TV Streaming Service Wars

[Sprayin]

Streaming services have almost totally taken over the TV and Movie market. By now just about every company has their own streaming service. I personally have a love/hate relationship with them. I love having the ability to watch whatever I want, whenever I want. I hate that there are now like 20 different streaming services and it's not economical to use them all.

I have several of the services and with a lot of them I find myself wondering why I do. Half of them I feel like I got for one or two shows and then immediately burned through them and just never got around to canceling it. So I'm going through the exercise of "which streaming service is the best?" I don't mean the best as in has the highest quality content, but more along the lines of "if I canceled all of them, which would I miss the most regularly"?

So I'm posing that question to you, the fine people of TCG. Which streaming service is you goto #1? Vote in the poll. Only one selection. Which would be the hardest to cancel?

I tried to add all the ones I could think of thag would be people's top. I left off fringe ones like Peacock or Discovery+ because I feel like I never hear about anyone loving those. If you do, vote "Other".

I also didn't include things like YouTube TV, ATT TV Now/DirectTv Now(or whatever they're calling it now), or things like Xfinity and Spectrum, as those are more live TV and not related to streaming services.

Discuss in the comments.

Click to read more...

 

[Sprayin]

For me, it's Disney+. Not because of all the new stuff they have (they don't) but because what they do have has high rewatchable value. For both me and my wife. My wife would probably choose Netflix but I absolutely HATE Netflix.

 

[Mook]

Hmmm. Tough one. I don't use Hulu anymore... Rarely every use Amazon. Canceled HBO until something else comes along. Don't use Disney... Apple TV has a few good shows but few and far between.

I'll vote Netflix even tho I barely even use that.

 

[Yaj Yak]

Sling- which i know you are saying isn't like a streaming service but i get 95% of what i want to watch from it, i can use it on several different tv's at the same time, logged in different places or watch shit on my phone.

 

[Sprayin]

Sling

Added. Is that streaming and not live TV?

 

[Yaj Yak]

Added. Is that streaming and not live TV?

it really does it all-i can select a "channel" and it will have shit tons of whatever shows that channel has- like food network, select that and you can see fuck tons of DDD, beating bobby flay whatever, or you can watch live tv

not many poeple on here use it iirc

 

[Sprayin]

it really does it all-i can select a "channel" and it will have shit tons of whatever shows that channel has- like food network, select that and you can see fuck tons of DDD, beating bobby flay whatever, or you can watch live tv

not many poeple on here use it iirc

You can do that on Xfinity and real TV services too I think. I think that doesn't necessarily qualify with my criteria but I'll leave it as an option anyways.

 

[1quick]

I’m between Amazon and Netflix 99% of the time Hulu for only a few shows

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

I find myself on Amazon more than Netflix these days but use both. I also use motortrend a lot.


I just wish all this shit was back on cable or a cable umbrella streaming service vs live tv. Sick of navigating thru like 10 different services to find something or browse.

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

I have disney+, hulu live, netflix (on/off, may cancel again soon), and prime video.

My go-to is prime video, usually for some movie I own, or disney+. Hulu live is basically only used for what few sports I watch, which sucks because it is expensive for how little I use it. Hulu's proprietary stuff is awful but I tried a couple different options for live TV and they were the best.

I like streaming for their TV shows (99% of network shows are legit terrible and have been for a long time), but hate what it's done to movies.

 

[Jimy Bilmo]

So many stupid streaming services: Netflix, Prime, Hulu, Disney+, Paramount+, HBOmax, and more, I can't even remember them all at this point. On top of every freaking channel Xfinity offers, and when I suggest canceling some... "nooooo, I watch that"

 

[SpeedSpeak2me]

I've got AT&T's DirectStream, which is basically DirecTV's streaming service, which includes HBO Max, since I had their satellite service for almost 20 years. That pretty much covers 90% of what I watch. I am not sure if I will call it a "favorite" though, since I do have other streaming services available (Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, PlexTV. and Nextflix), I just hardly use them. Keep saying I'm going to catch up on shows, then never do.

 

[Shawn1112]

I’ve got 2-modded fire sticks and some kind of Google box that I pay $30 total a month. That allows me to watch anything I want including PPV events and movies that are at the theatre. I just picked up a Super Box for $400. Same thing as my modded fire sticks, but never pay a monthly fee. Super Box has no porn but my Firesticks do.

I get all the local channels as well, WGN always has issues though

 

[Shawn1112]

Super Box

 

[IDAFC21]

Oof, thats a tough one, but I think i have to give it to Netflix. It really has the most versatility. If you cant find something you like watching on Netflix you're really not trying that hard.

Amazons a close 2nd, especially since you can bundle other services w/ your prime membership like Starz and AMC+ and things like that (which I guess you could do w/ Hulu too if you wanted to)

Disney+ is a close 3rd. So that would be my top 3. Even tho thats not what you asked for

 

[Sprayin]

I’ve got 2-modded fire sticks and some kind of Google box that I pay $30 total a month. That allows me to watch anything I want including PPV events and movies that are at the theatre. I just picked up a Super Box for $400. Same thing as my modded fire sticks, but never pay a monthly fee. Super Box has no porn but my Firesticks do.

I get all the local channels as well, WGN always has issues though

How stable are those? I used to go and do this to the firestick myself back in the day but the programs would be obsolete or shutdown within a matter of months. And it got exhausting having to redo it over and over and over again. Plus it really bogged down the hardware and made everything run slow, if it even worked at all.

 

[Sprayin]

Oof, thats a tough one, but I think i have to give it to Netflix. It really has the most versatility. If you cant find something you like watching on Netflix you're really not trying that hard.

Amazons a close 2nd, especially since you can bundle other services w/ your prime membership like Starz and AMC+ and things like that (which I guess you could do w/ Hulu too if you wanted to)

Disney+ is a close 3rd. So that would be my top 3. Even tho thats not what you asked for

I think the issue I have with Netflix is that my wife watches it primarily, so the only shows I really see on there are catered to her (terrible) taste. And I don't really feel like going through the hassle of splitting myself out.

 

[Shawn1112]

How stable are those? I used to go and do this to the firestick myself back in the day but the programs would be obsolete or shutdown within a matter of months. And it got exhausting having to redo it over and over and over again. Plus it really bogged down the hardware and made everything run slow, if it even worked at all.

I had those as well and hated them. I’m going on probably 2yrs with no major issues.

 

[Z28Camaro]

I saw this on Reddit and it reminded me of this thread

1. quit cable TV because it's expensive as fuck and still like 50% ads
2. join Netflix cuz no ads wasting your time and cheap, with massive library
3. join hulu cuz cheap, minimal ads, and library fills the holes left by netflix. Life is good. But it keeps going
4. Greedy asshole hollywood production companies make their own streaming services
5. Pull all their content from netflix and hulu to put on their own service
6. netflix and hulu jack up their costs while having nothing to watch
7. netflix now w/ ads, hulu showing more ads for longer
8. other services following suit. More cost, more ads, fractured content library across 10+ streaming services
9. 8 minutes of unskippable ads
10. we're back at TV again.
11. pirate everything, fuck these idiots

 

[importcrew]

it really does it all-i can select a "channel" and it will have shit tons of whatever shows that channel has- like food network, select that and you can see fuck tons of DDD, beating bobby flay whatever, or you can watch live tv

not many poeple on here use it iirc

I used to use Sling. I canceled DirectTv to go to Sling and I saved more than 50% of what I was paying DTV. Then it got to a point that there was really only one channel/show I'd watch. So my wife and I canceled it and went full streaming services. If there's something we really want to see, we'll sign into whatever service has it and login with my in laws sign-in. Lol.

I haven't really watched much lately but each streaming service has some shows I need to watch or catch up on. But my answer would fall with Netflix just for the sole fact that they have a majority of the shows I do watch. So Netflix it is.

 

[Mook]

Prime Video Overtakes Netflix As Top US Streaming Service

Netflix has been No. 1 since at least 2019.

screenrant.com

 

[Sprayin]

Prime Video Overtakes Netflix As Top US Streaming Service

Netflix has been No. 1 since at least 2019.

screenrant.com

Yeah but every prime member gets that.

 

[Mook]

Yeah but every prime member gets that.

Ya. I'm more surprised that Netflix has been the leader this long.

 

[Sprayin]

Ya. I'm more surprised that Netflix has been the leader this long.

Half the reason I created this thread. All I see on things like FB is people talking about Netflix.

 

[Pewter-Camaro]

We have Amazon only but that is because we have a prime account anyhow and a fire cube. Once in a while I subscribe to a channel. We don’t ever have more than 2 channels in Amazon and I always go through and cancel them each month.