Streaming TV Has Become An Expensive, Complicated Mess

<https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12222415>: But this entertainment nirvana never actually arrived. First came pricey broadband services required to stream Internet video, often delivered by the same cable wires consumers longed to cut. Then came a proliferation of services - offered by Netflix, Amazon, Hulu plus and more - each with a bill of its own. Then came more boxes, wires and remotes. And finally came the question: How exactly do I get my Star Wars fix? Maybe a bit US-centric, but I think that also reflects the situation for streaming here as well. The article talks about “cord-cutting” -- as you may know, most people in the US have been watching conventional TV stations through cable connections, not through broadcasts. “Cord-cutting” is the increasing tendency of customers to terminate their cable TV accounts. But those same cable companies are also ISPs, and given the limitations on competition between ISPs in the US (thanks to the current regime’s allergy to enforcing meaningful net-neutrality legislation), those same companies will get the money from customers wanting to watch streaming video.

Further on the topic, NZ streaming service Neon (which has rights to “Game of Thrones”) has been testing the patience of its subscribers with repeated crashes <https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12224339>.
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro