Subscription fatigue

Don
Joined
24 Feb 2004
Posts
11,879
Location
-
Don't subscribe to them all at once?

The traditional approach to TV entertainment is to entertain but also give a conversation when people get together.

"Did you watch ABC last night"

"No, I dont sub to that"

Or even worse, catching spoilers for something you plan to watch in a few months (e.g. Memes about Squid Game or Mandolorian)
 
Man of Honour
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
29,509
Location
Surrey
For me:

Netflix
Amazon Prime
Spotify
Basic Sky package for TV in the living room
Now TV

I could do without the last two and they may well get cancelled soon as I don't use them enough. But I get a lot of value from the first three. I also watch a lot of stuff on Youtube.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Jul 2003
Posts
9,595
We just share subs, each pay for 1 and in return to get access to all. I don't watch much on them really so wouldn't bother if I had to pay full price.
 
Associate
Joined
15 Sep 2008
Posts
2,477
I'm a victim of subscription creep; when you keep it after the free or discounted period is over. Their best kind of customer.

Let's see...
1- BBC licence fee - okay, not a subscription but you pay monthly for the displeasure if you use it not, BY LAW :rolleyes:, - £13.37
2 - Neflix - the one the family would miss the most - £9.99
3 - NowTV - Entertainment, Movies and Boost, the other half's main source of telly, I think it's crap, especially the player app - £24.98
4 - Disney+ - free for 6 months now having to pay for it, I thought it wasn't too bad - £7.99
5 - Amazon Prime - technically free because we use the 'free' shipping, also the 2nd least used service - £6.58 (£79/12)
6 - Amazon Music HD Family - used in the car, in the house and on tap via Alexa and other devices - £14.99
7 - Amazon Audible - used in the car for some journeys to work - £7.99
8 - Apple TV - a few good originals but the free trial ended a month ago - £4.99

That's £90.88 a month or £1,090 a year :eek:. Way too much. The ones that'll be going after Christmas are the TV 'licence', Disney+, Audible and Apple TV.

I would like a YouTube Premium family account (to get rid of the ads) but it's too expensive at £17.99.
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Aug 2009
Posts
7,728
I only have a bbc licence fee (not by choice) other than that I have Prime free for a month I've got a lot of Clarkson's Farm to catch up on before I cancel it before the end of the month.

I'm only tempted by Netflix but as the telly can't receive that and I don't see why I should throw away a perfectly good non-smart TV I guess it'll remain a "maybe"...
 
Associate
Joined
29 Oct 2019
Posts
1,002
I have Prime Video but I don't even use it, I just have it for the delivery service. I get all my TV/Film (including prime shows) through other means because I find it more convenient and I can use MadVR upscaler. Feel sorry for the people that pay so much to juggle all these different services. Not really interested in them until there's a single service that offers everything for a reasonable price, and has an option to download for offline viewing.
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Dec 2002
Posts
2,661
Location
Barton upon Humber
I'm a victim of subscription creep; when you keep it after the free or discounted period is over. Their best kind of customer.

Let's see...
1- BBC licence fee - okay, not a subscription but you pay monthly for the displeasure if you use it not, BY LAW :rolleyes:, - £13.37
2 - Neflix - the one the family would miss the most - £9.99
3 - NowTV - Entertainment, Movies and Boost, the other half's main source of telly, I think it's crap, especially the player app - £24.98
4 - Disney+ - free for 6 months now having to pay for it, I thought it wasn't too bad - £7.99
5 - Amazon Prime - technically free because we use the 'free' shipping, also the 2nd least used service - £6.58 (£79/12)
6 - Amazon Music HD Family - used in the car, in the house and on tap via Alexa and other devices - £14.99
7 - Amazon Audible - used in the car for some journeys to work - £7.99
8 - Apple TV - a few good originals but the free trial ended a month ago - £4.99

That's £90.88 a month or £1,090 a year :eek:. Way too much. The ones that'll be going after Christmas are the TV 'licence', Disney+, Audible and Apple TV.

I would like a YouTube Premium family account (to get rid of the ads) but it's too expensive at £17.99.

Wow that's an insight in to the options available.

Personally I have;
Netflix but the account is shared between me, my kids, my dad and my ex - my partner also has a Netflix shared by her family and a close friend.
Amazon Prime - mainly for shipping but with Vitality I get it free most months anyway.
Amazon Music HD - Used daily for me and the kids
Disney+ - again shared throughout the family

Not too bad but given how little TV I sit down and watch it still seems a lot.
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Sep 2007
Posts
15,660
Location
Limbo
I'm a victim of subscription creep; when you keep it after the free or discounted period is over. Their best kind of customer.

Let's see...
1- BBC licence fee - okay, not a subscription but you pay monthly for the displeasure if you use it not, BY LAW :rolleyes:, - £13.37
2 - Neflix - the one the family would miss the most - £9.99
3 - NowTV - Entertainment, Movies and Boost, the other half's main source of telly, I think it's crap, especially the player app - £24.98
4 - Disney+ - free for 6 months now having to pay for it, I thought it wasn't too bad - £7.99
5 - Amazon Prime - technically free because we use the 'free' shipping, also the 2nd least used service - £6.58 (£79/12)
6 - Amazon Music HD Family - used in the car, in the house and on tap via Alexa and other devices - £14.99
7 - Amazon Audible - used in the car for some journeys to work - £7.99
8 - Apple TV - a few good originals but the free trial ended a month ago - £4.99

That's £90.88 a month or £1,090 a year :eek:. Way too much. The ones that'll be going after Christmas are the TV 'licence', Disney+, Audible and Apple TV.

I would like a YouTube Premium family account (to get rid of the ads) but it's too expensive at £17.99.

2 points:

If you're only watching streaming, nothing live and no iplayer, you can ditch the TV licence, legally I may add.

Also you can VPN to India for Youtube premium at less than £2 quid a month on a family account.
 
Permabanned
Joined
25 Jan 2013
Posts
4,277
It's fairly manageable until you add in the sports packages. If you don't want to turn to the 'high seas' way of doing things and you want to watch sport as well as everything else then you're looking at close to £100...

I've been looking into an all inclusive sky package with my NHS discount and it's actually cheaper now to go back to that with everything bundled in then it is to pay separately. Madness how we're going back the other way.
 
Caporegime
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
74,018
Location
Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
Netflix

Amazon Prime

YouTube Music

BT Sports


BT Sports is where it cost the most, it’s essentially the 1st 3 above combined and more! I dropped my cinema unlimited at the start off the pandemic and never started again. Things are coming to streaming much faster than than they were before so I feel like I don’t need to wait that long. Making going to the cinema a much less essential purchase. Only now good when it’s a film like Dune comes out.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Mar 2010
Posts
12,305
If you're only watching streaming, nothing live and no iplayer, you can ditch the TV licence, legally I may add.

Does anyone dip in and out of the TV licence?

This is where i'm heavily in favour of BBC moving to a sub model, because there are some months where we will watch live TV or BBC iplayer, but there's also months where we can go several months with only watching on-demand (Netflix/Prime/Disney).

It's almost akin to having a Netflix sub and never using it.
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Sep 2007
Posts
15,660
Location
Limbo
Does anyone dip in and out of the TV licence?

This is where i'm heavily in favour of BBC moving to a sub model, because there are some months where we will watch live TV or BBC iplayer, but there's also months where we can go several months with only watching on-demand (Netflix/Prime/Disney).

It's almost akin to having a Netflix sub and never using it.

I'm not sure you can switch it on/off easily - however it's close to a decade since i've needed one so unsure. From what I remember, you were tied in for the year, even if you went the DD route.

I'd be a supporter of a sub model for BBC as they occasionally have shows i'd like to watch as they broadcast.
 
Caporegime
Joined
13 Jan 2010
Posts
32,495
Location
Llaneirwg
Just netflix for TV. Not even freeview.
And i love netflix. It's well worth it for me.

Tried amazon prime couldn't find a single thing I wanted to watch. Not a single thing. Cancelled after the free trial after watching one episode of South Park.

I'm not signing up to anything else.

Every time I get near the end of things I want to watch on netflix they release something else. No other streaming service gets close to being a contender for me. Especially with what I watch.

Also have Spotify for music. Nothing else.
 
Caporegime
Joined
13 Jan 2010
Posts
32,495
Location
Llaneirwg
I only have a bbc licence fee (not by choice) other than that I have Prime free for a month I've got a lot of Clarkson's Farm to catch up on before I cancel it before the end of the month.

I'm only tempted by Netflix but as the telly can't receive that and I don't see why I should throw away a perfectly good non-smart TV I guess it'll remain a "maybe"...

Chromecast? That's what I use.
My TV is a plasma!
 
Associate
OP
Joined
23 Aug 2020
Posts
163
Does anyone dip in and out of the TV licence?
God, No and don't even try. I'm a calm well centred kinda guy but TV licensing makes my blood boil. Everything about them is about screwing money out of people by hook or crook. Just look at the threatening letters they send out. I guess that they know there £4,500,000,000 a year jolly is coming to an end and they're trying to keep it going as long as possible.
 
Associate
Joined
19 Nov 2021
Posts
938
Location
Portsmouth
Netflix, amazon prime, disney+, F1TV, Spotify
Just cancelled my youtube premium, wasn't using it enough and it was a lot cheaper in SA than it is here (R99 a month for the family plan or about £5)
Prime has had some pleasant surprises, like the Autumn rugby tests - didn't expect to be able to watch those live without jumping through a bunch of VPN/borrowed streaming account hoops!
 
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