StreamSaver Combines Netflix Apple TV+ And Peacock Into One Streaming Bundle
The day we have all feared for a decade has finally arrived, as streaming services are officially being bundled into packages that resemble cable. According to an industry report, Netflix, Apple TV+, and Peacock are being bundled into a single package through a service called StreamSaver, just as Disney+, Max, and Hulu have announced a similar bundling combo. StreamSaver is a service offered by Comcast, proving that time is a flat circle and humanity is doomed to repeat the mistakes of our past.
Cable Is Back
While Comcast’s StreamSaver is a natural progression of the modern streaming landscape, it signals an unfortunate truth about the future of television and film viewing. Clearly, the release of so many different streaming services has created an entertainment bubble destined to pop, eliminating the very simplicity that necessitated streaming to begin with.
Netlfix Changed Everything
When Netflix first launched its online streaming library, it offered a revolutionary new idea that popular films and television shows could be accessed and binged at any time through a single subscription fee. As other streamers like Peacock, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and more threw their hats into the ring, it suddenly became a mad dash for each streamer to scrounge up as much popular IP as humanly possible while also pumping out droves of original content to satiate subscribers.
Now, StreamSaver begs the question, why settle for one streaming service when you can bundle three?
Shift To Quality Over Quantity
On its face, this sounds like an excellent deal, as long as the price is right. Of course, this is not our first rodeo with services of this kind. If StreamSaver operates anything like cable, the service will likely begin snatching up smaller streamers into its bundle that you have no interest in using and inflating its price to reflect a quantity-over-quality approach.
Bundles Are Good For Customers
For the time being, Comcast’s StreamSaver has not yet been rolled out to consumers, though Variety specifies that you must be an existing subscriber of Xfinity Internet and/or Xfinity TV to access the bundle. While the price of StreamSaver is currently unknown, the service’s creators have promised that the bundled package comes at a “deep discount.”
The cheapest way to subscribe to each of the three services, sans StreamSaver, costs a monthly total of $22.97 before taxes and fees. Apple TV+ charges a standard subscription of $9.99, Netflix with ads clocks in at $6.99, and Peacock is currently offering its cheapest tier at $5.99, though it’s already planning a price hike for this Summer.
Chasing Disney
The first streamers to pioneer a bundled package were Hulu and Disney+, who combined after Disney swallowed Hulu’s parent company whole in a 2019 acquisition. Since then, Disney has worked tirelessly to bring numerous other streamers on board, including many major sports channels. Now that StreamSaver has announced an official cable-style bundle, many other streamers will likely follow suit, nullifying the diversity of the massive streaming market.
It’s far too early to say what long-term ripple effects StreamSaver will have on the streaming world, though trends have shown that cable’s stranglehold on media has led many consumers to source their favorite projects through free pirating sites online.
