrified now: we saw the world actually improving, noticed it, and saw it snatched away. I bet lots of us are retreating to audio books for our main entertainment. and probably that will soon be on the enshittification track with ads injected as if it were a podcast.. just wait until the catalogs are beefed up and the competitors are all consolidated.
- itopaloglu83 2y ago
  Well, now I’m afraid about getting ads in audiobooks, thanks.
  - brokenmachine 2y ago
    Hopefully when this happens we will also get sponsorblock for audiobooks and podcasts. And the war continues.
- BriggyDwiggs42 2y ago
  I’m in that Youtube generation, but I’ve always used adblockers. I’m amazed by my peers who willingly sit through youtube ads, utterly horrifying. I don’t bother with streaming services, just five bucks a month for a vpn has everything i want.
  - jamesy0ung 2y ago
    Firefox + uBlock Origin is great Also don't forget Sponsorblock, in-video ads are equally or more annoying than preroll ads.
    - BriggyDwiggs42 2y ago
      Yeah i love sponsorblock
  - photonthug 2y ago
    When I say grew up with YouTube.. I mean kids on phones and tablets that can’t touch mom’s entertainment center in the den. I’m guessing most of them weren’t able to change the devices to include ad blockers, even if they knew how.
- add-sub-mul-div 2y ago
  You can still watch TV without commercials on cable, it's been that way for over 20 years since we've had DVRs. It's streaming where the ads are now unskippable. (And based on a personalized profile they've built from collecting and buying data about you.) The one thing I can't watch anymore is sports because the announcers read micro-ads during the game. Those can't be skipped like regular commercials.
itopaloglu83 2y ago
I think it’s missing one crucial context here. As more movies and shows are produced, the price of existing content also goes down. It would be madness to expect new shows every month. Cable is dead for majority of folks because it is full of ads and not because it had legacy content. It didn’t help but it wasn’t the sole reason. Also, maybe an unpopular opinion, but maybe the film industry shouldn’t go after the same actors and actresses who earn millions of dollars per episode. So many individuals who have great talents being pushed aside due to this mindset.
- P_I_Staker 2y ago
  It's not about the actors. Movies are just expensive to make. The actors get so much money, because they solve a major problem. It essentially hedges this massive bet, by making a certain amount of attention a sure thing. They have a way of just getting people to show up. I think there's a bit of a feedback loop here, but the industry has just recognized the value of certain key players. A list celebs will get a bare minimum views (mitigate the worst) as well as have a ton of potential to get wide audience (lots of potential in the investment). It's a competitive industry, and while that doesn't eliminate the possibility of overpayed "glamour jobs", they would have gotten rid of them if possible.
- moralestapia 2y ago
  Your last point is something that I've never understood. Having the same actors over and over kind of breaks the 4th wall for me. I would prefer to see new faces, every single time. I don't get why people get so obsessed with a specific set of actors.
  - brokenmachine 2y ago
    That's what I enjoy most about watching foreign movies. They can have the big budget but not the same 10 actors over and over.
  - vsnf 2y ago
    Because it's not about the acting, it's about the celebrity. It also explains why some of the biggest earners always play themselves, and the character actors earn less.
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
Related: similarly touched on in January by The Verge: Netflix is turning into cable TV https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39111600 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39111600
latentcall 2y ago
I get a free TV service from my ISP and it works a lot like cable. There are a ton of ads. Each ad break can last 3-4 minutes. The one benefit of it is there are movies and shows on there I end up liking a lot that that I feel I wouldn’t discover elsewhere. Sometimes looking for something interesting is a lot of work, and just putting a movie on I’ve never heard of can be rewarding.

33 points by stalfosknight 2y ago

It's worth reminiscing on what a terrible deal we got with cable. It was over 10x as much for a pretty basic package. Despite all the cost, tons and tons of ads. Well beyond anything we'd dream of accepting today. On top of that they would intentionally play absolutely nothing a solid 10-50% of the time. Even prime hours were used to dump garbage absolutely no one wanted to see. Things are moving in that direction, and I'm looking for new forms of entertainment. Still, it's shocking how poor the value was. Reminded of paying $20+ for one song.

photonthug 2y ago

Well yeah. But there’s no real analysis in tfa. One thing I think is interesting, though: older folks who were used to cable barely cared about streaming, it was like they didn’t even notice how mass media advertising every few minutes was so intrusive and mind numbing that you could almost hear your brain dying. The youngest generation that grew up with YouTube before their parents let them mess with Netflix in the den was actually conditioned the same way. The generation in the middle is the most horrified now: we saw the world actually improving, noticed it, and saw it snatched away. I bet lots of us are retreating to audio books for our main entertainment. and probably that will soon be on the enshittification track with ads injected as if it were a podcast.. just wait until the catalogs are beefed up and the competitors are all consolidated.

itopaloglu83 2y ago
Well, now I’m afraid about getting ads in audiobooks, thanks.
- brokenmachine 2y ago
  Hopefully when this happens we will also get sponsorblock for audiobooks and podcasts. And the war continues.
BriggyDwiggs42 2y ago
I’m in that Youtube generation, but I’ve always used adblockers. I’m amazed by my peers who willingly sit through youtube ads, utterly horrifying. I don’t bother with streaming services, just five bucks a month for a vpn has everything i want.
- jamesy0ung 2y ago
  Firefox + uBlock Origin is great Also don't forget Sponsorblock, in-video ads are equally or more annoying than preroll ads.
  - BriggyDwiggs42 2y ago
    Yeah i love sponsorblock
- photonthug 2y ago
  When I say grew up with YouTube.. I mean kids on phones and tablets that can’t touch mom’s entertainment center in the den. I’m guessing most of them weren’t able to change the devices to include ad blockers, even if they knew how.
add-sub-mul-div 2y ago
You can still watch TV without commercials on cable, it's been that way for over 20 years since we've had DVRs. It's streaming where the ads are now unskippable. (And based on a personalized profile they've built from collecting and buying data about you.) The one thing I can't watch anymore is sports because the announcers read micro-ads during the game. Those can't be skipped like regular commercials.

itopaloglu83 2y ago

I think it’s missing one crucial context here. As more movies and shows are produced, the price of existing content also goes down. It would be madness to expect new shows every month. Cable is dead for majority of folks because it is full of ads and not because it had legacy content. It didn’t help but it wasn’t the sole reason. Also, maybe an unpopular opinion, but maybe the film industry shouldn’t go after the same actors and actresses who earn millions of dollars per episode. So many individuals who have great talents being pushed aside due to this mindset.

P_I_Staker 2y ago
It's not about the actors. Movies are just expensive to make. The actors get so much money, because they solve a major problem. It essentially hedges this massive bet, by making a certain amount of attention a sure thing. They have a way of just getting people to show up. I think there's a bit of a feedback loop here, but the industry has just recognized the value of certain key players. A list celebs will get a bare minimum views (mitigate the worst) as well as have a ton of potential to get wide audience (lots of potential in the investment). It's a competitive industry, and while that doesn't eliminate the possibility of overpayed "glamour jobs", they would have gotten rid of them if possible.
moralestapia 2y ago
Your last point is something that I've never understood. Having the same actors over and over kind of breaks the 4th wall for me. I would prefer to see new faces, every single time. I don't get why people get so obsessed with a specific set of actors.
- brokenmachine 2y ago
  That's what I enjoy most about watching foreign movies. They can have the big budget but not the same 10 actors over and over.
- vsnf 2y ago
  Because it's not about the acting, it's about the celebrity. It also explains why some of the biggest earners always play themselves, and the character actors earn less.

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

Related: similarly touched on in January by The Verge: Netflix is turning into cable TV https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39111600 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39111600

latentcall 2y ago

I get a free TV service from my ISP and it works a lot like cable. There are a ton of ads. Each ad break can last 3-4 minutes. The one benefit of it is there are movies and shows on there I end up liking a lot that that I feel I wouldn’t discover elsewhere. Sometimes looking for something interesting is a lot of work, and just putting a movie on I’ve never heard of can be rewarding.