12
L E H A V R E
N E W S
F E B U A R Y To Stream or Not to Stream…
What was the question?
BY JILL DAVIS
While we’re all hunkering down this
winter, we’ve got to keep ourselves
entertained somehow, right? And what
have a lot of folks been doing a lot
more of lately? Watching TV—or perhaps
more accurately, video—on your
device of choice. Despite the gazillion
different options out there, it can be
frustrating finding something decent
to watch.
Many of you have probably signed up
for a streaming service or two, whether
you’ve cut the cord completely or
just wanted to supplement your regular
cable TV package. As Netflix and Hulu
took off, other providers wanted to get
in the game, and now the streaming
landscape is on the brink of becoming
overwhelming. It’s also on the brink of
becoming unaffordable if you add them
all up, and many services aren’t even
offering free trials anymore.
Here’s a brief rundown of a few of
the higher-profile streaming services
to help you decide what you want (or
don’t want). This is not by any means a
comprehensive list; as you’ll see, new
services are launching all the time, but
hopefully this will help you get started.
If you want more details or information
on other services, tvguide.com and
pcmag.com, which were the sources
for this article, offer a number of
in-depth run-downs on the topic. And
you can go directly to the services’
websites, which of course make themselves
sound fantastic but will give you
a good idea of what they offer. Have
fun “shopping,” and in the meantime,
pass the popcorn!
Net ix
Netflix can be
considered the
“Big Daddy”
of all the current streaming services
with a reported subscribership of over
73 million in the US as of 2020. The
service’s biggest asset is probably its
extremely large and varied catalog of
content. It has, however, been losing
some programs to competitors, such
as “Friends” moving over to HBO
Max and some Marvel movies going
to Disney+ (read more about them
below). As such, it’s been relying more
heavily on original shows to attract and
retain subscribers.
Problem is, the slate changes all the
time, with shows appearing and disappearing
constantly, which makes it
extremely hard to keep track. If you’re
not hearing from friends about a great
new show you need to check out,
TVGuide.com and PCMag.com keep
updated lists—if you have the time
to go through the lengthy lists each
month. Monthly fees start at $8.99. Go
to Netflix.com for more info.
Hulu
Considered
one of the
best services
for cord cutters, subscribers can combine
Hulu's ad-supported on-demand
streaming with its Live TV option
for $64.99 a month. The Live TV
offer includes many of the standard
broadcast and basic channels as well
as movie channels such as Turner
Classic Movies. If you want Hulu's
live channels and ad-free package,
that will cost you $70.99 per month.
If you only want access to Hulu’s regular
streaming service, which includes
some notable original series, you can
opt for it at $5.99/month with ads or
for $11.99 ad-free. Check out Hulu.
com for details.
Amazon
Prime
Video
Amazon began including access to
its Prime Video service several years
ago with an Amazon Prime subscription
(free two-day shipping). The Prime
12 LEHAVRE COURIER | FEBRUARY 2021 | WWW.QNS.COM
Video service was a wannabe for quite a
while but has been building its library of
original programming in recent years. It
also offers a lot of movies, but critics
point out that they’re not necessarily
top-tier films. On the other hand, you
have the option to buy or rent TV
shows and movies outright, which is
something Netflix and Hulu don’t offer.
Amazon Prime Video alone is $8.99/
month and the annual subscription is
$129/year. Go to Amazon.com or primevideo.
com to find out more.
Disney +
Disney+ launched
at the end of 2019
and has already been
successful with its (no surprise) focus
on kids and family fare. The offerings
include not only Disney and Pixar
films but also access to Star Wars and
Marvel movies. They’re also getting
on the straight-to-streaming bandwagon
with the latest movie from Pixar,
“Soul,” which is skipping movie theaters
and instead making is debut on
Disney+. As of March, 2021, the fee
will be $7.99 per month or $79.99 per
year. Go to Disneyplus.com for more
details.
HBO Max
It seems that HBO
wanted to make things more interesting
(or confusing) with the launch of HBO
Max this past May. Originally known as
HBO Go, which still exists but is being
phased out, HBO Max offers a combination
of programming from HBO
and Cinemax as well as content from
Warner Media.
Given the plethora of other streaming
services out there, HBO Max was
having a hard time gaining traction,
so to incite interest, it was recently
announced that Warner Bros. will
debut 17 movies on the service simultaneously
with their theatrical releases;
titles include “Dune,” “The Matrix 4”
and “The Suicide Squad.” If you are a
subscriber to regular HBO on cable,
you can sign up to HBO Max for free;
otherwise, it costs $14.99 a month.
Visit hbomax.com to find out more.
Discovery+
If you’re into
u n s c r i p t e d ,
homebody, how-to type shows, this
could be a service for you. Discovery+
launched on January 4, 2021 and, like
most services, offers a mix of shows
already in the can as well as new
originals.
Discovery+ says it will have more
than 55,000 episodes of programs from
Discovery-owned channels (HGTV;
Food Network; TLC; et al) and will
include new shows from “Fixer Upper”
stars Chip and Joanna Gaines, chefs
Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentis,
and nature documentary host David
Attenborough. The slate will also
include programs from such networks
as BBC and A&E. The monthly fee
is currently $4.99 with ads or $6.99
ad-free. At press time, Discovery+
didn’t have its own web portal, but you
can go to discovery.com to learn more.
/WWW.QNS.COM
/pcmag.com
/TVGuide.com
/PCMag.com
/Netflix.com
/tvguide.com
/Amazon.com
/Disneyplus.com
/hbomax.com
/discovery.com
