Now that DVDs, CDs, and VHS have bid their farewells in daily life, consumers are trapped in the subscription economy. As the golden age of streaming tarnishes, corporations can remove content from streaming services at any time, leaving consumers responsible for the lack of security in digital entertainment.
In December 2023, Playstation announced the removal of all Discovery Channel content due to licensing agreements. PlayStation users who had bought this media in the past would have lost their ownership, despite already paying to own instead of rent it. In response to public backlash on this decision, PlayStation released an announcement on Dec. 21, canceling this plan due to updated licensing agreements. Regardless, this situation demonstrates the precarious nature of digital media ownership.
According to a 2022 Deloitte statistic, 88 percent of households paid for a streaming service subscription, with an average of four subscriptions. Meanwhile, a West Monroe 2021 poll found that the consumers spend $273 per month on subscriptions alone. Streaming’s unlimited catalog comes at a hefty price; with fractured series and an oversaturation of platforms, the neverending fees are grim compared to the once-standard one-time purchase of physical media. Streaming services frequently transfer ownership of shows and movies, forcing consumers to accumulate subscriptions. For instance, Disney+ recently took ownership of the newest seasons of “Doctor Who.” This decision split the show’s previous 39 seasons across two other platforms: Max and BritBox. With the accessibility of media at greater peril than ever, consumers are continuously buying without owning anything.
Although streaming allows more access to media than ever, the overabundance of streaming services scrambling to hoard intellectual property undermines their availability. In 2018, Netflix paid $100 million to keep hit television show “Friends” on the platform for an additional year, a drastic change from the annual $30 million beforehand. With advertisements proliferating streaming services, password sharing regulations, and price increases, these services are reverting to an older issue they attempted to solve.
By creating widespread accessibility to a plethora of media, contracts and deals are non negotiable aspects of the entertainment industry. These common business practices aren’t streaming entities’ sole weight to bear. Still, the streaming era’s advancements come at a steep cost. Corporations entrusted with media and upholding deals disregard the losses to the public if contracts aren’t renewed. By devaluing art through its seamless removal and paying low residuals to contributors, corporations lack accountability, the temporary ownership of media rubs salt in the wound for all parties involved.
The lack of reliability in accessing digital content calls for an investment in physical media. Physical media doesn’t have to be a dying art. From collector-oriented or fan-themed box sets, physical media adds a unique, custom value to the traditional cinematic experience. As streamers shift away from buying into corporations’ streaming business model, companies can strive to change this exhausting practice.
