Philip’s Predictions
- More older, non-original shows leaving Netflix for other streaming services. NBC, Fox, and Disney shows will continue their exodus from Netflix in 2022. Glee recently left the service in December, and there are rumblings that New Girl won’t be far behind. It all reinforces the notion that Netflix is becoming less and less a destination for reruns of old faves and more a hub for new, original content.
- More price hikes and carriage disputes. We’ve already seen Hulu tuck in a price hike before year’s end, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see more crop up as 2022 rolls on. And those increases could come hand-in-hand with new carriage agreements that include higher fees to carry big-name channels.
Jess’ Predictions
- More ‘demand’ streaming services will add livestream channels. Paramount+ just launched a hub with more than a dozen curated playlists so subscribers can have a traditional TV-like viewing experience of flipping through channels to find something to watch 24/7. I expect more services (HBO Max and Peacock in particular) to do something similar.
- We’ll see a change in how fans stream sports. (This is more of a wish than a prediction.) This has been a frustrating year for sports fans, with many of us unable to watch our favorite teams because of blackouts and streaming services not carrying RSNs. Sinclair seems to think they have what it takes to start a DTC sports streaming service but in the meantime, DIRECTV STREAM has been the only source for streaming Bally Sports channels. Maybe 2022 is the year someone figures out how to make it easier for cord cutters to watch sports. (I just really want to watch the Cavs play.
CCN Reader Predictions
This year, we posted in the Cord Cutting Tech Support Facebook group to ask our readers what they predict will happen with cord cutting in 2022. Here’s what some of them had to say.
“Apple TV+ will get NFL Sunday Ticket” -Ryan E.
“HBO Max will lose a significant amount of subscribers as more Warner Bros. films go back to theaters (instead of streaming), but they will later see an increase in subscribers after Discovery merges with HBO, creating the DiscoMax+ streaming services!” -Jermaine K.
Editor’s Note: we’re here for the name DiscoMax+.
“Recently Redbox’s CEO said the company is going to get into the subscription “live channel” business. I wonder if Redbox would be a good candidate to buy Starz or a smaller service like Philo.” -Andrew G.