Nolte: Wall Street Sees ‘Hopeless Economics’ for (Lousy) Streaming Services

The Wall Street Journal says investors see only “hopeless economics” for Hollywood streaming services.

Tee hee.

Here are the three most interesting items in the piece:

• The new writer’s contract “will likely mean that companies will make fewer new shows and cancel even more that are on the bubble.” One longtime producer says “the number of scripted shows Hollywood produces could fall by one-third in the next three years.”

Duh. Streamers have no choice but to cut down on content. Currently, some 300-plus new TV shows – new TV shows on top of the ones already in production —  are produced annually and no one watches about 290 of them. You are talking about billions of dollars spent on crap no one watches on streaming platforms losing billions of dollars.

• “The studios held the line on key issues. Streamers won’t publicly release viewing data, despite the writers’ demands for transparency, but instead will give data on how shows fared to the Guild confidentially to share with its members in aggregate form.”

Writers won residuals based on streaming success. Good for them. But Wall Street (and the public) will remain in the dark on streaming viewership numbers — which only means one thing: those numbers are so awful the studios fear the truth will damage the stock price.

Here’s my favorite [emphasis mine]:

• “The root problem is that there are too many streaming services. That is creating confusion for consumers and hopeless economics for the companies. Consolidation, whether in the form of mergers, joint ventures or bundles, has to come to the streaming world for the industry to be viable.”

What “consolidation” means is that for, say, $49.99 a month, you subscribe to a streaming package that includes multiple streaming servives: Disney+, Netflix, Paramount+, Criterion, ESPN… You see, what these fascist studios need more than anything is to recreate the Cable TV Con in the streaming world.

For decades, studios made billions off of cable TV because 120 million households paid $150 a month for a bunch of channels they never watched. This bonanza removed merit from TV. After all, why try to please the masses when the masses are asses willing to pay $150 a month for dozens of channels they never watch? So what did we get instead of decent TV? For that $150 per month, we got 20 minutes of ads per hour, left-wing propaganda, gay everything, and decades of the nostalgic opioid of Law & Order, NCIS, The Simpsons, CSI, and remakes (Hawaii Five-O, Woke Trek)…

Today, the studios are in a panic because only about 60 million still have cable TV and their lousy streaming services are losing billions…

What terrifies these fascist studios is that, at least for now, streaming demands merit. People must like your content before they subscribe or continue to subscribe to it. Spoiled by the Cable TV Con, streamers are losing billions because they continue to produce the same woke crap they did for cable: left-wing propaganda where everyone’s gay and dads are dumb.

But!

If the studios succeed in rigging the streaming world with bundles, if they successfully recreate the Cable TV Con where you either pay $49.99 to access streaming or you get no streaming at all, the studios win and we lose. And that $49.99 will only be the beginning. Within a decade you will be paying $129.99 for a ton of crap you never watch, a ton of crap that seeks your destruction and the destruction of your child’s innocence.

Hollywood is desperate to avoid anything merit based. If that happens, if Hollywood has to please normal people who make up 70 percent of the country and that will mean the end of woke TV because in a merit-based world, woke TV means financial Armageddon.

I’m done with streaming. Before you waste your money, you need to check out PlutoTV, FreeVee, Tubi, and all the other free streaming outlets. There is plenty of free stuff to watch. There is no need to pay for TV anymore. And the stuff you want to watch on pay streaming will eventually show up on these free services.

Stop making people who hate you and seek your destruction rich.

If this country falls for the “streaming bundle,” we’ll get what we deserve.

John Nolte’s debut novel Borrowed Time is available to order, including Kindle and Audible. Amazon reviews are appreciated and helpful.