With so many streamers adding commercials, increasing prices, merging content and cracking down on password sharing it’s hard to know which ones to keep. I recently dropped Paramount Plus because they’re capitulating to fascism, and am considering dropping AMC+ and MGM+ because I don’t use them much. (The Institue on MGM+ is absolute trash. I’m mad I started watching it!) I also subscribe to Netflix, HBO Max, Prime, Discovery+, Peacock, Howdy (that’s great actually), Disney, Starz, Hulu, PBS and Fubo, not to mention the fitness streamers I barely use. (Several of those services, like Hulu and Disney, and Discovery+ and HBO Max, have overlapping content too.) In my defense, I sometimes threaten to cancel them so I get better rates. Starz in particular is really generous with this. Also it’s my job to watch TV and movies and I cut cable about 9 months ago.
Apple TV+ started out at a relatively reasonable $4.99 a month when it launched in November, 2019. They raised prices to $6.99 in October, 2022 and had another $3 price raise in October, 2023. Apple TV+ just announced that prices will raise to $12.99 starting yesterday for new US customers and within 30 days of the renewal date for existing US customers. Guess that’s no longer me.
The last show I watched on Apple TV+ was Murderbot. Kaiser and I both enjoyed that and Severance, which we talked about on the podcast. I also liked Dark Matter, with Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly, which came out well over a year ago. (I intend to watch The Studio at some point. I will defintely see Highest 2 Lowest when it comes out September 5!) Chief of War is said to be great but that finishes airing in about a month. The Morning Show is popular, I know my mom watches it, and Palm Royale gets a lot of buzz. Season four of The Morning Show comes out on September 17 and season two of Palm Royal is out in November.
Apple is about to find out how much loyalty their subscribers have. Maybe I should give it a chance as their shows are typically excellent, but I doubt there’s enough content to keep me paying $12.99 a month. I’ve been watching older gems on Howdy and that’s just $3 a month.
I had Apple TV on a promo price of .99 cents for three months. I forgot to cancel and was charged $9.99. I immediately canceled it. And now I know for sure that I won’t be renewing it. These streaming services have become ridiculous with their prices. I feel like I am paying almost as much as I did when I had cable. I have downsized to three major streaming services (NetFlix, Hulu and Disney+). I thankfully get HBO Max for free through my cell provider. But if that ever changes I will just cancel that too. I am thinking I will get a PBS+ pass to support PBS. But that’s it.
We will likely keep it. I wish there was nonoriginal content available but we watch that more than Peacock or HBO or Amazon prime. Everything on there is just so good.
(CB i think you would love the Studio. It’s kind of like the Office set in Hollywood).
We pretty much only watch EPL games on peacock and we stream movies on HBO. Apple and Netflix and Disney plus have the series that we actually watch.
I cancelled a lot of American subscriptions and went more local. Don’t regret as I save money.
Try to avoid American things as much as possible unless they’re actively against Trump and doing other good things, like this great website.
No Amazon account, Coca Cola, Apple etc either. I do like supporting ethical American brands, so suggestions are welcone
Same.
Seriously I spend more time looking for a movie I want to watch, than actually watching one. I’m falling asleep before the beginning generic finishes, that’s how bad it’s gotten for me. I will eventually cancel netflix and prime, and everything else. I have masterclass and the app absolutely annoys me. I’m gonna jump on youtube 100%all the way.
Hope you start with Prime.
Have avoided Amazon for a long time for how they treat employees.
Bezos behavior around Trump only made them worse for me.
I only get Apple TV+ for a few months every 2 years. I love the series Foundation. Lee Pace is my Empire!
As soon as the current 3rd season ends I cancel it again. I didn’t love the other series.
It’s not worth $13. So many jobs are being lost to corporate greed. I need to save as much as possible until I get the axe at some point. Streaming subscriptions are a luxury to me that I can no longer afford. With the way this country is headed.
I’m the same way with Apple TV+, I get it, binge some stuff, then cancel it. Definitely not worth $13.
I’m down to HBO Max, Netflix and Hulu. I gave up Prime because of Bezos and it’s been easier than I imagined it would be.
I turn it on and off to watch specific stuff. Off now. Will come back for new season of Shrinking. Loved Your Friends and Neighbors (Jon Hamm was so good, plus they really stuck the ending) so will be back for that, too.
Apple+ was the first one I dropped when I was looking to downsize my video subscription bill. We kept Netflix, Prime, hulu/Disney+/HBO Max. Prime comes up for renewal in December but we use it for so many things, so I doubt that will get canceled. I can see dropping Netflix. For the summer, we get MLB, so once the season is over maybe we will get around to watching more streaming shows.
I’ll get it to binge watch a couple new seasons and then cancel – I do that with all of them
Well this is annoying. I’ll be keeping my Apple subscription though because it’s bundled with my music and a couple of other things for cheaper than what they are separately. I really do like their shows as well. Nobody mentioned Slow Horses which is fantastic and you don’t have to wait years between seasons. Pajiba mentioned this a while back that Slow Horses has got to be the most efficient show on any streamer right now that’s also legitimately good.
Is Apple the streamer that has Bad Sisters? S1 of that was awesome!
Especially if you like dark humor
I think I had 3 months free at some point? Or maybe I suscribed to watch that Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery series (defending jacob – thanks Megan! ) because they’d filmed some scenes in my hometown and other Massachusetts locations I’m familiar with, though I never got past episode 3, it was just too dark and not in a good way (I’m sort of over movies/tv that wallow in the mindsets of violent people, thank you very much and it felt like that’s where this was headed)
Right now I’ve got Netflix, Disney + and unfortunately Prime. I could swear I’d cancelled turned off the Amazon auto-renew when I cancelled WaPo after Bezos suck up nonsense. But I just saw a renewal til 2026 show up on my credit card AND they took away the “turn off autorenew” option as far as I could tell. … note to self to go back in and figure it out.
I will keep it because I like their shows and the quality is there. Besides, my partner pays the cable bill so he can watch sports and The Big Bang Theory. Lol
I have AppleTV and Netflix thru my phone plan; if that changed I’d maybe keep Netflix but I never watch AppleTV so wouldn’t miss it or subscribe.
Yes. I’ll keep Apple TV+ because I’ve subscribed all the way through to November of next year with discount cards from Costco. The one I should probably drop is the extra stuff I added to Disney+ in order to watch Invictus Games 2025 on ESPN. Or maybe all Disney+.
I’ll keep Apple, I think its one of the best bang for the buck as far as streaming platforms go. They make really great original shows.
Probably not. I kept it in hopes of a season three of Pachinko but I understand that’s not happening soon, if at all.
I just switched to a mobile carrier that gives it to me for free and was able to cancel my personal subscription; otherwise I would have canceled anyway. Not going to subsidize the latest bribe to Trump.
I gotta have my Slow Horses. Plus Silo, Bad Sisters, Shrinking, Your Friends and Neighbors, Defending Jacob, Foundation, Black Bird, Pachinko, Bad Monkey…they’ve got a lot of quality shows. $13 seems fair.
I’ve already cancelled it. We’re keeping a spreadsheet of streaming services and only subscribe for short periods to watch specific shows. That’s easier with Netflix, of course, who drops whole seasons at once, but unless it’s a show where I absolutely cannot risk spoilers, I’m happy to wait for full seasons to complete before I subscribe monthly. While I love the Morning Show, it’s Severance that motivates me to subscribe for the entire duration of the season. And that may never come back anyway.
I had it for free for 3 months and there was literally nothing on it. I liked the tv show Trying and that’s about it.
Probably keep it since they have a lot of sci-fi shows. The one that I would switch on and off would be Paramount Plus since I only watch Star Trek on it.
Currently, I pay for Apple TV+, Disney+, and Netflix. The rest (Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount+, Prime) are paid for by my co-worker. We share everything but Netflix since they started cracked down on password sharing. I think Disney is about to start cracking down on password sharing so he will likely have to get his own subscription.
I’m down to Apple+ (Slow Horses!) and Prime, but I’ll store up stuff I want to watch on a particular streamer and get one-month service. I’ll pay extra for no commercials because – gah!
I always check to see if something is on Tubi or Plex, though. I’m really not sure how they do it, but content is free without commercials!
I don’t know about the US but in Canada we have Kanopy which has an amazing range of films and documentaries. It’s not highbrow at all – you can even find some Jason Statham movies there! Excellent documentaries, film old and new, education courses, and it’s free. It’s run through libraries http://www.kanopy.com – all you need is a library ticket.
If you’re like me and like older movies https://rarefilmm.com/ is superb.
My twins are obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabbaland so I’ll be paying for the hike.
I may not keep it. There hasn’t been too many series on there that we’ve been watching. If they cancel 1 of my series there’s no point of me renewing. Prime and Netflix have a couple of new content exclusives we’re still interested in inc WLM(Meghan).