They were the next big thing in entertainment when they started - streaming services like Disney+, Apple TV and more. But now they're finding that pot at the end of the computer rainbow may not be filled with as much gold as they thought. 

According to the linked article, streaming services - at least in the U.S. - are losing billions of dollars thanks to ever increasing programming costs. And that likely means higher bills for you. This obviously refers to American services, some of which are available in Canada - but there are now predictions if you want to keep subscribing to some or all of them, you'd better be willing to pull out your wallet. Because the prices are inevitably going up. 

"Company executives have finally realized that streaming was fool’s gold, something that looks great from afar but whose value shrinks when you actually start using it.

"Rather than replace those shrinking carriage fees, streaming has just drained more capital from corporate coffers. The costs of acquiring and creating original programming, marketing in a highly competitive category, and maintaining streaming’s complex technology have far exceeded subscription revenue."

It's hard to say if this will also apply to Crave, the main Canadian streamer, but since it gets a lot if its programming from American sources, chances are if they raise their prices down south, Bell will have to, as well. (Plus, it's Bell, which doesn't need any real reason to raise prices.)

It's unlikely the Golden Goose will turn into the dead duck, but you have to wonder if those who fled from cable because it got too expensive will now see the same thing happening in the streaming world. Not to mention fewer new shows overall. They thought streaming was the new entertainment frontier. But no one ever thought that stream might go dry.  

Streaming Companies Are Losing Billions — Here’s Why That Means Higher Prices & Fewer Shows For You