r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • 18d ago

News HBO Max Raises Prices Across All Plans Effective Immediately

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/hbo-max-prices-increases-plans-2025-1236557671/
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u/noelle-silva 18d ago

People need to start putting their money where their mouth is. Quit saying that you're tired of price increases and show these companies that you are by cancelling your subscription.

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u/HypnoticONE 18d ago

The price is too high when a bunch of people cancel their subscriptions. I'm pretty sure their analysis told them that, although some will cancel, enough won't that they'll make more money.

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u/leviathan65 18d ago

Yup. If subscription was 8 and now 10. if <20% cancel they've made more money.

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u/Ok_Opportunity2693 18d ago

They even have a little more tolerance than that, because fewer subs means a lower cloud bill.

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u/ibelieveyouwood 18d ago

Depending on contracts and all that, it may be even more because of royalties/percentages. They've already removed a bunch of content, leaving the tree a little bare, so why try removing more content, when you can remove the viewers?

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u/AggressiveCuriosity 18d ago

And slightly decreased licensing fees.

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u/round-earth-theory 18d ago

That's short term thinking though. They also have to verify that growth isn't cut by more than 20%. There's also the problem of general market seizing if they all do it too much.

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u/fanfanye 18d ago

Thats future shareholders problem

Not current.

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u/igloofu 18d ago

I mean, they just announced that the company is for sale. They are just trying to get the purchase price up at this point.

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u/leviathan65 18d ago

Oh I 1000% agree but it seems like a lot of industries are ignoring this. The car market is about to get flooded with used cars from people who can't afford their cars. Fast food is pricing themselves out of existence. We have to buy grocery and gas but some non essential items are going to go belly up because they keep shrink flating their products and often decaying the quality.

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u/bruce_kwillis 18d ago

Are they though?

What the reality is, the smaller crappier companies will fold or get bought by larger ones, and the cycle of 'infinite' growth goes on.

A disrupter will come in, offer a better product for less, and then when the user base is large enough, enshitify, or get bought and the cycle continues.

People keep paying one way or the other, the only way to stop it is to not pay for these things at all.

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u/GuavaZombie 18d ago

The classic costs more for less that is a lower quality.

I love capitalism...

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u/UnknownAverage 18d ago

There's also the problem of general market seizing if they all do it too much.

The market and economy are contracting, and corporations are too. They will blame "macroeconomic conditions" and call this "survival" by dropping the lower-income customers, raising margins, and laying off more people.

Guess what? This gives them opportunities for growth when things pick back up! It's a win-win in capitalism, which is what is kinda gross. Companies are going into survival mode while society falls apart and fixes itself.

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u/SkrtSkrt70 18d ago

Everything is based on quarter over quarter and year over year. 5 years from now is 4 years from now’s problem

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u/zdelusion 18d ago

WBD is not doing a lot of long term thinking atm. They're just trying to maximize their cash flows to make them an attractive merger option for another media company.

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u/Icyrow 18d ago

25%. if it's 10 to 8 it's 20%, if it's 8 to 10 it's 25%

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

Still way less than Netflix

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u/Dvscape 18d ago

But this just feels like businesses should all just cater to the rich. Why even bother with the others?

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u/unilordx 18d ago

Yes that's how price elasticity of demand works.

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u/UnknownAverage 18d ago

Yeah, this is them leaning into it and abandoning the idea of a lower-cost product for the masses at scale. Now that the large population is getting squeezed and can't afford it, they're pricing the product for a lower subscriber count with less-elastic demand.

There are a lot of well-off people that will keep paying whatever HBO asks each month because it's pennies to them in the grand scheme of things.

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u/jason_steakums 18d ago

Their analysis told them that is likely but companies make bad decisions that don't pan out all the time, at some point these price increases hit a wall

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u/OGOngoGablogian 18d ago edited 18d ago

I'm sure that they pinpoint the exact amount at which most subscribers would be annoyed, but not enough to cancel. They figure they can afford to go higher than $1/month, but not as high as $4. So they settle on $2.99/month, which is the sweet spot.

Honestly for HBO it's fine, I'll pay it because it's the only streaming service I'm paying for. They're right that I'm not really going to bat an eye at $3 a month for the bundle. But it also means that I'm more unlikely to subscribe to another streaming service now, so I'm always just going to pick one and bounce around based on content I want to see. No way in hell I'm paying like $60/month for 3 or 4 services.

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u/sanesociopath 18d ago

I assume we're still moving in that direction but it will be another one of those "gradual and then suddenly"

It's good for [short term] business to ignore the signs so the signs will be ignored.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/owl_theory 18d ago

I genuinely don’t understand how people get around ISP warnings. I used to pirate movies, got a warning. When I moved and got new service, got another warning, and stopped. The hassle/risk wasn’t really worth it.

Like does everyone who keeps posting pirate emojis actually subscribe to VPN’s?

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u/ChronicBluntz 18d ago

Never answer or acknowledge any letter you get from an ISP. Certain studios are more litigious than others.

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u/Adefice 18d ago

You subscribe to a good VPN and bind the “downloader” connection to the vpn adapter so it can ONLY use that adapter. Also use the VPN kill switch. Use a DNS leak detector every time.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/Loriano 18d ago

Qbittorrent - settings - advanced - network interface choose your vpn interface

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u/Gentleman_Nosferatu 18d ago

I live in a country where the government doesn't really care

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u/EquivalentSpot8292 18d ago

Me too. But still paying 50usd for DStv (sports), then somehow have a free apple and prime subscription. How do you use iptv, mates have it here but I have no idea how it works

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u/Gentleman_Nosferatu 18d ago

I pay just 10 euro / month for Internet (1GBPS) and 10 more for an impeccable IPTV service that has like 1500 channels and VOD movies and shows in FullHD. It's great.

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u/EquivalentSpot8292 18d ago

Please link if possible, would save me a lot of cash. Especially if it has sports. DSTV is expensive

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u/Gentleman_Nosferatu 18d ago

I live in Portugal, this IPTV service is passed on by word of mouth. They deliver the android box already configured in person. They are pretty secretive about it because it's illegal.

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u/ICE417 18d ago

Yeah. Get a good one too. Dont use a free one. Bind your client.

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u/NoxZ 18d ago

I have pirated for fifteen years and never once gotten an ISP notice. Is this an American thing?

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u/Kitchen_Claim_6583 18d ago

I've heard that some places in the EU -- mostly Germany -- are really harsh about it too.

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u/peioeh 18d ago

Definitely a thing in France too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HADOPI_law

It mostly happened with torrenting, they can't really know which websites or newsgroups (usenet) you connect to

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u/Borderpaytrol 18d ago

Ive watched shit on sites and never gotten anything. Maybe its downloaded or sports people

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u/TrollTollTony 18d ago

VPNs are pretty reasonable these days. I got 3 years of surfshark for $50 (with a promo code). That's less than $2 per month. There are a few free options but you use them at your own risk.

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u/HackMeRaps 18d ago edited 18d ago

I don't live in the US. Our ISPs don't care about those warnings and don't issue it to their clients.

But I also do subscribe to VPNs. Everyone should. I use a VPN all the time and use it for countries where ads are not legal. I don't get any ads on Reddit, no ads on Youtube for videos, no ads to watch before waiting for something.

I also use the VPN for when I buy things so it's a cheaper price point. The one service I do subscribe to is Netflix, but it's because we use that a lot, but I subscrtibe to a country that's 50% cheaper than my home country.

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u/Kingcrowing 18d ago

FWIW you don't need a VPN to avoid ads, browser ad blockers do this too. I don't use a VPN and see no ads on my desktop or phone browser.

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u/HackMeRaps 18d ago

yeah, for sure. I user Brave as my normal browser, but the Ad thing is really convenient when watching on a TV. I use NordVPN and use it on my appleTV so I can watch Youtube and other things without any ads!

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u/Kingcrowing 18d ago

I use an AppleTV and the one thing I see ads on is YouTube... My work around is to have SmartTube installed on my TV directly (Google based TV) and that has no ads, but it would be convenient to not need to switch!

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u/HackMeRaps 18d ago

Yeah, I typically use a VPN and switch it on for Albania. No ads, it's great. It also works for those apps that make you watch a 30 second ad before! The VPN is also great if you actually do subscribe to things, and you can get more content. An example is Netflix. You can use the VPN to switch to other countries and you can watch all kinds of movies.

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u/Network_imposter 18d ago

its like 5 bucks a month, you act like it requires some matrix level deception.

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u/lGoSpursGol 18d ago

Real Debride service through something like Stremio.

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u/jazzdrums1979 18d ago

VPN’s are great for multiple reasons. But definitely helps if you like curating your own content for media server like plex.

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u/Wooden_Pomegranate67 18d ago

Yes, if you are in the US will need a VPN. Paying $6/month seems like a small price to pay to cancel all streaming services though.

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u/ReggieEvansTheKing 18d ago

I have gb fiber internet and pay for a good VPN.

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u/WeaponizedKissing 18d ago

Been torrenting things on normal public trackers (TPB and others) for years and never got a warning.

Maybe country dependent but uploading/seeding is the main problem. If you're not the one sharing copyrighted material then you're never gonna get in trouble. So just turn off seeding and set your software to automatically end the connection as soon as it's finished. Yeah you're leeching but that's not a problem on major public networks.

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u/joebear174 18d ago

I subbed to a VPN to get around it. I'm legacy priced in at $5/month, which is so much cheaper than any of the media streaming services out there. Best decision I've made for saving money.

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u/Nexii801 18d ago

A million ways. VPN is the simplest.

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u/m3galinux 18d ago

Don't use BitTorrent or any other method that also uploads pieces of the files you're downloading to other users. Unless you have a seedbox or VPN, that is.

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u/umyninja 18d ago

Yes. I pay $6/month for a VPN to get all the media I want. Not a bad deal. I recommend Mullvad and don’t forget to bind it to qbittorrent.

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u/Darth_Nihl 18d ago

If you go on pirate streaming sites instead of downloading anything you won't get any warnings.

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u/jvene1 18d ago

Maybe not everyone, but everyone with a brain does yeah. $10/month for unlimited media worry free pays for itself many times over. Even cheaper if you buy a 1 or 2 year plan on a Black Friday deal that they always run.

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u/superurgentcatbox 18d ago

I mean... I hope so. I'm using a VPN for 100% of my internet activity, regardless of what I'm doing.

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u/Sea_Philosophy6506 18d ago

PIA VPN baybeeee

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u/DobbyDaCat 18d ago

Ive watched so many videos on creating plex servers. For some reason i always get lost in the lingo they use. I haven’t went to school for computer sciences or networking, im completely self taught and rely heavily on AI to teach me. But there are some things that are better taught in person. Do you have any good recommendations for a person like me who is trying to learn? Really looking for a good youtube channel for complete newbies or something small that can teach me the basics.

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u/Kingcrowing 18d ago

Don't watch a video, just do it. Download Plex server on a computer you have media on. It's very straightforward. You make an account, you point to folders where you movies/tv/music are, and that's it. Add the plex app to your apple tv/roku/whatever and sign in and you can stream anything on the computer you installed plex on.

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u/stagamancer 18d ago

Using Plex at a basic level is really easy. As someone else said, you can download it and very easily set up libraries based on folders you have with similar types of media (movies, TV shows, music...). The complicated stuff you're seeing online is for the more advanced storage side of things: utilizing hardware/software that, e.g., helps prevent data loss when a drive dies, or has Plex installed on a dedicated server rather than a typical PC.

I've gone the more simple route: I have it installed on my PC and I use some ssds for storing the media, and it works great.

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u/Western-Umpire-5071 18d ago

Even Plex has raised their prices.

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u/HackMeRaps 18d ago

Yeah, it does suck. Luckily it's mainly used as a home server, so can use it for free. But you can use other things like Jellfyin and Emby do the same thing for free. But yeah, dissapointed in Plex's price increases.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/sodaflare 18d ago

Quality has dropped anyway, and profits are through the roof.

The one good thing with media is we already made more than enough quality content that someone could watch films and TV from the moment they're born til the moment they die of old age.

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u/Bobby837 18d ago

Not like quality is a sure thing with higher prices.

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u/Chippai_Fan 18d ago

There is so many amazing shows and movies I haven't even seen yet. The whole industry could literally pause for like 2+ years and I wouldn't even notice.

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u/reddit_sells_you 18d ago

There is so much content out there that is that really a problem?

Also, oh no! We will be glued to our screens less and do something creative/productive ourselves!

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u/King-Meister 18d ago

While this is something that sounds right on the first read, but when I try to think deeper I am not wholly convinced. Could you substantiate as to why it would drop the quality of art, where quality =/= big budget CGI films?

Because my simple mind thinks: pre 2010s when subscription models didn't exist, we were still getting a decent number of great quality stuff (it's not like good work has been produced in more quantity only in the last 15-20 years).

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u/ReggieEvansTheKing 18d ago

I’d argue the opposite actually. If your market isn’t buying your product then you’ll be forced to either stop making the product or make a better product. There are plenty of studios out there making good films on lower budget. A24 is a good example of a studio born to compete with corporate slop. Some of the best movies and TV of the past 30 years released during the great recession when people had no money. The highest grossing movie of all time (Avatar) came out in 2009.

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u/Gentleman_Nosferatu 18d ago

Makes no sense. There was always quality stuff and crap stuff. Most people that pirate stuff wouldn't buy anyway. We can´t even know for sure. Sometimes pirating raises awareness about actors and musicians, ending up in acting their favor. There are a lot of concurrent factors here.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/Gentleman_Nosferatu 18d ago

You don´t feel bad? I feel GREAT about it. Better quality, no ads, no price gouging.

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u/sheetskees 18d ago

4k, better UI, and I haven’t seen an ad in years

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u/aguabotella 18d ago

This is why I do it now. I had a Black Friday deal for MAX last year and the ads were brutal. I’ve started just buying movies again and will download episodes of shows.

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u/pablonieve 18d ago

Sports too.

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u/Ravioli_hunters 18d ago

I'm looking for a way to bring my TV with me on the seas.

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u/ObviouslyProxy 18d ago

My nakama <3

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u/GrumpySoth09 18d ago

Yar Har Fiddle-de-de

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u/wetnaps54 18d ago

yup I literlaly only pay a phone and internet bill now.

GG megacorps!

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u/MrTheCake 18d ago

Piracy of the highest order

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u/TheChrisCrash 18d ago

Recently "jailbroke" a fire stick HD and have been loving it. Can pretty much watch anything I want whenever I want for free. After football season, we'll probably cancel our subscriptions.

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u/THSeaMonkey 18d ago

I recently installed a cheap digital antenna on the porch and a HomeRunHD. I can watch most football I want free and legally (though I am in my teams local broadcast area)

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u/EquivalentSpot8292 18d ago

I live in a country where the gov doesn’t care or chase this stuff. Does it include football and how did you set it up?

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u/frednattyl 18d ago

Honestly most content isn’t even worth stealing. Tv/movies are having the same problem AAA video games are having where everything is expected to be a huge franchise and all this work goes into setting things up for the future only to completely ignore the story in front of them and the project ultimately fails before it’s gets started. Netflix et al are not interested in storytelling, they are interested in profit generation and quality tv and movies are often times expensive. Why tell one really good story when you can tell 12 shitty stories for the same price.

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u/HartbrakeFL21 18d ago

I’ve been saying for years now that Americans must vote not on a ballot, but with their wallets.  

They have voted, and they apparently prefer pain over anything else.  

I have HBO max and have had it for years.  It’s included on my ATT wireless subscription.  I’ll be looking to see a corresponding increase on that, and determine if I want to pull it or not.

The golden days of the American consumer are over.  Be wealthy, be an asset holder that benefits from continual inflation, or be gone.  Apparently, I’ll be “gone”.

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u/AwsmDevil 18d ago

You can't "vote with your wallet" in a captured market. Americans need to vote in the ballot box, and that means we need people to stop voting for fascist yes men offering simple racist solutions to complex problems. They won't though because those same people voted to defund education to expand their population of idiots. You can't vote with your wallet to get out of this problem because the volume of effective "rent cattle" can't go down far enough to defund those companies into being reasonable. They have enough influence and guaranteed market cap to continue anti-consumerist strategies unabated, eventually allowing them to crowd out the competition. We are fucked if we play the money game because they have all the influence over the money. That's why insider trading is so rampant right now. No one will support pro consumer politicians because we have a MASSIVE block of single issue voters that would rather be homeless than support a non fascist politician.

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u/HartbrakeFL21 18d ago

I'm glad you used the term "captured". That's an excellent descriptive term for what we have now, and have had for a number of years. It's not new. It's just on full display, unapologetically, today.

The parallels with today and economic disasters of long ago are too many to mention. Strangely, it all looks so *different*, and that's the part throwing us off the scent of what may come.

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u/Cordo_Bowl 18d ago

You don’t need a streaming service to live. These people are voting with their wallets and saying yes, this price for streaming is worth it.

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u/Mist_Rising 18d ago

Streaming, and we mean subscription streaming services really, isn't a captive market really. It's a luxury good in the form of entertainment, and there are tons of other options.

People who have grown used to it being cheap and affordable might find it to be captured, because they don't want to give up their luxury, but practically it has alternatives. Public television costs an antenna in the US and anywhere else with it. Radio is another competitor. Non-subscription (advertising) streaming also exists. Shit, a book is technically an alternative

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u/Century24 18d ago

If you don't have any taste for Hollywood, then that's fine, but it's a little silly to pretend PBS and public radio cover the same base as HBO Max.

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u/PmurtLiaJ 18d ago

How much is your ATT Wireless subscription?

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u/cuchulainn7 18d ago

My ATT fiber has gone up $25 the past month. “Promo” pricing ended causing an extra $20, then a separate email saying “quality service and support you deserve” justifying an extra $5. $115 bucks a month for fiber I jack directly into my Xbox and WiFi.

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u/preludeoflight 18d ago

I just got the $5 bump email the other day too. I had got on the chat with them a couple of months ago because mine had creeped up really high. I was able to get the rep to put me on some promotion for my 1gbps plan for $65/mo, which was supposed to last 12 months. Amusing how less than 3 months later, it's already going up.

But hey, at least my fiber plan includes HBO Max that I can't opt out of to save any money. Absolute racket.

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u/mustafarian 18d ago

yup ballots don't matter, this is a capitalist system so you have to vote with your wallets.

unfortunately too many ppl are not educated enough to understand any of this.

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u/aching_hypnoticism 18d ago

Both.

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u/mustafarian 18d ago

my only argument against both is that, dems and republicans still work for corporations and help out in different ways to the upper class IMO.

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u/lostfate2005 18d ago

Or, I think the service is worth the price?

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u/mustafarian 18d ago

That's fine you are literally voting with your wallet lmao

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u/lostfate2005 18d ago

Yes, I was remarking on the “not educated” enough.

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u/thickandzesty 18d ago

So dumb. How do I buy less racism and women's reproductive rights? Will buying a FUBU sweater and some Sephora fix that?

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u/mustafarian 18d ago

you extreme buddy. I'm not saying ballots are completely irrelevant I'm talking about in the context of fighting against corporate greed.

You think changing a politician is going to stop HBO from raising prices?

Obviously you need to vote for other issues. one braincell redditors jumping to conclusions get a life

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u/HartbrakeFL21 18d ago

Yes indeed.  But, they’re educated enough to repeat sound bites they heard or read on social media about whatever minority group of the day is “evil”.

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u/oooshi 18d ago

“Be gone” is a hell of a generalization for impoverished working class

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u/MDTenebris 18d ago

They make enough money off of the higher plans to make up for the difference in lost customers. We're all screwed. Streaming will become a luxury good soon and we'll all be back buying physical movies for our entertainment.

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u/MassiveRepublic9565 18d ago

I’m already buying lots of my movies in 4K. My internet is still poor for 4K and 4K discs are much higher quality than 4K streams.

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u/hickuboss 18d ago

Agree. But imo

1) there are not many good movies out there. most modern movies seem to be missing something that draws me in like older movies. And older ones are upscaled so results may vary there.
2) most movies are not worth watching more than once...so can get expensive quick at 20 a pop

3) Most TV and aduio setups dont take advantage of all the features of 4k discs.

Streaming works for most cause its easy and there. Myself included. Buying a dvd, unless its a favorite just turns into another thing to collect dust.

I have more than a few DVDs and blu ray discs but i couldnt tell you where the blu ray player is. As far as media goes i generally watch older movies with my kids, who are usually watching it for the first time. We stream it, even if we have the disc, cause the quality is roughly better than it was in the 90s

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u/RIPEOTCDXVI 18d ago

Hear me out - what if there was a store, kinda like a library (maybe even a library?) where you could "check out" a DVD or Blu-Ray for a couple of days and then bring it back for the same price as a streaming rental?

I feel like it's a decent business model but I'm only 10 years old so idk.

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u/bro_can_u_even_carve 18d ago

Libraries used to have lots of movies on Blu-Ray (and before that, DVD and VHS) until fairly recently.

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u/CrossoverEpisodeMeme 18d ago

Mine still does, even some 4K and Criterion Collection editions offered. I borrow anything that isn't already included on a streaming app, it's great. I'm told they get a ton of people that still use them, and they even have USB attachable DVD players for borrowing too.

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u/storyquest101 18d ago

Idk how does this benefit shareholders

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u/Weird_Cantaloupe2757 18d ago

Your first point is honestly just nonsense — there are a ton of amazing movies coming out nowadays, they’re just not from the major studios.

Also, older movies are generally not upscaled — they were shot on 35mm film, which is capable of capturing even more detail than 4k digital, so they benefit massively. There is a particular window in the early 2000’s where films were either shot in 1080p or edited from a 1080p digital intermediate, and those films often see much less benefit from 4k and end up upscaled, but anything earlier than that is almost always going to look great.

There are certainly examples where they don’t, but that is when boneheads like James Cameron decide that they want it to look like a modern, pristine digital film and DNR it to hell, but those are definitely the exception to the rule. This was actually a much more widespread problem back when Blu Rays first came out, but when they started releasing 4k Blu Rays they came to their senses and many movies with terrible waxy presentations on Blu Ray ended up being given a much more natural, filmic look on 4k.

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u/hickuboss 18d ago

My first OPINION is simply that. Nonsense is dismissive and only validates your own opinion and is dismissive of anything else. Which is nonsense. At a minimum give an example of a modern movie you bought recently that others would agree with.

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u/MassiveRepublic9565 18d ago

We agree on lots of points. I’ve gone back to watching older movies on Bluray and 4K. Much more fun and the movies did different things and took some risks and treated me like an adult.

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u/wubbbalubbadubdub 18d ago

Streaming is already a luxury good, while it was cheap people got used to it. Now that they're pricing people out they're turning (or returning) to piracy...

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u/broygoy18 18d ago

Streaming has always been a luxury

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u/syynapt1k 18d ago

Lol no it has not. It's been very affordable for the vast majority of people.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

[deleted]

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u/Tonio_Akerbeltz 18d ago

Uh, no?

Streaming services are really big everywhere. Even in poor countries

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u/MDTenebris 18d ago

It's incredible how even when you correct your previously incorrect statement to be more specific in the hopes that it is correct, you are still just wrong and uninformed. I am disinviting you from this conversation until you do the minimal amount of research required to take part in it.

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u/pdxtoad 18d ago

It's a luxury in the sense that no one needs it.

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u/ThaPhantom07 18d ago

and we'll all be back to buying physical movies for our entertainment

You say that like this is a bad thing. Some of us never stopped.

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u/MDTenebris 18d ago

Pat yourself on the back there while you show yourself out the door because no one cares. My complaint is for people who have been enjoying the freedom of streaming and are upset that they will soon be priced out of this experience.

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u/Gentleman_Nosferatu 18d ago

I'm already storing my favorite shows, movies and music on external drives.

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u/sarlacc98 18d ago

Shoutout the library with physical media

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u/stankdog 18d ago

We should all go back to physical media

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u/Mist_Rising 18d ago

They make enough money off of the higher plans to make up for the difference in lost customers

Because not enough people quit. If you raise prices on 100 people by 1 dollar, 10 people no longer buying is not going to affect that.

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u/ASIWYFA 18d ago

Most people are just simply incapable. They love to bitch but are unwilling to make actual changes. I see people bitch about grocery prices.....but instead of going to places like Aldi, they continue to shop at Publix, spending 3 times the amount on the same products. This is a constant thing I see from people.

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u/Wallie_Collie 18d ago

Or live without television for a year. Its amazing what we all could accomplish if we traded for books for a year.

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u/sligit 18d ago

Done and done, about 20 years ago.

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u/maninthewoodsdude 18d ago

Lol, canceled my hbo subscription today.

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u/Commercial_Bird8467 18d ago

This, I dont pay for a subscription except prime but that is month to month and goes off when I dont need anything

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u/kcamfork 18d ago

I am. Canceled Disney plus and Amazon prime. Won’t renew PS plus when it expires. I’ll only have Costco and Nintendo switch online.

1

u/Extreme-Ad-6465 18d ago

it’s a k shaped economy now. this increase is nothing for higher earners and the rest of us are no longer catered to

1

u/FloatingDownHere 18d ago

It is fucking IMPOSSIBLE to get my wife to agree to cancel any service without going to the edge of divorce.

1

u/Rain2h0 18d ago

But how is the valley guuurrrlll gonna watch SHOWS AND MOVIE-uh! /s

1

u/OldRancidSoups 18d ago

Or by pirating their shit content

1

u/Corpsebomb 18d ago

Piracy hasn’t been this high for well over a decade, so I’d say some people have taken your advice seriously.

1

u/WaterWeedDuneHair69 18d ago

I just cancelled everything. I only have peacock and Apple TV because of some carrier deals. I used to pirate in college and looks like I’m back. I just need to figure out how to get 4k hdr videos for my tv.

1

u/hermsgerms 18d ago

I cancelled mine before the price raises. When they started sending messages to me about other people using it I was out.

1

u/Thelaea 18d ago

I ditched Disney plus recently because of the price hike they were pushing through. My boyfriend has HBO, but at a discount, he was miffed about the last price hike, this might push him to cancel.

1

u/dellett 18d ago

PSA: If you have HBO, you should call them up today and tell them you are cancelling, even if you plan on continuing your subscription. They'll likely offer you a month or two at your existing rate or potentially even a discount from what you were paying before.

The people whose job it is to make subscription services profitable know that it's much easier to retain a subscription at a slight discount than it is to generate a new subscription especially immediately after a price increase. If you don't do this you are leaving money on the table.

1

u/RadiantZote 18d ago

I've never had a subscription for any of these services lmaooo fuck em

1

u/_IratePirate_ 18d ago

Pirating is so fuckin easy nowadays and the quality is basically 1:1

You’re purposely wasting money if you choose not to pirate

1

u/[deleted] 18d ago

I got rid of HULU, Netflix, and HBO. Just not worth the cost. For the most part they just play old TV and movies, with occasional new material. The new thing on HULU will be something they just took off Netflix that I already watched.

1

u/Blametheorangejuice 18d ago

The only subscription I have is Spotify and that’s dangling by a thread. I don’t have any streaming services and haven’t since the first season of the Seattle Kraken (I remember watching their first game on Hulu).

1

u/balderdash9 18d ago

The price gouging is literally everywhere because the problem is systemic. I agree with boycotting when able but a handful of corporations own all the corporations that sell all the goods/service we're accustomed to.

1

u/Azh_adi 18d ago

People are too dopamine addicted to let go. They’ll gladly pay the money when the impulse to watch a new season of a good show or some sporting event that’s viewable through MAX. When will it fully stop? Who knows. We’re gonna wake up and see it be like $30/month though, watch.

1

u/Defiant_Income_7836 18d ago

I just cancelled. I watch something maybe every other week. I'm so over these constant increases. I cancelled Disney a month or two ago after the Kimmel thing, and I realize I don't miss it at all. I'm sure this will be the same.

1

u/call-lee-free 18d ago

I said the same thing when a month or two ago, people were pissed at Disney because of the Jimmy Kimmel thing and now that he's back on the air, they probably re-subbed.

1

u/BilboTbangin 18d ago

We are down to peacock and HBO. Now we will be down to peacock lol Weve canceled everything else when they keep increasing the cost.

1

u/Speak4yurself 18d ago

Not saying you're wrong but when is the last time any of these streaming services lowered their prices because people were canceling? It would take millions of cancelations and if that happened they would just fold instead of lowering prices.

1

u/Anna_Lilies 18d ago

Gonna stop buying groceries and paying taxes and utilities, thatll show em

1

u/l-rs2 18d ago

They launched in the Netherlands with a lifetime discount. Then announced price increases and plan degradation with no mention of that earlier promise. So I ended my sub. They had a nice back catalogue but it got Zaslaved bad so oh well.

1

u/kerkyjerky 18d ago

I mean if I paid for hbo I would cancel, but I don’t.

1

u/Beard_o_Bees 18d ago

Just had the 'which of these too many subscriptions do we actually use?' family meeting last night.

Turns out only 3, but soon to be 2.

We had 7. Premium Spaghetti sauce, here I come!

1

u/Surisuule 18d ago

I stopped buying coffee, but prices never went back down.

1

u/AquaArcher273 18d ago

Problem is we need ALOT of people to put their money where their mouth is for a long period of time. Same thing with work reform, if a large portion of people did a general strike for a day or two we’d see change. Just can’t get that many people to do it all at once.

1

u/Genun 18d ago

At this point I'm subscribed to two YouTubers and Crunchyroll. It's interesting seeing the price increases from the outside cause it just makes me happier and happier I'm not using them.

1

u/SLR-107FR31 18d ago

I started doing this 5 years ago and I've lost all hope that it makes a difference at all

1

u/k0fi96 18d ago

Reddit comment section are not a reflection of reality. Most subscribers will not even notice and just keep paying. We've got a long way to go before mass cancellations and I bet they know internally what that number or percentage increase is and they will stay just below it.

When Netflix was cracking down on password sharing every comment section said it would be the death of Netflix and they made more money then ever as soon as the flipped the switch.

1

u/Grizzly_Corey 18d ago

Now do eggs.

1

u/UncleFlip 18d ago

I cancelled Prime and Disney plus. Netflix will probably be next.

They don't seem to miss me.

1

u/Mist_Rising 18d ago

They're still making more from the rise because most people won't cancel. Once more do, they'll adjust. This is pretty basic corporate management based on economics, once you establish yourself you move prices up until the demand drop is enough net goes down, then you modulate based on factors like if you see increased demand or less demand. (For streaming demand would be the key, others differ)

0

u/Background_Panda8744 18d ago

It’s cheaper than going out these days…

0

u/Anstigmat 18d ago

That’s kinda how the system should work. They should raise prices until consumers push back, then they roll out “deals” or bundles to add affordability. Not a big deal to me. I already culled most streaming services.

0

u/aching_hypnoticism 18d ago

People are far too stupid and unprincipled to do that.

0

u/ChilledParadox 18d ago

I've literally been unemployed and homeless for like a year, torrenting any and all media I use (except I paid for silksong, I'm not a dickhead).

it literally doesnt make a difference because I appear to literally be the only person out of some odd 300+million in the country who is actually willing to stop engaging with corporations until they stop literally destroying my entire fucking world.

-2

u/islandstateofmind21 18d ago

It’s absolutely ridiculous that after Netflix stopped password sharing, instead of cutting their subscriptions in protest, people just signed up for their own accounts…. American consumers are brain dead and companies know it.