by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
There are just too many streaming services. There is going to come a point where there are only about three (or four.) Let’s attempt to see what that future might look like.
Looking into my very cloudy crystal ball, here’s how I think might shake out to be.
Apple+
Apple, as best I can tell, is something of a black box when it comes to streaming. But they have so much fucking money, that it’s at least within the realm of possibility that they might buy Netflix and fold it into Apple+. I still think Apple should buy Spotify, too, but that’s just me. And, I suppose, it’s within the realm of possibility that Apple might buy Warner Brothers Discovery, too. I only suggest that because, typically, as any industry matures you get three major players and Apple buying CNN’s parent company wouldn’t be as big a deal if, say, NBCUniversal bought it.
Disney+
I could totally see Disney in some way buying NBCUniversal’s streaming service. But this would be a very delicate situation because of Hulu. Or, put another way, Disney is so powerful that they’re going to endup being among the remaining three — how they get there I don’t know right now. (I’m drunk as I write this, so please forgive me if my thinking is a little bit clouded as to specifics.)
Paramount+
The only way Paramount+ survives to be among the top three is if they open the floodgates of content. They would really have to lean into all that CBS content they have access to. If they flooded the zone with 60 years of CBS content, then I think they have a pretty good shot at sticking around. Otherwise, lulz.
