Over the course of the last few years, there have been several new streaming services that have gained popularity and have been established. This includes Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, Max, and more. Even though there is all of this new competition for Netflix and Hulu, they are still raising their prices and cracking down on people sharing passwords. 

During the weekend, I logged onto my smart TV and attempted to watch Netflix. All I wanted to do was see if they had any good Christmas movies on the platform so that I could start to get into the holiday spirit. The loading screen popped up and all of a sudden a message appeared that stated, “This TV isn’t part of your Netflix household.”

I don’t have my own Netflix account, but my aunt has been very generous in sharing her password with our whole family. She is paying over $20 a month to watch movies/TV ad free and apparently that is not enough for Netflix. Even though all of this money is going to them, they are making it so college students and people who live in separate households can’t enjoy their families subscription. It is ridiculous that people who are a part of their household are unable to use their account all because they live geographically in a different area. 

What happened to streaming services being better than cable TV? Now people are subjected to paying multiple subscriptions for different platforms just to watch two good TV shows. Now people are paying more and more for subscriptions because the prices continue to keep rising. Now people are unable to even watch their streaming services on their TV because of the new rules with password sharing. 

The pricing for subscription services have changed so much of the last few years. If you want a Hulu subscription you can either pay $8 per month with ads or $18 per month with no ads, Disney+ is $8 per month with ads or $14 per month with no ads, Max is $10 per month with ads or $16 per month with no ads, and Netflix is $15 per month for a standard subscription and $20 per month with a premium subscription. 

All and all, I don’t understand how as consumers we let streaming services take over our lives and continue to take our money when they barely have anything to offer as it is. I miss the good old days where Disney+ was less than $5 and you didn’t have to worry about ads constantly interrupting your TV shows. With all of these subscriptions, people are paying at least $44 per month for different platforms. I feel like streaming services have taken advantage of people because they know at the end of the day people are still going to pay month to month for meaningless subscriptions.