Streaming Prices Are Now Rising Faster Than Cable Bills

You didn’t escape the cable bill. You replaced it with a stack of monthly charges that quietly drain your bank account while Hollywood sells the same old promise of convenience. For years, Americans were told to cut the cord. Cable was the villain. Satellite was the scam. Streaming was supposed to give ordinary people control, choice, and lower prices. So millions of households ditched expensive bundles and signed up for Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, Paramount+, Peacock, and the rest. Now the bill has arrived. And it’s getting worse. Streaming prices have risen more than three times faster than inflation since 2022, according to an analysis by The Hollywood Reporter using Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Over the past year, streaming rates rose 11.8 percent. In 2023, the average increase was 17.7 percent. Cable and satellite prices, for all their well-earned bad reputation, rose about 3.9 percent per year on average outside the late-1980s period of deregulation. That’s the real punchline. The companies that were supposed to rescue viewers from cable have built a new cable system. The only difference is that this system has more passwords, more apps, more ads, and fewer reasons to tru...