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Video streaming is the continuous transmission of video files from a server directly to your TV by a streaming service such as Netflix. It is the latest and the greatest?

I remember when streaming started in our house. It started when we joined Amazon Prime. It was part of the service which included free shipping. Best of all, there were no commercials on the shows and movies we watched. You just clicked on the show and watched it.

We liked it so much that we subscribed to Netflex. Netflix back then, had a lot of network and cable show content. It was before most of the streamer services started up. Netflix also had no commercials.

We were quite happy but continued to add other commercial free streaming services. At one time of another, we had Hulu, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Max and Britbox. With all the content being spread out over several services you can’t get everything you want from one provider.

At some point in time, we decided they were all too expensive and pulled the plug on cable TV. Even though we no longer had cable TV, we still have a hundred dollar plus charge for the Internet, now from Optimum.

To get local channels, I bought an RCA HDTV outdoor digital antenna from Lowes and stuck it in the attic but couldn’t get channel 12 in New Bern. I took it outside, stuck it in the ground on a pole in my back yard, grounded it and hooked it to my existing cables and had all the stations I wanted. I was quite happy.

But wait; my daughter was unhappy because she was missing some of the cable stations she just had to have. We ended up subscribing to Hulu Live with ads along with Hulu. At the time, it was about $60 with commercial free Hulu. The last time I checked, it was $84.

Now, all the streaming services are getting way too expensive by raising prices as quickly as they can.  My daughter was forced to do without Hulu Live.

The latest thing is for each provider to have a commercial free and limited commercials service. The price on the commercial free services have been jacked up to a much higher price. Guess what, the streaming services want you to watch commercials, sort of like cable TV.

Streaming is nice, but the ultimate goal is to get more money out of your pocket. The content they provide can be good or bad. There is a lot of unsuitable material for kids.  Heck, there is some that is unsuitable for me.

The only cheap option is to receive over the air TV with an antenna. Otherwise, you’re going to pay a lot of money. You will receive about 30 unique stations. In some areas of Beaufort County, a larger antenna is probably needed.

Al Klemm is a Washington resident and former Beaufort County Commissioner.