Assume for a moment the platform providers are in a game of chicken, continually eating costs in the hope of soaking up subscribers from their (at some point) defunct competitors. Every year this competition continues, the victor needs to make increasingly outrageous changes to the service offering in order to bridge the profitability gap. Or perhaps they are betting that a chunk of savings will come from reduced spend on rights, in a market with fewer bidders for programming?

Are investors in the conglomerates even agitated yet?