Streaming is taking yet another step toward cable. Just weeks after combining its Hulu and Disney Plus services, Disney Plus is adding streaming channels, according to a report from The Information. This marks the latest push toward the old model of TV-watching from one of the world’s biggest streaming companies, and while that may sound like a step backwards, it’s probably a good thing in the long run.
Disney Plus’ new feature will reportedly include separate channels for different types of content. This seems likely to include things like a Marvel channel, a Star Wars channel, and maybe even something collecting the animated works from both Pixar and Disney. The channels would run 24/7, and would include content curated by Disney, which users could jump straight into whenever they log into the service.
This idea — basically cable channels for streaming services — isn’t a Disney Plus invention. Other services like Shudder, Peacock, and Pluto have been doing it for years, and the Criterion Channel just started its channel last week. In every case, the channels are met with universal acclaim. While streaming has certainly proven that people have an appetite for choosing their own content, anyone who has stared at Netflix’s homepage for an hour just to close it and do something else instead knows that endless options aren’t always best. In fact, most people love to stumble on something new they might not have chosen to watch themselves, or an old favorite they forgot they loved.
Meanwhile, the appeal of channels is obvious for the services themselves, too. It lets them shine lights on the less-viewed titles in their catalog, or direct viewers’ attention to a movie or TV series they might never have considered otherwise. On top of that, in the most old-world cable way possible, 24/7 channels are a haven for advertisements, something that more and more streaming services are introducing as they discover that the profitability of the subscription-only model is questionable at best.
Combine all that with the increase in service bundling — one reduced subscription rate for several services — and suddenly the whole business of watching things at home is starting to look a whole lot like the cable model the industry moved away from in the late 2010s. Maybe part of the reason both companies and viewers are slowly coming back to that era is that it wasn’t quite as bad as everyone thought, it just took seeing the alternatives for everyone to realize how good we had it. More importantly, if all the streaming era accomplished is putting a dent in the cable monopolies that dominated the 1990s and 2000s, it will all have been worth it.
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