I just subscribe to everything. Even a few niche services like britbox.

After taking into account credit card kickbacks, discounts from T-Mobile, and discounts from annual plans, I pay about 1/3 less than I did for cable with all the movie stations and DVR service back in the early aughts. And I'm even counting adding basic cable to my Internet (I use an app to stream that so no extra box). And I'm not even accounting for 20 years of inflation, with that it's about a 60% reduction.

So I pay 60% less after inflation for almost every movie and TV show ever made commercial free on demand on any device I own anywhere in the world (some programming changes apply) and live news and sports with the cable app (I don't think I've tried the cable app overseas though).

It used to be appointment TV with non-premium stations having 30-35% commercial time. Even when TiVo came out you had to buy it and pay a sub, and when cable started offering DVR you paid for a more expensive box rental on top of paying monthly for the ability to DVR, double-dipping fuckers.

I really don't understand complaints about streaming. Compared to what it's replacing it's an amazing upgrade in price, quality, and convenience. When do you ever get that? How hard is it to figure out what service something is on? Most boxes have a universial search and if your using a mobile device Google is right there. Yeah prices get higher on occasion, but inflation is a thing and now that content producers see the profit in streaming they're putting money into new content, which makes me think of another thing: content produced for streaming is vastly superior, even on streaming services from the old major networks. Stuff that wouldn't have gotten by the advertisers, let alone the censors for commercial broadcast, and no editing for time. A particular episode needs an extra couple/several minutes to be told correctly, no big deal.

As someone who loves the silver screen, and the small screen, for art and entertainment that can't be called art with a straight face, I love streaming. I can't understand how anyone who paid for cable/satellite in the past couldn't.

Sorry for the ramble, can't be bothered to edit for clarity or readability.