Streaming services are becoming what they were meant to replace, and this is bad for the consumer because at a certain point they become anti-consumer. 

The whole point of streaming service was to replace and/or create an alternative to cable. Services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime were able to really capture this niche after a certain point. 

As time goes on, more streaming services have popped up; which, to be clear, is not a bad thing at all. 

The only real issue I have seen is the fact that there are some that really do not need to exist. I read on Deadline that Chick-fil-A was making its own streaming service called Chick-fil-a Play, which made me re-evaluate the streaming service system.

These services now have become so overwhelming, and in turn, have become exactly what they have been replacing: cable. They all act as different channels instead of their own self contained apps. 

A huge problem people had with cable was that there were too many channels. It was to the point where it became an inconvenience to simply navigate the menus in-order to find what you wanted. People find it frustrating to go through 40 menus to find something interesting.

Fast forward to today, this same exact problem is springing back up with the countless streaming services. The part of these services that helps bring them back full circle is how top services are doing bundles with each other, almost exactly like how cable had been doing for years. 

The problem back then was that cable companies were bumping up prices by adding really niche channels no one particularly wanted. Now, companies are adding these services together, with all the bloat on services already, ripping off the consumer; they have adopted a lot of the same problems and are finding even more issues to cause us. 

Films and shows going on and off different services are inherently anti-consumer, and in some senses, anti-art. Max (formerly HBO Max), specifically, is atrocious with this service; in some cases, Max was one of very few ways to easily access certain shows, and now there is no way to legally stream them. 

We are at a point where the companies running these services know they can do whatever they want, and the average consumer won’t cancel their service or do anything in response because of how these services are made; in a way that makes it difficult for people to cancel them.

Due to this, it’s best to be aware of the problems and redundancies of streaming services, as well as know how they can be predatory.