Unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard by now about Disney’s brand-new streaming service, Disney+. It launched a week ago to much fanfare and a few complaints that its ten million new users were overloading the servers. Technical issues aside, Disney+ has been praised by nerds, parents, ‘90s babies, and TV critics alike for its deep library of nostalgia-inducing classics and fun, new originals, all of it wrapped up in a shiny app that you can watch anywhere, anytime.

The launch shouldn’t have come as a surprise to any of us. Disney’s been working on its new streaming service for a couple of years now and spoken quite openly about their intention to break into the streaming game. And they’re not alone. In fact, Disney is just one of the many companies that’s taken an interest in streaming TV as of late.

What started as a novel idea from a company that made most of its money renting DVDs through the mail has now become an entire industry, and everyone wants a piece of the pie. We are entering a period in which every company you’ve ever heard of is going to have their own streaming service, each vying for your attention and your money with a combination of flash, nostalgia, and savvy business practices.

Friends, welcome to the streaming wars.

The Sitch

We all know what streaming is. It’s a way to watch TV shows and movies over the internet, usually as part of a subscription. Some cable packages include streaming features these days, and there have even been a few attempts at replicating the classic live TV experience online. But at its core, streaming always has been and always will be an alternative to traditional cable in both its medium and its economics. That’s what makes it so appealing to cord-cutters like me.

Streaming solves many common problems faced by cable subscribers. It’s generally cheaper than traditional TV, mostly due to the fact that streaming services aren’t bundled together unnecessarily and don’t come with extended contracts. Streaming works with the hardware and internet connection you already have at home; no need to rent a new box and pay for a technician to install it. Plus, and best of all, you can watch what you want when you want, often ad-free. That’s the magic of streaming!

Personally, I’ve never paid for cable. Between Netflix and Hulu (plus the occasional use of my dad’s DirecTV login in absolute emergencies), I’m able to watch all of my shows at my convenience for a fraction of the price I’d be paying for cable. This method has been working perfectly for me for a long time.

It works for a lot of other people, too. In fact, as cable continues to lose subscribers year after year, the streaming world is booming. More and more TV lovers are figuring out that they don’t need to rely on their cable companies anymore. Just like it did for communication, the internet is streamlining TV and taking it to levels never before imagined.

And this is only the beginning.

It’s taken some time, but media companies are finally figuring out that streaming is the future. So instead of hiding their content behind the cable paywall or licensing it out to the same few companies that already have streaming figured out, they’re branching out, investing resources, and trying their own hands at the streaming game.

Just to get you up to speed, here’s quick breakdown of the most mainstream streaming services that are either out now or coming very soon:

Netflix: The company that started it all is still in the game. They may not be the one-stop shop that they used to be, but Netflix still has an incredible back catalog of licensed content as well as a constant stream of high-quality original shows. They’ve got something for everyone, and their recent deals with creators like Shonda Rhimes, Ryan Murphy, Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and DB Weiss, and Nickelodeon ensure that they’ll have compelling new content for years to come. And they’ll always have Breaking Bad, the show that literally invented binge watching.
Hulu: What started off as a joint effort by the major TV networks to curb the shift to streaming has transformed into something totally new. While Hulu also offers original programming, their main selling point is next-day availability for currently-running TV seasons. If you‘re ditching cable but don’t want to fall behind on your favorite network shows, Hulu has you covered. And if you like prestige TV, Disney recently announced that Hulu will soon become the streaming home of all their FX content. Anyone care to binge American Horror Story?
Amazon Prime TV: If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, one of the perks the company has added over the years is a growing library of streaming TV content. Prime features a few notable originals and a broad swath of licensed content, as well as the opportunity to subscribe to specialized add-ons if the core service doesn’t fulfill all your needs. No one’s joining Prime just for the TV shows, but if you’re already a subscriber, it’s certainly an added plus.
CBS All Access: CBS was the first broadcast network to make the jump into streaming, and it’s been a rousing success. Not only does the service feature all of the network’s current shows and their previous seasons, it also includes some digital-only offerings like Star Trek: Discovery and a new take on The Twilight Zone from Jordan Peele. All Access is proof positive that a streaming service can be done right by a broadcast company; let’s hope the others handle the transition just as well.
Apple TV+: The maker of my favorite technology is now the proud owner of its own streaming service. Apple TV+ doesn’t have any back catalog at all; it’s all original shows. But that smaller offering also comes with a smaller price tag. At only $5/month Apple TV+ is the cheapest streaming service available, and it’s free for a year if you buy a new Apple product. You can’t argue with free, right?
Disney+: Disney has bought so many other companies in the past few years that it’s hard to keep up. And now, they’re bringing them all together in one family-oriented streaming service that includes movies and shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. And if that wasn’t enough, every season of The Simpsons is available to stream, too. The opening of the Disney vault has created the gold standard for content offerings, leading me to believe that Disney+ is the new streaming king to beat.
HBO Max: HBO was one of the early adopters of the streaming model as well, offering their shows and movie library without a cable subscription through their HBO Now service. Next year, parent company AT&T is rebooting HBO Now and combining their prestige shows with content from sister companies like Warner Bros, DC Comics, Cartoon Network, and TNT. Plus, HBO Max is going to be the streaming home for Big Bang Theory, Friends, and Sesame Street. With this service, the company is hoping to broaden its appeal and make HBO a household name.
Peacock: NBC has put out some of the best comedy shows on TV, period. And next year, they’re leveraging those classics to form a new streaming service called Peacock. Like CBS All Access, Peacock will the streaming home for everything NBC, and that includes favorites like The Office and Parks and Recreation. Oh, and they’ve got DreamWorks onboard to create new animated movies for the service. It’s going to be fun.
Niche services: One of the benefits of streaming over traditional cable is that there’s room for more specific interests, too. If you’re into DC Comics, there’s a whole streaming service just for you called DC Universe. Do you like anime? Check out Crunchyroll. More into horror? Try Shudder. There are all kinds of these unique streaming services just for super fans. The depth and diversity of the streaming word is just astounding.
New mediums: And there are creators in the streaming world who are thinking outside the box, too. Next year, a new mobile-only streaming service called Quibi will offer quick bites (Get it?) of entertainment to streamers who don’t have time to sit down and watch a full TV episode. I might subscribe just to see Chrissy Tiegen’s take on a courtroom show, Chrissy’s Court. But even if Quibi isn’t for you, it’s exciting to know that streaming has opened up a whole world of entertainment possibilities that simply wasn’t possible before. Who knows what we’ll see next?

Why I’m Excited

If this seems like a lot, that’s because it is. The streaming wars have brought about a plethora of different services, and while it may seem confusing at first, this diversity is actually a good thing. It gives consumers the ability to pick and choose which of these services works best for them. No one gets locked in.

Excited for the new Marvel show? Sign up for Disney+.

Want to see something funny? Peacock has exactly what you’re looking for.

Wondering what Picard has been up to since the last time you watched Star Trek as a kid? He’s got a whole show over on CBS All Access.

You can enjoy any of these services anytime you want with no ads. It’s your shows your way, and I think that’s amazing.

And even better than that, you can hop from one service to another anytime you like. Maybe you subscribe to Netflix when the new season of Stranger Things comes out, but once you’re finished with it, you decide to take your money over to HBO Max and binge some old episodes of Friends. You can do that!

You have the ability to watch what you want when you want. You can build your streaming choices around your budget rather than being at the mercy of some all-powerful cable company. You can watch your favorite shows in the highest quality without interruption on your schedule. Welcome to the future of TV.

As these companies gear up to battle it out in the streaming wars, I think there’s already a clear winner: It’s us. Consumers have the power. These companies are fighting each other for our time and our money, which only leads to better content, pricing, and features for us. And we get to reward the services that meet our needs and desires with our precious subscriptions.

Some may see the streaming landscape as a chaotic, confusing battleground, and in some ways, it is. But for those of us smart enough to do the research and figure out how to navigate it, it’s a gold mine of entertainment and comfort. While the streaming companies battle it out, we get to just sit back and watch.

A Few Caveats

That’s not to say that everything is perfect. Many are skeptical of the idea that streaming is going to create a TV utopia, and I can sympathize. Though part of that hesitation can be attributed to a simple resistance to change, there are a few kinks in the streaming TV machine.

Holdouts

Not every media company wants to get onboard with this new form of TV. Most traditional TV creators have lined up with some sort of streaming service, but a few are still holding out.

Katherine and I enjoy watching The Walking Dead on AMC, as do millions of other people every week. It’s a cultural phenomenon. I’ve tried every avenue possible, and there is simply no legal way to stream the show without a cable subscription. AMC doesn’t work that way, I guess. While I predict that they won’t be able to ignore streaming forever, that doesn’t make it any easier on fans of the show now.

Those who want to watch shows from holdouts like AMC are forced to turn to other options. As I mentioned above, I’m fortunate enough to have access to a family member’s cable subscription when the need arises. I use my dad’s login to watch on the AMC app. But others may not have that same luxury.

Other options do exist. Possibly the best for true cable-cutters is iTunes or another digital media store. There, you can pre-pay for a season of a TV show for a somewhat reasonable price and stream the latest episode the day after it airs, much like a streaming service. Or you can always wait for the season to end and binge it once it hits a service like Netflix or Hulu. Most shows make their previous seasons available somewhere a few months after they wrap.

It’s certainly not ideal. I believe that the holdouts will eventually give in and join us here in the 21st century. Until then, streamers are forced to deal with unwieldy workarounds for the few shows that haven’t caught up.

Next-Day Viewing

Another drawback of streaming is that most shows aren’t available until after they’ve aired live, sometimes not even until the next day. This makes it harder for streamers to avoid spoilers and remain a part of the conversation surrounding their favorite shows. Whereas cable TV created space for live tweeting episodes and, “Did you watch The Bachelor last night?” conversations at work, streaming is more individualistic by nature.

I’ll admit, I’ve had a few major plot points from my favorite shows spoiled for me before I got around to watching them, and that made me sad. And I have to be a lot more careful about making sure my friends are caught up on shows before I’m able to discuss the latest episode with them. But the convenience of watching TV when I have free time rather than scheduling around the networks’ programming is worth the trade off to me.

I hope that in time, streaming will come up with a solution to this problem. As more and more people move to this new method, creators will become more sensitive to this new method of watching TV. Maybe new episodes could release online concurrently with their live broadcasts. Or maybe the concept of a live premiere will disappear altogether, as it has with shows available exclusively online.

I don’t know exactly how it will work out, but I’m confident that this issue, too, is simply a growing pain for this new medium. It will solve itself eventually. Until then, I’m muting all tweets about The Masked Singer until I’m caught up.

Death of the Monoculture

Pop culture unites us. It gives us a shared language and shared experiences that we can use to relate to one another. It might seem trivial, but watching the same TV shows gives people, even complete strangers, at least a sliver of common ground. And with the proliferation of streaming, that shared culture is fading away.

Back when there were only a few channels, most everyone watched the same things. Even if a show wasn’t your cup of tea, you’d watch it because it was on, and you could talk with other people about it. But now that there are so many options, you don’t have to watch anything other than your very favorite shows (and maybe your family members’ favorite shows, too). Since everyone’s favorite shows differ, that little bit of common ground disappears.

One could argue that this has been happening already as more and more TV networks have rolled out. Even the most basic cable packages have dozens of channels now. You can’t possibly watch them all. But streaming will certainly speed up this process as everyone finds their own entertainment niche that works best for them.

Is this necessarily a bad thing? I don’t think so. Great content will always transcend into the zeitgeist. (Stranger Things,anyone?) If the tradeoff is between watching what I like and watching what everyone else likes just to be a part of the conversation, I’m going to choose what I like every time. If I want to talk about it with other people, I’ll just have to start by convincing them to watch my favorite stuff, too.

Sports

I’m not a big sports fan, but I did get a free subscription to ESPN+ with my Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions. Deciding to give it a try, I downloaded the app and tapped on the tab to see what was available to watch. It was downright sad how little content was available on such a monumental network’s streaming service.

I only care about two sports teams: the Baylor Bears and the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Bears had a huge game this weekend, but I couldn’t watch it on ESPN+. Why? Because the streaming rights to the game belong to ABC. When I went to the ABC app to watch the game, I discovered the only way I’d be able to stream it was—you guessed it—with a cable subscription. Disappointing.

Being a sports fan in the world of streaming isn’t easy. The licensing deals in the sports world are as complicated as can be, and in many ways, the industry is behind when it comes to streaming technology. There are solutions out there for sports fans, but my suggestion for now is probably to stick with cable if watching your team’s latest game is really important to you.

Pricing

Right now, the monthly subscription price for each of these services is somewhere between $5 and $15. That is an amazing deal for the amount of content that you’re getting, and if you subscribe to a few of your favorites, you can get all the TV you need for way less than the cost of cable.

However, some experts predict that the pricing for these streaming services will rise over time. We’ve already seen it happen as Netflix has gone from $7/month to $13 over the past few years. A pessimistic prediction might be that these services draw us in with their low prices and wonderful content only to pull a bait-and-switch by jacking up the price and leaving us to choose between paying more and losing our favorite shows.

I would argue that this outcome is not an inevitability. If run well, these streaming services can make a profit over time and create a win-win situation for creators and consumers alike. Hulu, which has been in the game almost as long as Netflix, actually decreased their pricing this year for their basic, ad-supported plan. It all comes down to how these companies are run and if they’re able to draw in enough customers.

After all, the streaming wars are really about much more than just TV. You may have noticed a pattern with all of these services: Most are owned by big companies that do more than just make content. Ultimately, these services are meant to serve not only as money-makers but also as entry points into much bigger worlds.

AT&T wants you to subscribe to HBO Max, but they also want you to choose them as your wireless carrier, so maybe they’ll offer the TV part for free to their wireless customers. Disney is glad to offer you Disney+, but they’d also like to sell you a vacation to a theme park. How about you come to Disney Land and let the company foot the bill for your binge watching? Comcast (which owns Peacock) sells internet. Amazon sells paper towels and everything else under the sun. Apple sells iPhones.

These companies see streaming as a means to engage with customers on other levels. Smart consumers can pick and choose whether they want to take advantage of those extra offers, but in the meantime, we get some incredible TV services no matter what we choose. And as long as the streaming TV services benefit their parent companies financially, they’ll keep doing what they’re doing.

Streaming is a win for consumers, and it’s a win for the companies running the services. I’m confident that this model is going to last because it benefits us all.

A Winning Strategy

So now that you understand what’s going on with all of this streaming stuff, it’s time to decide how you’re going to make this phenomenon work for you. What is going to be your strategy for coming out on top of the streaming wars?

It’s best to start by laying out your priorities. Do you want to be up-to-date on shows airing right now? Are you more focused on watching the highest-quality, prestige content available? Or do you need something that you can watch with your kids without worrying about whether or not it’s appropriate?

What you’re looking for will determine which of these services works best for you. And you don’t have to pick just one. Maybe you subscribe to Disney+ for watching with your kids, but when they go to bed, you flip on HBO Max for something a little more intriguing. You can mix and match, swap them out, and try new services at anytime. It’s all up to you!

Your budget will be another consideration. If you’re switching away from cable, then you could probably subscribe to every service I’ve listed and still save money. But if you’re looking to be economical, then you’re going to want to find the services that give you the most value for your money. Some will have more shows for you than others. You can always use a universal search tool like JustWatch or the Apple TV app on your phone to find out which services offer your favorite shows as part of their subscription.

And you’re going to want to look for deals. As I said above, these companies really want to hook us in with these streaming services, so they’re offering some promotions that you can really benefit from.

Your cell service provider almost certainly offers a free subscription to one of these streaming services. AT&T will give you HBO Now, Verizon is offering Disney+, and T-Mobile comes with a free Netflix subscription. You’re already paying for your phone service, so why not take advantage of this freebie, too?

If you’ve purchased an Apple product in the last couple of months or buy one in the future, you quality for a free year of Apple TV+. Amazon Prime TV comes free if you’re already a Prime subscriber. Roku streaming devices come with a few free months of Hulu. These deals are endless.

Then there are the bundles. Disney owns Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, so if you subscribe to two of them, you get the third for free. Students can subscribe to a Hulu, Showtime, and Spotify bundle for just $5/month. Apple is rumored to be working a bundle that combines their TV, music, news, cloud storage, and other subscriptions, possibly to be released next year. And this is just the start.

Winning the streaming wars requires us to be smart, vigilant, and resourceful. But if we choose to put the work in, we can come out of it with an entertainment solution that‘s perfectly suited to meet each of our needs.

In case you’re wondering about my current streaming strategy, here it is:

I subscribe to Netflix and Disney’s bundle, which includes Disney+, ad-free Hulu, and ESPN+. I get HBO Go (soon to be HBO Max) for free with my AT&T subscription. Because I upgraded my iPhone in September, I’ve also got a free year of Apple TV+.
Netflix is for binging their original shows (Bojack Horseman, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Black Mirror, Stranger Things for Katherine) and some older shows like Breaking Bad.
I use Hulu to keep up with currently-running shows like The Masked Singer and This Is Us. I was also obsessed with their original series The Act when it ran earlier this year.
Disney+ has so much amazing stuff that I haven’t even begun to work through it all, but I’m enjoying The Mandalorian a lot, and I watch Pixar shorts when I have just a few minutes to spare. I’m so ready for their Marvel shows to release next year!
ESPN+ is free with the Disney bundle, and I haven’t used it for much of anything yet. I hope that they’ll expand their coverage to consistently include the teams I care about over time.
The only HBO show I watch is Silicon Valley, but once they add Big Bang Theory to HBO Max, I’ll definitely be taking advantage of that.
Apple TV+ is the service I’ve spent the least time with. I’ve read great reviews of the shows, though, and hope to dive into a few of them before my trial runs out so that I can decide if it’s worth keeping.
I watch most of my shows on my Apple TV at home. Other than Netflix, every streaming service integrates with the TV app, so I use it as my queue and my home base for keeping up with every show. When I’m on the go, I use the TV app on my iPad.

I’ve never been happier with my TV setup than I am right now, and it’s only going to get better from here. In case you can’t tell, I’m a big fan of streaming and very optimistic about what’s ahead.

But I’m curious what you think. Are you all in on streaming? Or are you still waiting to see how it all plays out? What questions do you have about these services and how they work? I would love to hear your thoughts and answer any questions you have.

Thank you for reading my deep dive on the streaming wars. I hope you learned something that will help you navigate this new world at the intersection of entertainment and technology. If you have any feedback, feel free to reach out. I’ll see you next week!