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Editor's Advice

Streaming Service Guide

Shane Guion

Anyone reading this is most likely already subscribed to at least one streaming service. Ever since Netflix started to dominate the streaming industry, it feels like every company wants a piece of the streaming service pie. This leads to an issue for the consumer: having too many options,and having to be selective with their choice. 

I selected 9 of the most popular streaming services according to Business Insider and calculated the total monthly cost for the basic packages. The streaming services included Apple TV+, Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, Discovery Plus+, Paramount Plus, and Peacock Plus. On a side note, I didn’t realize until writing this article how many of the streaming services  had the word plus in the title. 

The total cost was $72  a month, and with the ad-free plans was $105.50. That’s a lot of money for entertainment which  a majority of people will not have the time to watch all of them. So for this article, I will go through these 9 services and tell you whether I  believe  they are worth subscribing to. 

  1. Apple TV+

 The monthly cost for Apple TV+ has increased from $6 to $7 a month, which I am personally conflicted about. For an ad-free service, I think $7 is fair, but where I feel that it’s a bit too much to ask is the quantity of content on the site. The lack of content is certainly made up with the quality of great shows such as Ted Lasso and Severance. The film Coda took home best picture and best-adapted screenplay in last year’s academy awards, and that is an Apple original. They have a number of very interesting shows on there including, Prehistoric Planet, WeCrashed, The Elephant Queen, and Black Bird. Having Friday night MLB games streamed exclusively to Apple TV+ is a great addition as well for those who like to watch baseball like myself.

VERDICT: B-

  1. Netflix

Netflix is the most expensive service on this list if you get the most premium plan available which is $20 a month. The benefits of this plan are that you can watch shows in 4k and can watch shows on 4 supported devices at a time which is more suited for families with multiple screens. It does frustrate me that this is the only plan that supports 4k when services like Apple are half that cost and let you stream in ultra HD. That aside, for $15 a month, you get the premium ad-free plan, and the best thing  you can expect from Netflix is a large collection of content that is constantly updated. I can go through and name some of the largest shows and movies that Netflix offers, but I’m sure you’ve probably heard them already, such as Tiger King and Squid Game. Not only does Netflix offer a number of great originals, but they also offer a constant cycle of shows and movies. I personally like that shows will come and go cause it keeps me coming back to the site just to see what’s new. The only issue with the number of shows and movies on the site is that it can be difficult to find new ones to watch since you’ll spend lots of time looking through themt all. However, they have found ways to refine your search into various categories. For example,  there’s a button you can press that’ll play a movie at random which I think is neat. An unfortunate result of the large collection is that Netflix has gotten the reputation of putting anything on its site regardless of quality. 

VERDICT: A-

  1. Amazon Prime

The monthly cost of Amazon Prime is $15, which I would say is a lot, but I can’t complain since it comes free with my Amazon account. I also like the fact that it’s ad-free, aside from the promo ads in the beginning, which can be skipped. There are 3 things that go in its favor, in my opinion. The first being the number of movies available for rent that most big subscription services won’t bother putting on their platform. For example, I enjoy terrible movies  no one has heard of, such as Suburban Sasquatch and Swamp Ape. I think this is both good and bad since you have the opportunity to watch smaller movies, and for a lot of those movies, there’s a reason why they don’t get picked up for distribution. As well as a large collection of third-party movies and shows, Amazon Prime offers a number of quality originals. Some shows that I’ve enjoyed are The Boys, Invincible, and Rings of Power.

VERDICT: B

  1. HBO Max

I think the best thing about HBO Max, in general, is the consistency. I feel like all of their big releases for the shows are consistently good. Even the shows  I don’t personally connect with, such as Euphoria, I can still recognize them as  well- made. They have a large number of classic movies and shows on their site that are constantly being updated, but I personally feel the tv catalog is stronger than their movies. I also believe  the premium plan of $15.50 a month is a far asking price. I also recommend doing the annual plan since it saves you about $42 a year. 

VERDICT: A

  1. HULU

This one might be the hardest for me to decide how I feel. I believe that if Hulu didn’t come with FX, my opinion would be dramatically different. FX has some of my favorite shows, including Legion, What We Do in The Shadows, and Atlanta. In my opinion, Hulu doesn’t have much to offer outside of the FX catalog, and charging $15 for the premium plan is too much to ask for. I feel this is why Disney chose to offer a bundle deal with Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ just to make it feel like a bargain when you’re not getting much content with each individual service. 

VERDICT:  C

  1. Disney+

Just to be clear, I’m not a huge fan of the Marvel and Star Wars content which unfortunately wipes out about two-thirds of what the service has to offer.However, if you are a huge fan of those properties, then subscribing to this service would be a no-brainer. That being said, the quality of the shows and movies I feel isvery high, with my favorite being The Mandalorian. Other content that the service has to offer, which I enjoyed, includes the National Geographic shows but, honestly, I didn’t watch them that much to consider staying. 

VERDICT: C

  1. Discovery+

This service would be best suited for fans of reality television since it includes content from Food Network, TLC, HGTV, and Discovery. I’m not really a fan of those kinds of shows, so subscribing even for as little as $5 base plan or $7 ad-free doesn’t interest me. 

VERDICT: C-

  1. Paramount Plus

I tried Paramount Plus mostly to watch the new Beavis and Butthead show and not much else. The service does have a number of different archived movies and shows, but I couldn’t find any that appealed to me. The subscription is fair for the base plan at $5 a month, but I feel the ad-free plan at $10 is a little much. 

VERDICT: C

  1. Peacock Plus

I might be a little mean talking about Peacock Plus. I think this might be one of the worst streaming services out of all the most popular ones. I’m sure I can think of worse ones to subscribe to, but this one is by far the worst on this list. Their original catalog is by far the worst, with the only show worthwhile being The Office which I’m sure everyone has seen multiple times. My personal opinion of this service is that it is a complete waste of money even if you came just to watch The Office. You’d be better buying the series on Amazon than wasting $5 or $10 a month. 

VERDICT: D

These are my personal reviews for each service. While I don’t think that any service is perfect, I do think that each one has something to offer to everyone, except for Peacock Plus. My recommendation is to pick three services that you feel will contain movies and shows that you will most likely watch. Any more than 3, I think is too much unless you’re subscribing for one month to watch a new season of a show you enjoy. My recommendations for services to subscribe to would be Netflix, HBO Max, and Apple TV+. I’m gonna assume most people are probably subscribed to Amazon anyway. 

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