Report: Streaming TV Is Having An Existential Crisis

Streaming television is going through an existential crisis, involving the people who make it and the viewers who watch it. Travie M Andrews at The Washington Post reports its revolutionary zeal has naturally faded, as that initial wave of near limitless expansion, boundless creative opportunities and vast archival choices crashes ashore, after a spate of megamergers and a drop in new subscribers.

Just when streaming has finally attracted more viewers than cable or broadcast TV, its major players are engaged in a long-predicted war for subscribers, who are becoming all too aware of rising subscription prices and, both subtly and directly, a change in what programs get made and how long they stick around. Commercials could soon become more common, and services may be bundled (for one low monthly price!), already triggering visions of a future that recalls the dark days of cable.

The list of seismic rumblings in recent weeks is long, as chronicled in the Hollywood Reporter, Variety and elsewhere: Warner Bros. Discovery is cutting shows from its archives and unfinished movies from HBO Max as it prepares to merge it with its sister streaming service Discovery Plus, having promised its shareholders a $3 billion cut in costs. Faced with a plunging stock price and worrisome subscriber loss, Netflix plans to add an advertising-supported model for a lower price and may crack down on password sharing. Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus, which can all be subscribed to in a cable-esque bundle, are raising prices after taking a more than $1 billion hit in the fiscal third quarter. Meanwhile, Amazon Prime just debuted the most expensive show ever made — a Lord of the Rings drama — in hopes to gain ground in a crowded market.

“The streaming services are moving more toward becoming more similar to the broadcast networks and cable networks that existed before,” said Tim Doyle, a TV writer and producer who has been in the industry for more than three decades. “They’ve suddenly come up with this great idea that if you put in advertising, you can make money selling the ads! So they’re basically just kind of retreating back to the things that are familiar.”

One industry veteran who has worked in both streaming and network television and agreed to speak with The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity to avoid career repercussions, said most services now give “a ton of notes … because they’re risk-averse.”

“My observation is that they’re all trying to develop what I would say is less interesting television,” the creator said. “They all want more networky stuff. The irony to me, and to many, is that networks have destroyed themselves with really bland, cookie-cutting programing over the years and people turned them off more and more. Then streaming came along, especially Netflix, with really interesting stuff. And now I think streaming and Netflix have decided they want their stuff to look more like network. I think in their minds, they think it makes it more accessible. But I think for the audiences, it makes it less interesting.”