ANALYSIS
Remember when you used to say, “There’s nothing on TV”? While that was almost literally true decades ago, when we had only a handful of over-the-air channels, the coming of cable and satellite services largely eliminated the problem.
But they have nothing on streaming TV entities.
Thanks to services such as Amazon’s Prime Video, Hulu and, especially, Netflix, myriad choices are at our flipping-and-clicking fingertips.
And yet the so-called “streaming wars” are really about to heat up, with major new players about to enter the highly competitive space.
At a big event on Sept. 10 at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., tech giant Apple not only unveiled new versions of various products including multiple iPhone models, it also provided the most concrete information yet about its fast-approaching Apple TV+ service. The long-talked-about platform launches Nov. 1 with nine original programs, including the buzz-worthy “The Morning Show” with Jennifer Anniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell. At the event, Apple also showed off a trailer for the intriguing if head-scratching series “See” starring Jason Momoa of “Aquaman” fame.
It also — finally — told us how much Apple TV+ would cost. While recent rumors suggested the somewhat-hefty tag of $10 per month, Apple announced it would be half that, $4.99, with buyers of certain new Apple products getting a year of Apple TV+. (That’s a nice perk, but that 60 bucks in free TV is not the reason you should buy a gadget that costs many times that.)
That price feels smart on Apple’s part considering the similarly reasonable price announced by another huge new player, Disney, which will launch its sure-to-be-a-powerhouse Disney+ on Nov. 12 for $7 per month.
And, yeah, this one looks like a must-subscribe.
For me, it will be all the “Star Wars” content, including the movies and highly anticipated live-action series “The Mandalorian,” set to debut with the service. (There will be more series to come set in a galaxy far, far away, including the recently announced show that will see prequel-series star Ewan McGregor reprise the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi.)
For others, the draw of Disney+ will be all the animated movies, many of them boasting the Disney Princesses, and for others it may be the fact the entire library of “The Simpsons” will reside there.
At the risk of making things more confusing, I think you should be aware you’ll be able to bundle Disney+, the ad-supported version of the now-Disney-controlled Hulu and (exausted breath) ESPN+ — which must offer something not available on the several ESPN cable channels — for $12.99.
And — somehow — more services are coming.
While many of us already are paying $15 per month for HBO’s HBO Now, as the longtime premium cable company also works to be a major streaming player, parent company AT&T in the spring also will offer the beefed up (and more expensive) HBO Max, which will feature more content including every episode of “Friends.”
CBS already has CBS All Access, home to the interesting-but-frustrating “Star Trek: Discovery” and “The Good Wife” spinoff “The Good Fight,” and an offering from NBCUniversal is slated to land in April. (It eventually will be home to reruns of “The Office” after that comedy follows “Friends” out the Netflix door.)
Many of us can’t afford to subscribe to it all, so choices have to be made.
Maybe you, like I, already have cut the cable cord. I switched to cable-substitute service YouTube TV. Like other internet-based cable-like offerings, it doesn’t have every network a big cable package does, but it’s pretty robust. For me, the big omission is the NFL Network, which, more importantly, means I can’t subscribe to offshoot offering NFL RedZone. I’m not sure I can live without its seven or so hours of wall-to-wall game coverage on fall Sundays.
With its Apple TV set-top box — my streaming hardware of choice (sorry, Roku lovers) — the company has tried to unify things in it pre-installed app, but it’s so-so at best. For starters, Netflix won’t play ball with Apple, and without that company’s offerings in amongst the others, it’s hard to see the point.
The best part of all this brave, new, stream-heavy world, aside from all the content? That it’s pretty easy to jump in and out of services. With a little bit of calendar work, you can spread your money around, canceling, say, Hulu at the end of a monthlong billing cycle and picking up, perhaps, CBS Interactive for 30 days.
Get in. Binge. Get out.
