There are a lot of different things to subscribe to out there. That's especially true if you just narrow down the options and look at a particular category like streaming services. Music. Video. There are so many that it can be pretty daunting.
For someone interested in cutting the cord from their traditional cable company, choosing which streaming video options is the first step. Do you grab HBO for that Event Television? How about Showtime, or Starz, or CBS All Access, or... You get it. And those feel like almost essential options! Not to mention the variety of live TV streaming services there are.
What about the bonus options? The streaming services that feel like supplemental to the stock services that one might need if they're cutting the cord. Netflix. Disney+. And then there's Apple TV+, Shudder, and so on. And that's even if any of these services are actually supplemental in any way.
I don't know about you, but Netflix feels like about as standard a subscription service these days as any other.
So, Apple TV+. It's one of the cheapest options out there at $4.99 per month, but it's also one of the weakest subscription options when it comes to actual content right now. 2019 ended with just a handful of shows to watch from the service and a documentary. It's not a lot!
But it feels like the tide is about to change. Just a couple of days ago Apple officially announced new launch dates for new series and documentaries. New dramas. New comedy series. And that's all stuff that's launching before the middle of this year, with even more coming down the line.
Thanks to a deal with my wireless carrier I get 12 months of Apple TV+ for free. Which means I'll get access to that new stuff in a few months without having to change anything, payment wise. But I think it's safe to say that, right now, if I were paying for Apple's streaming video service I'd cancel it because there isn't anything to actually watch.
Even with a lot of content coming down the line, thanks to partnerships with people like Alfonso Cuarón, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Justin Lin, and so many others, I can't help but think this is going to be a recurring issue for Apple. Literally running out of things to watch. I've said that before about Netflix and that was just because I couldn't find anything to watch. Not because there wasn't something out there in the seemingly endless back catalog.
And that's what I'm interested to find out this morning. Are you still subscribing to Apple TV+ if you were paying for it before (as in, not getting the service for free)? Or did you run out of stuff to watch and drop the service? Let me know!