Is it more manipulative than having to see a movie in the theater?
It is to me, because I'm paying more to watch things on the small (smaller) television screen, when we're already paying quite a bit for cable already.
I don't see movies in the theater very often, but when I do, I don't mind paying the price of a ticket to enjoy the big screen experience. And usually coffee with a friend I don't see often afterwards, so it's a bit of an occasion.
Where I live, seeing one movie is about $17.00 depending on the theater. I pay $13.99 a month for Netflix and the cheapest plan is $7.00/mo so I do get your point about having to pay and now that Amazon and Netflix are making movies their movies will only be available on their services most likely like television channels (like if you wanted to watch a show or tv movie on HBO/Cinemax/Showtime/etc. you had to buy a package to include all of those channels) as opposed to theatrically-released movies where you can buy/rent from anywhere. So I get feeling like you're being strong-armed. But whether you're paying $5.00 to rent one movie, paying about $12-20 for a movie ticket, or a monthly $7.00 streaming subscription to watch unlimited movies, either way, you're paying
No, I'm not being strong armed. I'm being realistic about our financial capabilities and obligations. Mr. Japanfan has only received a .03% pay increase in about ten years and my income as a self-employed person is not keeping pace with inflation (nowhere even close).
Adding $167.88. a year isn't much to a lot of people, but it would be unwelcome to us at this point in time.
I can choose to spend $5.00 to rent a movie or $13 to see a film in the theater ($17 is a lot in my view) or not, but if I subscribe to Netflix, I'm locked in.
Now, it might be worthwhile if we watched a lot of movies, but in truth there aren't a whole lot of movies that I want to see.
However, we may break down at some point.
Of course, people can usually easily find any movie they want on certain websites that may provide free streaming though it may come with ads and malware if you're not careful.
We have a friend who sense us some series sans ads/malware.