$9.99 a month to stream CBS.
This trend isn't going to end well for anyone. It was one thing when there were a handful of streaming services that had huge libraries of content (Netflix, Hulu, HBO) and people were really drawn to the idea that they could ditch $60+ cable service with its mind-numbing commercials and horrible interface that worked on 1 device, in favor of internet based streaming on all devices, for around $8/mon each for your choice of 2-3 services.
Well, that's over. Every streaming service has stopped spending the money to license archive content, and dumped it all into terrible original content. Then they realized that doesn't pay the bills, so they've all raised their prices beyond what any of them used to be worth, let alone are today. After at least 10 years as a Netflix subscriber I gleefully canceled this month, because I'm not going to be subjected to continued price increases while content gets simultaneously stripped away.
Then you have Apple completely misreading the landscape and thinking they have any chance at all of getting a single subscriber to a service of all originals...when all anyone ever wanted was a subscription to the iTunes Store video content...or at the very least a subsidy on 3rd party services bought through the platform.
They are all greedy and out to lunch here, making the same mistakes the music industry made...driving more and more piracy through their own actions. Is the entire Apple Music library worth more than $9.99/month? Of course! But no one would pay it, and so the price is fair and reasonable and people pay it without question because of the value. Nothing like Apple Music, in terms of value for the dollar, exists for video today.
In the end, networks and content holders are going to do poorly running their own apps with their own small bits of content, demanding the same or more money than all the freaking music in the world is worth. And consumers will continue to have to do without because the value isn't there.
Apple TV Channels is absolutely the way to go in terms of distribution and user experience, but it is a mouse fart of an effort with so few channels available and prices so ridiculously high. Apple needs to step in and subsidize these services, heavily, for Apple customers. Apple should pass on their cut from subscription services directly to the customer, and then some.
