As Streaming Services Continue to Increase Prices, What Can Movie Fans Do?

Another day, another price hike from streaming services, and another hit to the collective wallet of film enthusiasts. This time, we’re talking about Disney+, which is increasing the prices of its ad-supported and premium tiers, alongside the prices of its Hulu and HBO Max bundles.

Hardly a new move in the streaming industry, this follows similar price hikes in 2025 by Apple TV+, Netflix, and Discovery+. All of this and the year isn’t even done, as we look forward to seeing what hikes and justifications might come next.

Exhaustion aside, these hikes do leave us with serious questions about what we, as viewers, might do to stay engaged with the content we enjoy the most. What are the realities we might have to accept, what other industries might lead the way, and what are the best options to maintain access with streaming services that are often in flux?

Source: Pixabay

The Unreliability Problem

Aside from the constantly rising cost, the biggest issue that many of us have with streaming services is how difficult and unreliable it is to watch what we love. From what used to be a single consolidated library, we now have to manage shows and movies constantly leaving platforms. What we were watching yesterday might be gone today, or just as inconveniently, only half a series might be available on a platform of choice.

This can even be true for “purchased” content. Some companies like Sony have already laid the groundwork by deleting paid-for content from people’s libraries, so even if you buy something digitally, there’s no guarantee you’ll keep access.

Temporary Access

When it comes to streaming, the only real way forward to guarantee access is to find where something is available right now and make peace with the cost. Whether this means renting a movie via Apple+ or paying for a month of streaming with the intent of cancelling, accepting the inevitable can do great things to lessen disappointment. The sad thing here is that scalable costs in online entertainment already exist, and in ways that are much loved by users.

The online casino industry is a prime example, where players who want to play games like bingo online get to choose which games they want to play and how much they want to pay. While there is no direct way to draw a comparison between games like Reel King Riches and 3 Cheeky Chimps to movies, it would be great to have some kind of similar middle ground in streaming between an expensive monthly subscription and getting exactly what we want for how much we want to pay. Apple has some groundwork here, but it still has some exploration before the costs are really justifiable for what users receive.

Source: Pixabay

Turning Back the Clock

As we see it, the only way to really guarantee you can find and maintain what you really want as a modern movie fan is to no longer rely on streaming and instead turn back to physical media. Blu-rays are the only real viable choice here, like VHS and DVD libraries once were.

This isn’t as convenient as streaming, but it does offer advantages that streaming can’t match. A Blu-ray will last your entire life if looked after, and you’ll never lose access. It’s also higher quality than an online stream, providing vastly better audio/visual fidelity.

We know, the idea of setting up such a system isn’t the most enticing, but there is merit to the idea. Remember the appeal of inserting and loading physical media, the reward of patience, and the satisfaction of getting your hands on something you’ve long sought to watch. It’s an idea worth considering, at least if streaming prices continue down their current paths.