Northern Star
 

Advertisement

hiring ad
 

 
Northern Star

Northern Illinois University’s student media since 1899

 

Ensure student journalism survives. Donate today.

Express Yourself: A Northern Star project
The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star
The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

Poll: Which streaming service is your favorite?

By Ashley Vargas, Opinion Columnist
September 12, 2023
Categories:
Angelina Padilla-Tompkins
A screenshot of various streaming services sit grouped together on an iPhone. Which streaming service is your favorite? (Angelina Padilla – Tompkins | Northern Star)

Now that the presence of cable television has seemingly become obsolete in the modern American household, we need to find the answer to an almost decade old question: Which streaming service is the best? 

NETFLIX

Starting off with perhaps the parent of on-demand streaming, Netflix was launched in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. Originally, the company acted as a site for the rental and sales of DVDs which could be mailed to people’s homes, according to Netflix’s home page.  

It wasn’t until 1999 that Netflix would introduce the subscription service many of us are familiar with today, offering members unlimited DVD rentals without the due dates, late fees or monthly rental limits that competitors included.

Over the years, Netflix has done away with DVD’s and has implemented useful features such as a personalized movie recommendation system, a skip intro button, top ten lists and Netflix’s own original series, movies and comedy specials.

The site currently has around 200 millions users and, according to Netflix, has brought its service to devices in more than 190 countries and can be watched in 21 languages around the world.

With numbers from streaming hub Reelgood, we can see that there are around 3,600 movies and 1,800 series available at a time, right at your fingertips. Netflix has a lot to offer subscribers, with a price ranging from $6.99 to $19.99 a month, depending on your plan. 

Its standard plan has a price of $15.49 a month which subscribers can watch on two devices at a time and access Netflix’s entire film and television library without ads. With the ability to download content and all of the features it has to offer, the site delivers a pretty good deal.

MAX

Previously known as HBO Max, Max was announced as an entry into the world of streaming services by entertainment juggernaut WarnerMedia. Max serves as a home for movies, shows, and programs across WarnerMedia.

This parent company calls for work from a complicated number of channels like the Warner Bros. film studio, the HBO network and the Turner broadcasting system. The Turner system acts as an umbrella network that hosts channels like TNT, Boomerang, Adult Swim and even Cartoon Network.

Acting as a one-stop shop for anything WarnerMedia, Max has a lot to choose from when it comes to content, but it doesn’t offer as much original content as other services. 

Max only offers a few choices for plans at $9.99 or $15.99 a month, the cheaper of the two having access to the site with ads. Depending on your love for all things WarnerMedia, this service might be the one for you.

HULU

Born in 2007, Hulu was bought as a joint venture between News Corporation and NBC Universal, only to eventually give full operational control to the Walt Disney Company along the way. 

Hulu launched its streaming service Hulu Plus in 2010, bringing TV to consumers on multiple platforms and was the first of its competitors to create original content in Aug. 2011, with “A Day in the Life.” 

The site created its own new features with ad-on networks like HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, and STARZ. In May 2017, Hulu introduced Live TV with live sports and award shows available. 

With this site being a combination of live and on-demand TV, Hulu comes with a price tag of $14.99 a month, ad-free. 

DISNEY+

Disney+ probably acts as the most simple of all the services with media powerhouse Walt Disney Company cultivating a site that holds Disney studio content in one place.

It acts as the sole home for movies and shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and a few other materials. 

According to Disney, its services are currently available in more than 150 nations across North America and Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific.

Depending on your plan, Disney+ can cost you up to $10.99 a month with no ads and the ability to download content. However, Disney did announce that beginning on Oct. 12 the price for the ad-free premium plan will rise to $13.99 a month. 

All of these sites offer their own library of content and features, whatever franchise series or interfaces you prefer will determine whether or not you add these monthly subscriptions to your budget. 

So, it’s up to you to decide: what is the best streaming service?

This poll has ended.

Poll: Which streaming service is your favorite?

Loading...

Sorry, there was an error loading this poll.

Print this Story
More to Discover
More in Columnists
A brown cow with a tag on its ear stands on a manure-covered ground. Opinion Columnist Lalita Rai encourages consumers to avoid purchasing furs, skins and other styles of fashion that cost animal lives. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Fashion shouldn't cost lives
A tax form and two arrows – one pointing up and the other pointing down – sit beneath the words "Look Both Ways" and above the topic of the week. Should taxes be lowered? (Jackson Shields | Northern Star)
Look Both Ways: Taxes
A graphic shows a turkey centered in the middle of various autumnal leaves. What's the best way to spend Thanksgiving break? (Jackson Shields | Northern Star)
Poll: What is the best way to spend Thanksgiving break?
Kayla Schaffer, a senior health and human sciences major, responds to a street interviews prompt. What are your plans for after graduation? (Northern Star Graphic)
Street Interviews: Graduation
A graphic shows money burning as an arrow, representing the United States' growing national debt, shoots upward. Opinion Columnist Ethan Ernst believes that the U.S.'s debt problem is a ticking time bomb with no simple solution. (Jackson Shields | Northern Star)
The national debt has no easy solution
A protestor holds the Israeli flag during a protest following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dismissal of the Israeli Defense Minister Nov. 5. Opinion Columnist Santiago Montañez Bertoletti warns that if Israel continues to navigate conflicts with little regard for human life, it’ll be no better than the terrorist organizations it aims to defeat. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)
Israel crosses dangerous moral lines
More in Opinion
Dark substance floats up toward the Illinois state flag while light and heart-shaped flowers burst from the top of the flag. The Northern Star Editorial Board encourages other states to dedicate government action toward addressing hate crimes, as Illinois will do with the Help Stop Hate program. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons | Northern Star Graphic)
Editorial: Help Stop Hate program heads Illinois in right direction
A candle glows orange over a transgender pride flag. In an Express Yourself opinion piece, Christy-Lynne Lapine reminds readers that the Transgender Day of Remembrance is not a celebration, but a commemoration of transgender lives lost. (Lucy Atkinson | Northern Star)
Express Yourself: Transgender Day of Remembrance is commemoration, not holiday
Mt. Thamserku sits under a pink sunset sky east of Khumjung village in Nepal. Opinion Columnist Lalita Rai grew up in Nepal and attends NIU as an international graduate student. (Lalita Rai | Northern Star)
International student pushing through
Two legs with pink roller-skates glide over a wooden surface. The end of the semester is coming soon, and students are racing toward the end of classes. (Daniela Barajas | Northern Star)
Skate to the finish
A manacle hangs in the center of a red portrait, blood splattering off of it. Assistant Opinion Editor Jackson Shields believes that America's continued use of punishments like penal labor and the death penalty is evidence of a bloodthirsty system. (Jackson Shields | Northern Star)
For America, justice means blood
Lanterns and candles glow in celebration at Pottenger House, the location of the NIU Center for Burma Studies and the NIU Center for Southeast Asian Studies, on a late autumn evening. Opinion Columnist Lalita Rai encourages international students to find ways to connect with their culture on campus. (Courtesy of Aye Myat Mon)
Culture must be evolved, not abandoned