Star Trek: Discovery: Aggravated that CBS will charge us

[fireproof78]

I don't think anyone should sign up for CBSAA. I don't think anyone should do anything with their money that they wouldn't already do of their own volition. I just think some people's objections against the platform don't really make sense or don't seem nearly severe enough to inspire in people a Rage Against the Machine soundtracked customer rebellion, imho, but hey it's not my money or time. You do you. I signed up because I like CBSAA and I like Star Trek and it's a fair deal for me. Hopefully there's enough of us willing to sign up to justify a healthy run of DSC.

This sums it up perfectly for me. Nobody has to do anything. You don't like it, don't sign up for it. I don't care for most of cable, and guess what? I don't buy it.

I think the only thing I actually like paying for are National Park and NWR entrance fees and donations. I mean, who likes paying for things?

I mega-loathe paying for a lot of things, but it's still my choice. For instance, my car needs 4k in repairs but I don't have to pay for it. I can just junk the car and deal with just having one car for a time.

I don't have to watch Star Trek. I subscribe to CBSAA if I want to, and chose to spend my money that way. Hopefully, as @Balok's Decoy put it, enough people will agree and sign up as well and provide Star Trek enough financial revenue to justify its continued existence. If not, well, that's capitalism. It's a product-the consumer decides if its worth it or not.

 

[Paul Weaver]

It's not that people don't like any of these things. It's PAYING that people don't like.

You know you pay for broadcast TV right, you have no choice in the matter, it's baked in the cost of everything you buy, before you count the cost of watching the adverts (even if you fast forward there's a cost there, in loss of quality of the narrative which was written around commercials, the jarring you out of the program every 10 minutes, and in your time pressing fast forward, concentrating, trying not to overshoot etc)

 

[Jedi_Master]

You know you pay for broadcast TV right, you have no choice in the matter, it's baked in the cost of everything you buy, before you count the cost of watching the adverts (even if you fast forward there's a cost there, in loss of quality of the narrative which was written around commercials, the jarring you out of the program every 10 minutes, and in your time pressing fast forward, concentrating, trying not to overshoot etc)

A fact that often gets overlooked.
"Free TV" is a fiction, a comfortable one but a fiction nonetheless.

 

[Tenacity]

You know you pay for broadcast TV right

Right, and now CBS wants more on top of that.

 

[BillJ]

Right, and now CBS wants more on top of that.

Like pretty much everything else in life, the cost of business is going up.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Right, and now CBS wants more on top of that.

That's true for people who pay for TV and streaming. But for people like me who only pay for select streaming services, the cost isn't additional and not excessive.

 

[BillJ]

That's true for people who pay for TV and streaming. But for people like me who only pay for select streaming services, the cost isn't additional and not excessive.

The Big Four networks really have no other option than chasing streaming dollars as advertising revenue shrinks due to audience fragmentation.

 

[EnderAKH]

Right, and now CBS wants more on top of that.

They want to make a return on their investment. Let's look at this another way: If Discovery were on the broadcast network, it would have to bring in enough money through ratings to justify the existence of what is presumably a pretty expensive show. The odds are it would not be able to do that. Enterprise couldn't. Enterprise's big sin wasn't its ratings on UPN, it's that it was an expensive show. So CBS made the decision to instead put Discovery on CBS All Access which has a different metric: will the presence of this show bring subscribers who will subscribe to the service and either watch the ads or pay the no-ad premium? If the answer is yes, it gets to live on. If Game of Thrones were on a network with its costs, it wouldn't last a minute because it only brings in an average of a little less than 8 million viewers for an astronomical cost. Discovery is on that same scale. So the fact that it is on CBS All Access is how it gets to live, because it doesn't get a life otherwise.

 

[fireproof78]

They want to make a return on their investment. Let's look at this another way: If Discovery were on the broadcast network, it would have to bring in enough money through ratings to justify the existence of what is presumably a pretty expensive show. The odds are it would not be able to do that. Enterprise couldn't. Enterprise's big sin wasn't its ratings on UPN, it's that it was an expensive show. So CBS made the decision to instead put Discovery on CBS All Access which has a different metric: will the presence of this show bring subscribers who will subscribe to the service and either watch the ads or pay the no-ad premium? If the answer is yes, it gets to live on. If Game of Thrones were on a network with its costs, it wouldn't last a minute because it only brings in an average of a little less than 8 million viewers for an astronomical cost. Discovery is on that same scale. So the fact that it is on CBS All Access is how it gets to live, because it doesn't get a life otherwise.

Precisely so.

I see two different perspectives going on that are a bit incongruent, The first is the idea that Star Trek needs to move in to the 21st, to be more relevant and not rely upon dated storytelling tropes so it can reach a contemporary audience. On the other hand, it should stick with the traditional TV format, and stay on broadcast TV, which is slowing fading away, and remain what it has always been.

Streaming is the future of TV show watching. CBS is trying to adapt to the changing market or the company will die. That's the nature of business, and Star Trek is part of that business model.

 

[OpenMaw]

I just wish CBS would have partnered with Netflix so that we could watch it here in the U.S. that way. I really don't want to have to by All Access for one show. I can justify the expensive of one streaming website(Netflix), or a movie rental here and there on Amazon, but I cannot justify having two streaming services a month. I simply don't make enough money for that.

 

[BillJ]

I just wish CBS would have partnered with Netflix so that we could watch it here in the U.S. that way. I really don't want to have to by All Access for one show. I can justify the expensive of one streaming website(Netflix), or a movie rental here and there on Amazon, but I cannot justify having two streaming services a month. I simply don't make enough money for that.

Cancel Netflix while Star Trek is running then.

 

[OpenMaw]

Cancel Netflix while Star Trek is running then.

Aye, I would consider that... Unfortunately, I am not the sole user of the Netflix account in my home.

 

[BillJ]

Aye, I would consider that... Unfortunately, I am not the sole user of the Netflix account in my home.

If you pay for it, others should understand that sometimes it won't be available.

 

[OpenMaw]

If you pay for it, others should understand that sometimes it won't be available.

Well, let's just say that wouldn't be entirely fair. It's their main source of media entertainment outside of YouTube, and since i'm gone eight hours five days a week it makes sense to have it for them while i'm gone.

I'm just saying it's dismaying that i'll probably have to wait until the series is finished and available via Amazon or out on dvd/blu-ray before i'll be able to watch it.

 

[fireproof78]

I just wish CBS would have partnered with Netflix so that we could watch it here in the U.S. that way. I really don't want to have to by All Access for one show. I can justify the expensive of one streaming website(Netflix), or a movie rental here and there on Amazon, but I cannot justify having two streaming services a month. I simply don't make enough money for that.

It will likely change.

 

[Vger23]

Honestly, no joke, I'm going to give up buying lunch two times per month and instead opt to make lunch and brownbag it...and I will more than save enough money to offset the CBSAA cost.

Or maybe I'll bring a bunch of recyclables into a facility each month...

Perhaps I'll cash in my spare change each month to off-set it.

I'm actually really irritated that I now have so many options to offset the cost, its stressful choosing one! IRRITATED!!! DAM U CBS!!!! Daaammmmmmm uuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ozzfloyd]

My loose change jar has 6 month's CBSaa subscription fees in it.

 

[BillJ]

We've known about All-Access since November of 2015. If someone saved a dollar a month between then and now, they'd already have enough saved for three months of service.

 

[Takeru]

I just wish CBS would have partnered with Netflix so that we could watch it here in the U.S. that way. I really don't want to have to by All Access for one show. I can justify the expensive of one streaming website(Netflix), or a movie rental here and there on Amazon, but I cannot justify having two streaming services a month. I simply don't make enough money for that.

I don't believe for a second that you cannot afford All Access for a single month, it's $6 if you pick the cheapest option. Start saving a single dollar per month now and you can get a one month subscription once the season is finished. And don't tell me you cannot save a single dollar, if you spend money you can spend a dollar less on something.

I'm not saying $6 is nothing or that small amounts of money don't add up but we're not talking about a permanent subscription, we're talking about spending $6 once to watch the season.

And cancelling Netflix for a month IS an option, if you pay for it you get to decide. You say it would be unfair to the others using it but is it really that bad to just have the internet without netflix for a few weeks but with All Access and the content it offers?
And if Netflix means that much to them, why not have them help a little bit, maybe with a dollar per month?

I'm just saying it's dismaying that i'll probably have to wait until the series is finished and available via Amazon or out on dvd/blu-ray before i'll be able to watch it.

Because getting the show on amazon or DVD/Blu-Ray is cheaper than 6 bucks?

 

[Paul Weaver]

Can all-access be paid for by cash/gift cards? If you were a 12 year old and wanting to watch trek, but your parents were unwilling to subscribe to CBS all access even if you were to pony up the money, that would be an issue. Amazon/itunes gift cards are available, but not for CBS.