Streaming prices continue to rise

TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and streaming prices continue to rise.

Transcript

00:00I'm Conway Gittins reporting from the New York Stock Exchange.

00:02Here's what we're watching on the street today.

00:04Wall Street wrapped up its best week of the year as investors bet the economy is strong

00:09enough to avoid a recession, but weak enough to convince the Federal Reserve to start cutting

00:14interest rates.

00:15Investors will be hanging on to every word from Fed Chief Jerome Powell in the coming

00:19week.

00:20In addition, there will be new housing data and quarterly results from Lowe's, Target

00:25and TJX, the parent of TJ Maxx.

00:29In other news, if you feel like your various streaming media accounts are crimping your

00:33wallet, you're right.

00:35Media companies are hiking streaming subscription fees left and right.

00:39Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Peacock and Maxx have each announced price hikes over the past

00:44five months.

00:45Netflix hasn't raised prices so far this year, but it is dropping its cheapest ad-free subscription

00:51plan.

00:52Apple TV Plus had a big price hike at the end of 2023.

00:56Sure, it's a dollar here and a dollar there, but those dollars add up in an inflation-weary

01:02world.

01:03Media execs say the price hikes are needed to pay for all that content that's being created.

01:08The CFO at Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns Maxx, said,

01:12For a decade in streaming, an enormously valuable amount of quality content has been given away

01:17well below fair market value, and I think that's in the process of being corrected.

01:23But the real reason streaming prices are going up has to do with cord-cutting.

01:28Traditional cable TV is losing viewers at a rapid pace, and that means less ad revenue

01:34flowing from advertisers to the media companies.

01:37Lost revenue has to be made up in some way, and for now, streaming is the media industry's

01:43best bet.

01:44That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange.

01:47I'm Conway Gittins with the Street.

01:53Thanks for watching.