Who’s in the crossfire?

Netflix has dominated streaming for quite a while now, but I think this year is definitely going to show how much streaming is paving the way for the future, and possibly ruining everyone’s bank accounts.

Netflix’s main competitor last year was Amazon, but Disney came in guns a’blazing and now holds one of the top spots as a streaming service. Disney’s streaming service, known as Disney+, has already shown in these few short months that it features some heavy hitters like “The Mandalorian” and many more to come with a reported budget of $100 million for each mini-series. To be fair, these shows look amazing, and so far I’ve yet to be disappointed. If you’re paying for a service, it’s got to be good. In light of the new service, Disney has backed off their own related content and is in the process of removing everything and anything it has on Netflix. The ripple effects were already showing when Netflix fired back and cancelled Iron Fist, Luke Cage and fan-favorite Daredevil.

You’ve also got Amazon, which is most definitely going to be pouring more money into their service since it’s fallen behind Disney+ on the charts. Apple is also looking to invest in streaming, such as the latest development of the iTunes app being loaded onto Samsung TVs.

There is also mounting speculation that Apple will be looking to buy Sony and with that comes “Spider-Man,” “Men in Black” and much more.

Then there’s Warner Bros., who have already dipped their toes into streaming with the DC Universe streaming service, featuring all your favorite DC movies and TV shows, while also releasing new original series. WB Studios is also going to be starting an HBO streaming service. So, you’ve got to imagine they will also start removing their shows from Netflix too.

The show “Friends” is a good example; it gets a ton of revenue from Netflix, but the recent one-year extension signifies that WB has more long-term plans with it, such as putting it on their own streaming platform.

Comcast, who owns Universal, was in quite a big bidding war with Disney over Fox as they were also looking to buy a big library of content to own and distribute themselves. Comcast will own Sky, which is a big player in Europe. Comcast has also started CBS All Access, which has not had a bad start with “Star Trek Discovery.”

In light of all these new streaming services, is there a reason to still pay cable companies? Why are we throwing our money at cable and streaming services when we could easily just pay for bundles of streaming services and not miss out on new shows?

The world today is on the track for innovation and the streaming wars is just the beginning. My question is, is this going to be a good thing? Or will we have to basically buy a Netflix package, an Amazon package, an Apple package, one after another?