[vhanda]

All streaming services should have a pay per minute system as an alternative to the fixed monthly subscription.

That way, I'd happily use any service to watch whatever cause it would be convenient, instead of piracy.

And it would be a reason for them to really improve their recommendation systems.

[mystraline]

What these companies would "sell" would be DRM crusty shit that wouldn't work on my devices. And the 'Authorization servers' would be decommissioned at some unstated future date. Hell, even Microsoft couldn't manage to maintain these DRM servers.

If MS cant, why would I expect any company to properly maintain them?

https://community.spiceworks.com/t/how-to-play-content-prote...

So, unless these are MP4's or MKV's with correct subtitling and appropriate audio, I'm not going to pay a cent here.

[nicce]

Lets go back to old good CD/DVD era.

[sunrunner]

> pay per minute system

And/or pay-per-episode, pay-per-season or pay-per-show. So I don't have to start thinking ahead too much about the _length_ of something and can just enjoy the thing itself based on some pre-determined price.

[sosborn]

Isn't this just renting, which is already offered by Amazon, Apple, Google ...

[Fire-Dragon-DoL]

Pay per episode could be an ok granularity. Anything above that I'm not ok, there is too much garbage

[unglaublich]

Yes but then it must be in the form of a subscription (e.g. 300 mins/month), because recurring revenue is critical for the valuation of most companies.

[bawolff]

Maybe the incentives would be better, but i also dont really want to keep track of budgeting when watching TV. I'm here to relax. I dont want to stress about how much i watched this month and if im going to blow my entertainment budget.

[RandomBacon]

That would incentivize services to make their shows longer. Maybe they play them back at 95% speed, maybe they add their own intro or credits to the end. maybe if they make their own shows like Netfliz does, they stretch them out.

[mrheosuper]

Movie shows will optimize for that by making half of the episode filler.

[testing22321]

Idea for a service.

The service effectively rebroadcasts all the streaming services to provide exactly what you suggest. It’s still paying the streaming services, and users pay it.

Better not set it up in the US .

[interestica]

This is like cable with extra steps ;)

I think we are already seeing some packaged stream services and we will probably see more. It’s a lot of overhead to maintain a separate service to do the exact same thing (with only a different library and branding).

I think the NHL uses the streaming backend developed by MLB Advanced Media (they adapted it in 2015, not sure if still the case).

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/a-closer-look-at-nhls-pa...

[mvdtnz]

That would only suit a portion of their user base and completely ream people who use Netflix to entertain/occupy their kids, who use TV shows to fall asleep, etc. Not to mention throwing away valuable subscriber dollars from idle users like me who maintain a subscription but rarely watch anything (mostly because there's nothing good on the entire platform).

[5555624]

Sling TV now has a "day pass" option for $5. (A weekend for $10.) https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/sling-tv-off...

[prasadjoglekar]

A bundle of streaming services. That you can surf and choose one from and just watch. And a TV guide that tells you what's running where.

Gee...sounds a lot like Cable TV.

Sarcasm aside, the one problem folks had with Cable was the inability to upgrade without getting locked into another 2 year contract. Streaming solves that one problem while enshittifying all the other good things.

[rkomorn]

I thought the main complaint was "I'm paying for channels I don't watch!" while not realizing the channels they were watching were actually what they were paying for, and the rest of the stuff was just lumped in for nearly free to make the lineups look bigger and more appealing.

[thewebguyd]

> Gee...sounds a lot like Cable TV.

Honestly, Cable companies could make a comeback by using their relationships with producers to actually be a "one stop shop" streaming services. There's definitely a pain point to having to be subscribed to so many different services just to cover the gamut of shows and movies

[nickthegreek]

> .. the one problem folks had with Cable was the i...

and hardware rental fees

ads on top of your service

bundling a bunch of channels you didnt ask for and increase price

outages

the list goes on

[barbazoo]

For movies at least it's usually no problem to find them for "rent", i.e. 48h for an absurd amount of money.

[duxup]

I think they know how many dead / inactive subscriptions they have.