Why more choice on television doesn’t necessarily translate to a better viewer experience - Ismail Mulla

Subscribe to this flix and that prime. When does it ever end? These streaming platforms came to us viewers with promises of a brave new world, free of adverts and interruptions and packed with new content.

Instead they’ve all shown that they’re the flip side of the same coin. Amazon recently started cramming adverts onto its Prime platform. Want to watch shows and films ad-free? Well you’ll have to pay extra. In effect, Prime is not very Prime.

In the face of the cost-of-living crisis, it seems even streaming platforms have hitched themselves to the gravy train. We’ve gone from being promised more for less to less for more.

It’s no surprise that more than two fifths of UK consumers are planning to end subscriptions, or already have, with film and TV the most likely to go.

Overall, 79 per cent of consumers are signed up to at least one subscription. On average they pay £497.47 a year but this is expected to fall to £293.51, according to a poll for financial technology platform Adyen.

Trevor Nies, global head of digital at Adyen, says: “Earning a customer’s repeat purchase has to be won month in month out by a business looking to tap into a subscription model.

“Consumers will only subscribe if the service is exceptional or considered essential, and if the product is beautiful and provides something that can’t be accessed elsewhere.

“But also people want the process to be easy and the payment process to be frictionless.

“We often find that businesses can be working more seamlessly with payment providers to ensure details are current and kept secure to greatly decrease the likelihood of monthly declines.”

I’d suggest some of them make the process of ending subscriptions seamless as well.

The cost of streaming platforms is of course in addition to the £169.50 we are all obliged to pay to keep Auntie in business. Against the backdrop of the rise of streaming platforms, the TV Licence is increasingly looking like an antiquated tax.

There would be an argument for the £169.50 being a price worth paying if the BBC actually stuck to what it used to be good at. Original British comedy, riveting dramas and high-quality documentaries.

Instead, Beeb managers have swallowed the digital pill and are increasingly chasing the latest hip online TikTok dancing, X posting, Instagram DMing crowd. It’s infected the presentation of their regular programming. In your face graphics, an edit every millisecond, loud distracting music. Will viewers require virtual reality headsets to watch TV programmes? Even as a Millenial, I have to ask what happened to brevity?

Last month, the Government announced it would scrutinise the future of linear TV broadcasting, with research showing that some viewers could be excluded from the general shift towards online viewership.

What is sad is that we’re all now splintered when it comes to television events. Other than some sporting contests and the odd national occasion, people don’t gather around the box at the same time. Little wonder the traditional broadcasters no longer put any effort in commissioning decent programmes.

And even sporting events are becoming harder to access with the increase in the number of broadcasters, Amazon in recent years has joined TNT and Sky in showing Premier League football, meaning fans have to fork out even more to watch the best athletes do battle.

Some former crown jewels like cricket have completely disappeared off free to air television, aside from paltry highlights packages.

While the Christmas entertainment schedule looks about as appealing as a bowl of gruel. We can all at least take solace in repeats and reruns of the classics on cable. So maybe there are some upsides to the over saturation of content.

If all else fails then there’s always the trusty book. The serenity and stimulation of the mind that comes with a page turner is a rewarding way to spend the Christmas holidays.