As I have said before, it will not be long before the cost of streaming exceeds the cost of cable. The worst thing about this though is that as more studios become streamers there will be far less incentive to distribute content on physical media. They may still do so via direct sales but then you will be looking at retail costs for any physical media content you wish to own. Discounts will be a thing of the past. For those who are not able to get broadband due to where they live this will kill their ability to see that content for anything less than full retail for the content.
For those who have a fast enough broadband connection they will be able to get the content, sometimes by purchasing or renting the content, and at other times via subscriptions, but the costs will be much more prohibitive than cable ever was. Imagine a single episode of a series you enjoy costing a 10% of the cost of your cable. Now look at wanting every episode and add on other content. It does not take long to see that the costs will exceed the cost of cable and that is not even considering the cost of your broadband service to view that content. Add to this the ability of streamers to force commercials on the stream and you have yet another issue as it is not as easy to bypass the commercial as it is with a DVR. The DVR will be going the way of the dodo bird. This may not be an issue for pay per view episodes (though it could) but for subscriptions it will be. Expect the streaming companies to say this is to reduce or eliminate the costs associated with the production but when it comes down to it this will be about profit also.
I suspect that many people will look back at cutting the cord as a mistake. Choose to pay for only the content you want and you may find the cost of each episode of the content you want is much more than the cost of the bundle you used to have. The public is in the process of removing one hand from taking money from our pockets and replacing it with many hands all grabbing for a larger share of the money in our pockets.
Happy Streaming...
Daren
I should add, as studios become streamers there is little incentive for them to offer their content on other streaming services. This will result in more subscriptions needed for the same content. That transition will not be immediate but it will occur slowly over the next ten years. Though Disney may continue to offer it's content for a cost to other streaming services right now, once their service reaches a certain tipping point in popularity they will start to remove their content from other streaming services forcing fans to their service at higher costs. Other studios will do the same in the future.
Imagine how much it would cost if each of the various series you currently watch charged $5 per episode and every movie you wish to watch cost $7 to watch it once or $25 to own it (virtually) or $35 for physical media. What would the cost of the content you currently normally enjoy be if those prices were to apply? I suspect in the future those prices will be common or may even be on the low side. And this does not even consider the quality of the movie you wish to watch. Do you want it in HD, UHD, HDR, with Dolby Atmos? Each of these could add a cost to the stream.
Without other locations to purchase the content you are at the mercy of the content creators. Their job is to make money for investors. They make money by charging as much as they can for the content. Exclusive rights will lead to higher prices.
