Taking a Break from the Streamers

I've been giving my library card a workout

This is a bonus post that I’m sharing with everyone to give a sense of the kind of thing I write for paid subscribers. They’re a bit more personal and don’t arrive on any particular schedule, but I’m aiming for once a month. Enjoy!

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I’ve been cutting back on the streamers this year, and I’ve noticed that I’m not alone in this impulse. Some of this has to do with the pandemic—we all subscribed like crazy when we were stuck at home. In our household, it was easy to justify the cost because we weren’t going out. It also felt good to have a ton of options in at least one area of life. But now, the endless choices feel overwhelming. Also, the shows and movies on offer haven’t been that great, lately. As critic James Poniewozik and others have noted, we are living an age of “Mid TV.”

Moving to Maine has also changed my relationship to the streamers. On the one hand, I’m more likely to watch movies at home, because we have a much better home theater set-up in our new house. Also, there just aren’t as many movie theaters around here. Being at home more means I’m less likely to settle for whatever happens to be on the streamers. Instead, I will pay $19.99 for new releases, or I’ll rent the movie I’m craving (usually for $3-5) instead of spending a half hour trying to find something on the platforms. Finally, we have a great library with an extensive DVD collection that I visit at least once a week. Given these new habits, it didn’t make sense to keep paying for multiple streamers. So, our family started cutting ties in January.

Now that we’re a few months into our streaming diet, I thought I’d give a rundown of the platforms I’m using. I feel like this list is a snapshot of technology in transition, as the streaming platforms are starting to consolidate into “bundles” and ad-supported platforms. Seems like we’re going back to cable and network TV, no? What’s next—video stores?   

Disney/Hulu – ACTIVE SUBSCRIBER

I have kids, therefore I have Disney. I would be tempted to quit except that there are usually a couple of new movies on Hulu that I want to check out. I also have a kindergartener who likes to watch the same movies repeatedly. We’ll probably never give up Disney while our kids are young.  

Netflix – RECENTLY PAUSED

I canceled Netflix back in February because I wasn’t watching anything on it except for mediocre, forgettable movies. Meanwhile, my kids were watching some truly awful children’s programming. Our kids are still mad at me for canceling Netflix, but I don’t miss it. There are some shows and movies that I want to see (Ripley, The Hit Man), but I am content to wait until we resubscribe—which we’ll probably do this fall, when Netflix releases their Oscar-bait films.

Max – RECENTLY PAUSED

I let our subscription to Max (formerly HBO) lapse in April. I already miss it, tbh. They have a great film library with a lot of Criterion titles, and everyone is talking about the third season of Hacks. I would resubscribe now, except that Disney recently announced that Max will be added to its bundle. So, I’ll just wait for that.

Apple + – WILL EXPIRE SOON

I have an annual subscription to Apple+ that will expire in August. I’m not planning to renew. We first subscribed to Apple+ because it came with my husband Mike’s new computer, and then we stuck with it because we really liked some of their TV shows—Severance, For All Mankind, and The Morning Show. Their new movies are hit and miss, but the recent Steve Martin documentary was a lot of fun. I’ll probably resubscribe when Severance comes back. Or, maybe if I have to replace my ancient laptop, we’ll get another year “free.”

Peacock – FREE SUBSCRIPTION

A subscription to Peacock is included with our internet service. It’s become our family channel, and maybe our substitute Netflix, the place where we watch sitcoms like Abbott Elementary and The Office.

Kanopy – FREE SUBSCRIPTION

Many public libraries offer a free subscription to Kanopy, a streaming platform with a rotating collection of films that skews toward arthouse titles and documentaries. Your library card will give you access to a certain number of “tickets” per month, which you can use to rent movies. It’s very easy to set up, the only downside is that the streaming is sometimes a tiny bit slow and needs time to buffer. But it’s not a dealbreaker, and I often use Kanopy to discover old movies and documentaries.

PBS – FREE SUBSCRIPTION (through membership to Maine Public)

My membership to Maine Public Radio includes a subscription to PBS. I wish I watched more on this platform. It’s a little bit complicated because our LG TV won’t accept the PBS app, so I have to stream it on my laptop and then watch through airplay. I generally only watch on PBS if there is a specific program that I have in mind.

Ad-supported free channels (Tubi/LG TV) – OCCASIONAL USER

Sometimes I stream ad-supported movies while I’m doing something else. It’s just like watching movies on network TV in the old days, except the commercial breaks are very random and will sometimes come in the middle of a scene. It feels weirdly fringe and lo-fi.

Paramount – FORMER SUBSCRIBER (or never subscribed?)

I’m not sure what my history with Paramount is. I think we subscribed briefly or did a trial run at some point. It seems like at least once a month, they have a movie in their library that we want to see, but it’s just as easy to rent or borrow them, so we’ve never bothered subscribing.

YouTube Live TV – FORMER SUBSCRIBER

Honestly, I don’t know how our live TV subscription works, but during football season, we have it. And I happily use it to watch late night and awards shows like the Oscars.

Criterion — FORMER SUBSCRIBER

I love Criterion. They have a well-curated collection and occasionally they premiere new movies. We subscribed during the pandemic. I’d like to subscribe again but realistically, I don’t watch enough older movies to justify the cost. I also have a lot of novels to read (and fiction to write!) and I don’t need the temptation right now.

Mubi – FUTURE SUBSCRIBER

Mubi has been premiering some new indie movies that I want to see, (Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, Passages, Fallen Leaves) so I think I might subscribe this summer to catch up with those titles and see what else the channel has to offer.

Ovid.tv – FUTURE SUBSCRIBER

I’d like to give Ovid a try at some point. It’s got a lot of interesting foreign movies and obscure documentaries that are hard to find anywhere else.

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