Streaming Services Are Hiking Their Prices

The cost of streaming television shows and movies, once seen as a much cheaper alternative to owning a cable box, is rising.

Streaming services including Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu and Netflix are upping their monthly subscription fees now that they've gained a foothold in the market and can count on more consumers cutting the proverbial cord.

Amazon is raising the cost of its annual Prime subscription, which includes access to its original streaming content, by $20 to $139 a year while Netflix increased its monthly rate by up to $2. A premium Netflix subscription now costs $19.99 per month, allowing customers to view TV shows and movies on up to four devices at a time.

Given the sheer volume of content available for streaming, consumers are subscribing to multiple platforms to keep up with their favorite shows, often paying more than one monthly streaming bill. "I've realized once you have a few of them, it becomes almost like a car payment," one streaming subscriber told CBS News correspondent Lilia Luciano.

"Any streaming platform you can imagine, I'm subscribing to right now," another streaming fan said. Companies like Netflix are hoping that incremental price hikes are worth it for consumers who want to binge new seasons of their favorite shows.

Indeed, streaming platforms have invested billions of dollars in creating content that's earned them Oscars and other industry awards. In 2021, for example, Netflix spent an estimated $17 billion on creating and producing original content. That increased spending, combined with inflation, has driven up costs for consumers.

"Services really see content as their weapon to ensure people subscribe, and they stay subscribed, in this dog-eat-dog environment," entertainment analyst Paul Erickson said. He expects streaming providers to continue hiking their prices as long as consumers are willing to absorb the costs. The price increases will end when consumers "start leaving the service or they stop subscribing," Erickson said. "But I think that's a ways off, especially if you're raising prices incrementally over time."

Experts also think streaming services will start expanding their offerings with more live sports coverage. It won't all be in one place, of course, and consumers who want it all will have to subscribe to multiple streaming services.

"You've selected a lot of this content and these services, and what you're getting for that money, it's more relevant to you," Erickson said. "And that's the important part."

Credit: cbsnews.com