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A decade and a half on from the Pirate Bay trial, the winds have begun to shift. On an unusually warm summer’s day, I sit with fellow film critics by the old city harbour, once a haven for merchants and, rumour has it, smugglers. Cold bigstrongs in hand (that’s what they call pints up here), they start venting about the “enshittification” of streaming – enshittification being the process by which platforms degrade their services and ultimately die in the pursuit of profit. Netflix now costs upwards of 199 SEK (£15), and you need more and more subscriptions to watch the same shows you used to find in one place. Most platforms now offer plans that, despite the fee, force advertisements on subscribers. Regional restrictions often compel users to use VPNs to access the full selection of available content. The average European household now spends close to €700 (£600) a year on three or more VOD subscriptions. People pay more and get less.

According to London‑based piracy monitoring and content‑protection firm MUSO, unlicensed streaming is the predominant source of TV and film piracy, accounting for 96% in 2023. Piracy reached a low in 2020, with 130bn website visits. But by 2024 that number had risen to 216bn. In Sweden, 25% of people surveyed reported pirating in 2024, a trend mostly driven by those aged 15 to 24. Piracy is back, just sailing under a different flag.

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[-] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 15 points 7 hours ago

They keep charging more and more for less and less content.

[-] Chakravanti@monero.town 1 points 2 hours ago

They keep inflating over promises that never arrive no matter how many people you kill for in "exchange" for selling your sole. If you still think any of that made you busy, your forgot Ness,

[-] aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 8 hours ago

The thing that drives me to piracy is the fact that you can buy something online, and if that platform loses the right, they just take it from you. You paid for it, and they can just take it away with no refund. Fuck that shit

[-] MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 hours ago

Yeah if i want something forever i buy it physical. I hate it when things only release on dvd though, then you're just making the best way to experience it is through piracy. It's kinda like with heavy drm on single player games. The pirates get to play the best version of the game without the drm and without needing to buy it. It's backwards. If you pay for something you should have the best version.

[-] harambe69@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 8 hours ago

Been sailing the seven seas for forever, never suffered a drop in quality, availability, or quantity. Never gonna give it up.

[-] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 9 hours ago

About to install Pi3 with Tailscale in my homeland to route Deluge traffic though because piracy is normality there

[-] Trihilis@ani.social 16 points 15 hours ago

"The average European household now spends close to €700 (£600) a year on three or more VOD subscriptions. People pay more and get less."

Lol, not me.

[-] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 hours ago

I'm proudly bellow average.

[-] TheObviousSolution@lemmy.ca 12 points 14 hours ago

Please, threaten me with more exclusives. Please, put more excerpts for shows to promote your network exclusives, and see what I do.

[-] QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works 19 points 16 hours ago

Remember when everyone just put their shit on Netflix? Good times, I knew this was gonna happen the second Disney said "Maybe we make our own service?"

[-] Chais@sh.itjust.works 12 points 16 hours ago

The balkanization of video streaming.

[-] ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com 42 points 21 hours ago

The constant desire for growth inherent in capitalism fucking ruins everything. You've got near trillion dollar companies still pushing for growth. Everything just turns to shit as they pursue every last dime.

[-] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 hours ago

Now they have to remove civil rights to keep going and taking everything. Trump has created marshal law is the US capitol. He is planning the resources to do it in any US city in case of protest, which is a constitutional right.

[-] outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Okay bit, hear me out: what if we call for reform, and hit you with a stick a cpuple times to see if anything shiny like old fashioned filling or whatever comes out?

See! Ol capitalism still bad a few food tricks up iys sleeve to innovate with!

[-] BudgetBandit@sh.itjust.works 13 points 17 hours ago

I just got a mal from Spotify that they increase the prices from €17 to €21 (family) I don’t want to pay 25% more for that AI-slob filled garbage.

The changes apply to existing accounts in 3 months. Then, I will rip all my hearted songs and playlists.

[-] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 11 hours ago

Do they check for your actual region? I currently have Ukrainian IP address, so it shows me $7.99/month for family plan.

[-] medgremlin@midwest.social 1 points 7 hours ago

They can get your actual region off your billing details for subscription pricing. The content availability might vary by IP, but the pricing is going to go off your billing address. That's why I pay taxes on some of my subscription services is because my state has a tax on that while other states don't. When signing up for a new service, it doesn't show me the total with tax until I enter my address.

[-] Zink@programming.dev 14 points 20 hours ago

unlicensed streaming is the predominant source of TV and film piracy, accounting for 96%

96% from streaming? Wow, really? That's almost nothing being contributed by boring old-fashioned downloaded media from things like bittorrent and that other one that's totally not worth talking about.

You guys might as well just ignore those ancient, decrepit download services. What a total waste of your valuable resources! There are so many people out there with jailbroken Fire Sticks! It would be such a waste of your time going on a wild goose chase after imaginary evil communist nerds who buy mechanical hard drives and download "free" software that's been pre-approved by their communal repository authorities.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 135 points 1 day ago

They chose to kill the golden goose by jacking up prices over and over and over. I don’t feel bad for greedy corporations who did this to themselves.

[-] tuhriel@infosec.pub 1 points 7 hours ago

But, but think about the children....of the executives, do youbreally want that they have to work? You monster!

/s

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 72 points 1 day ago

It's not even that. It's the fact that each of them has so little content, any attempt to find what you want leads you skipping between like three apps, only to find that your only way to watch that 10 year old movie is to rent it from Amazon for £11.99.

And then you look up how to set up Jellyfin.

[-] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 11 hours ago

rent it from Amazon for £11.99.

And then you check it, also on Amazon, and there it is, on DVD for £3 and BluRay (not UHD) for like £6.

Just checking an average movie I have in cart on UK Amazon (prices are in EUR because I buy them from Slovakia)

Passengers 2017 - New DVD: €3.40 ; New BluRay: €7.56 ; Used BluRay (Very Good condition): €2.08 ; YouTube High Definition: €8.99 (bruh...)

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impoverished streaming services

won't someone pls think of the poor mega million dollar media companies

[-] ugo@feddit.it 45 points 1 day ago

I think in this context the impoverishment is implied to be that of content, not liquidity.

I.e. poorer (quality) streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy.

But, yes, fuck them greedy fuckers.

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[-] orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts 31 points 1 day ago

Any CEO that thinks a user should roll over and accept having 12 separate accounts to stream everything they want, is either monumentally fucking stupid, or just a disingenuous, greedy fuck. I’ll stick to Stremio + RD and they can rot while their stock plunges. I do not care.

[-] outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 16 hours ago

any ceo who (...) Is wither monumentally fuvking stupid

Almost uniformly, yes. Thats like half of what business school is for.

a disingenuous greedy lying fuck

Also yes. That's the other half.

[-] bear@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 19 hours ago

I think this stems from everyone on the board at these corporations having so much money that they drop hundreds of dollars on a whim basically everyday. They have no conception of a tight budget not accommodating another $20 a month.

[-] orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts 3 points 11 hours ago

I always have to remind myself of how disconnected these people are from our reality.

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[-] SaneMartigan@aussie.zone 16 points 1 day ago

I never left piracy. Had a friends Netflix for a while but didn't use it because the browser sucks. Got a few free Prime memberships, again piracy is easier.

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 6 points 19 hours ago

I have Netflix, Hulu, and D+

Wife watches random stuff on them all, but I still rip the stuff we enjoy to keep a copy.

I don't mind paying the piper, but fuck off I'm gonna let them decide when to pull the rug on shit I'm watching.

[-] outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 16 hours ago

No but see not letting them take it from you is bad for the artists

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 4 points 15 hours ago

Nah, when they lose the license on it and let it go back It's not like they're putting it some other place where I'm going to jump ship and buy it. They've absolutely ruined the market, No money lost, I'm not chasing TV shows around the internet with my money.

I'm paying for three services and basic cable. They're not getting any more money out of me. And the artist got fucked the second they canceled the contract, that has nothing to do with me.

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[-] Chana@hexbear.net 13 points 1 day ago

The last time I borrowed a Netflix account every show or movie would start at 1080p and then negotiate itself down to like 240p over 3-4 minutes. I have a very fast connection that can stream 4K just fine elsewhere and Netflix's settings were set to high quality. They are just cheapskates that throttle based on your account patterns.

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this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2025
414 points (99.5% liked)

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