Unfortunately rarely does the price of a service go down over time.

If someone just wanted to watch one show or film could they just pay for that instead of entire package ?

You could have a serious investment program for that kind of cash flow, or nights out, theater, dinners. Sad we do nothing but feed big media companies. It's all warping our minds.

Why do people carry on like there is?

There are free books and movies at the library--all of which have ZERO ads--if you're desperate for entertainment.

Are sailing the high seas.

bundled with cable in 2018 for only $89/mo.

I dropped Spectrum TV in 2018 when the bundle I had then was about to go up to $140/mo, but I replaced it with an HD indoor antenna for OTA stations (one-time purchase of less than $30), a Roku device (another one-time purchase of under $30) for an amazing amount of free TV and films and news channels, and premium streaming channels I'll get selectively, rather than every month (with the exception of Prime since I need Prime for shipping as well, so it was not an added cordcutter expense).

And I'll often sign up for discount deals for those premium streaming channels. At the moment I have Peacock Premium at about $22 for an entire year, Paramount+ bundled with Showtime for two months at $3/mo, MAX for 6 months for $3/mo, and Hulu bundled with Disney+ for a year for $3/mo (those last 3 were Black Friday deals).

but, that $89 cable package in 2018 is probably also $120-$150 + today. We cut the cord a few years ago, have almost every streaming service imaginable (except no live TV), and are still tracking pretty close to what cable would cost us. For now at least, Peacock and Paramount offer whatever is live on the local affiliate (including sports) and Max is still offering NBA and other sports from TNT. The only thing we miss, if we're willing to wait until the day after broadcast, is live sports on Fox. We're just outside of range to pick the networks up reliably over the air.

The cable in our area is about $170 / month with the way they bundle packages to get you into HD.

of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW in HD OTA, along with duplicates of some of the popular subchannels for syndicated shows like H&I. And with an indoor HD antenna I don't have to worry about weather the way I would with a dish, and I've had local TV when cable was out.

It's important to have unlimited data with internet, though, for doing lots of streaming. I unplug the Roku device when I'm not using it.

because our cable provider is also the ISP. So far we're uncapped - and we use a metric ton of data. Sometimes I wonder if they'd rather be out of the cable business. I know their fees for providing ESPN, Fox News, and some of the other cable networks keep going through the roof.

I wish we could get OTA. Even with a good rig on the roof, it would be unreliable. Too much distance and elevation to deal with. I remember as a kid my dad would go back and forth between canceling cable and putting up some fancy antenna to back to cable again. I get it now.

Edit to add: Not everyone will get this, but being able to afford HBO and Mountain Dew were like important adult milestones. Sounds crazy but it's true.

My wife and I quit all advertising supported television a long time ago. No cable, no satellite, no broadcast television. That was before cutting the cord was fashionable.

We've got the $16 Netflix plan and a large collection of DVDs, most of which I've found in thrift stores. Some DVDs we've bought new, especially movies we saw in theaters that we'd like to see again. On and off, we've subscribed to other streaming services but not as consistently as Netflix. I'll probably start watching Paramount Plus again when the next season of Strange New Worlds (Star Trek) is released.

I don't think I've ever considered television any sort of necessity. Neither did my parents. When I was a kid our family television would break down and we'd go months without it until my parents could pay someone to fix it. My mom was also very selective about what we could and couldn't watch, and how much.

When the original Star Trek premiered in 1966 my parents watched the first few episodes without us to make sure it was appropriate for children. They decided it was and I've been a Star Trek fan since.

It’s called “good business practice”

We switched in 2022 and will still be under our old service by $35 after the hike.

Very reliable.

I may not bring it back next year. Cheaper to watch the games in a bar.

People must really be rolling in the dough to pay for tv, plus internet, plus phone bill. That's like enough money to buy 60-70 cartons of eggs a month!

I swear, I never heard a single politician clutching their pearls about tv, internet and phone subscription prices. But eggs...

See if your mobile provider has any streaming deals.

For example: T-Mobile offers netflix and hulu (with ads) for free + $2/month more for Disney + (with ads).

I have peacock on their black friday deal.

You also can access a bunch of ad included services like tubi and roku.
There is plenty of content out there.

I live in a concrete blockhouse a condo so I can't do an external or internal antennae.

reflect what the market can bear.
In other words, as long as people are willing to pay it, prices will increase until a negative impact on subscriptions is evident.
Personally, I can live without TV without issue. I like to have it, but a 15% price increase would certainly make me reconsider. the issue is, I'll be the 1/2 of a percent of the people who cancel and it won't budge the market price at all.
People appear absolutely addicted to media these days. Most of them would probably do without food before they gave up their cell phone or internet access.