By Ryan Flaherty

Let’s start off by taking a look at the facts. There are five major streaming services that have either been announced or are already operating, and between them it’s a race to the top. So, in order of winners to losers:

---

1. Disney +

Coming November 2019

$6.99 per month

Includes Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, FOX brands (like the Simpsons), Classic Disney Movies, and new Disney originals

2. Netflix

Operating its streaming portion since 2007

$12.99 per month (middle tier plan)

Includes a slate of popular netflix originals (Stranger Things, the Crown, Orange is the New Black) plus other movies and tv shows from many different studios

3. Hulu

Operating since 2007

$11.99 per month (with no ads)

Includes a few big ticket Hulu originals (Handmaid’s Tale, the Path, the Act) plus weekly episodes of broadcast shows and a slate of movies

4. Warner Media

Coming 2019, with more content coming through 2020

Price TBD, but it was announced there will be various tiers available

Includes HBO, DC, Turner, the CW, CNN, Warner Brothers films, and shows that Warner has the rights to (like “Friends”- watch out Netflix!)

5. Apple TV+

Coming Fall 2019

Price TBD, but will be ad free

Includes Apple originals, no notable brands except for “Amazing Stories”

Participation Award to the DC Universe streamer, IMDB Freedive, and Discovery Plus. Sorry.

---

Besides this basic information, there’s a lot to dissect here.

At the most basic level, Disney + is very much in the lead. With the amount of companies they have ownership of, plus this new FOX acquisition, it’ll definitely be hard to beat. In addition to that, they’re taking a major loss by pricing it at only $7 per month- which is an aggressive way of taking subscribers from other streamers like Netflix, who by the way, just increased their prices. They’ve covered all of their audiences through various acquisitions, and they’re in the perfect place to launch a streamer.

The Streaming War is very much a race between Disney and Apple, two of the biggest companies in the world. Apple has certainly exemplified its ability to expand in a technological sense, but creativity is a completely different aspect of business that they haven’t really stepped into yet. Apple hosted a keynote on March 26 of this year to complete a roundup of their new products, and of course Apple + was featured, but there’s still barely, if any information regarding the streamer. With that in mind, even if Apple secures some strong brands they’ll still end up losing to Disney.

On the side of established streamers, Netflix has certainly established an enormous brand with the sheer amount of content that they have, however there are some major issues with their format. Since they’re greenlighting a ridiculous amount of television there’s little to no room for shows to grow. On average, Netflix originals only last about three seasons because they need to make room for new projects. While it can be exciting to constantly have new things to watch, subscribers are starting to experience the anger of constant cancellations. This happened recently with the cancellation of Latina comedy hit One Day at a Time which sparked outcry among both Latina and LGBT communities. In addition to that, the two most major shows that they have, the Office and Friends, will both be taken off in the near future. Universal-NBC owns the rights to the Office and Warner Media owns Friends, and both companies are launching their owns streamers within the next two years and have expressed interest in having these shows exclusively. Without those two powerhouses, Netflix is in a very bad position.

I would argue that Hulu is in a prime spot to take over Netflix in the near future. Under the recent Disney-FOX merger they have a new majority controller (the Walt Disney Company with 60%) and now have much better resources than the previously had with a four way split. Hulu is being a lot smarter than Netflix with their development strategies, as they’re centering around very niche audiences. Shows like Handmaid’s Tale are instant winners of course, but their more boutiquey shows like Pen15 and Ramy are showing big successes as well (both shows just got a renewal this month). Netflix is certainly ahead right now, but for reasons as explained above, Hulu and some new Disney money can certainly take their place in the coming years.

Since the AT&T-Time Warner merger, it seems like the path for HBO is now set on a much more commercialized course. HBO as a brand represents the boutique side of television, but it seems like with the new AT&T money, they’ll be set on a very different route. They’re of course losing their frontrunner Game of Thrones this year, and the gaping hole still needs to be filled. As confirmed a few days ago by author George R.R. Martin HBO is currently developing three Game of Thrones spinoff series- out of the original five. This definitely represents the shift in how the streamer will operate- in 2017 programming president Casey Bloys stated “The bar set by [Benioff and Weiss] is so high that my hope is to get one show that lives up to it.” The original plan was to only green light one show, but the streamer is already at three. As successful as GOT is, it doesn’t seem like these shows will fill that hole. When this Warner Media streamer is launched they’ll be heavily relying on HBO, which no longer has a Game of Thrones. There are still some very strong contenders, like Big Little Lies and Succession, but both have lost a considerable amount of hype since they premiered. In addition to all of that, HBO also currently has its own standalone streaming service which begs the question- why do we need another service? HBO Now costs $15 per month which means that WarnerMedia, which will include other content as well, will either cost more (which would be a ridiculous price) or cost less (making HBO Now useless).

In any case, households are either going to start paying a lot more for the television they want, or turn to the alternatives of pirating or simply starting to move away from television as a whole. Even though it seems like there’s an excess of consolidation in the industry, the amount of streaming services that will be operating by 2020 is definitely too many.

---

Goodman, T. (2019, April 12). 213: Mallets and Anvils. TV Talk Machine. Retrieved May 6, 2019, from https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id920985248

White, P. (2019, February 11). Kevin Reilly Reveals First Content Details Of New WarnerMedia Streaming Service – TCA. Deadline. Retrieved May 6, 2019, from https://deadline.com/2019/02/kevin-reilly-warnermedia-streaming-1202554916/

Welch, C. (2019, March 25). Apple Announces Apple TV Plus Video Subscription Service. The Verge. Retrieved May 6, 2019, from https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/25/18280920/apple-tv-streaming-service-announcement-price-date-launch-event-2019-date-launch-event-2019

Littleton, C. (2019, January 15). What We Know About NBCUniversal’s Future Streaming Service. Variety. Retrieved May 6, 2019, from https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/nbcuniversal-streaming-service-details-1203108034/

(2014, July 21). A Brief History of Netflix. CNN. Retrieved May 6, 2019, from https://www.cnn.com/2014/07/21/showbiz/gallery/netflix-history/index.html.

Nicole, T., & Business, C. (2019, April 2). Netflix Prices Are Going Up. CNN. Retrieved May 6, 2019, from https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/02/tech/netflix-price-increase-email-trnd/index.html

(n.d.). Hulu Original Shows | TV Series And Movies. Hulu. Retrieved May 6, 2019, from http://www.hulu.com/hub/originals

(2019). March Event 2019- Apple. Keynote, . Retrieved May 6, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZmBoMZFC8g

Clark, T. (1970, January 1). All 22 Original TV Shows Apple Is Producing As It Battles Netflix, HBO, Amazon, And Others. Business Insider. Retrieved May 6, 2019, from https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-original-tv-shows-list-2018-2 Hibberd, J. (2017, June 2). ’Game Of Thrones’ Exclusive: HBO Clarifies Prequels, Final Seasons Plan. EW.com. Retrieved May 6, 2019, from https://ew.com/tv/2017/06/02/game-of-thrones-prequel-final-season-interview/