Over the past month, there's been some German chatter....about dumping US-brand video-streaming services. So the question is....are there alternates?
Well...yeah:
RTL-Plus: A German streaming service from RTL Group, focusing on local TV shows, reality TV, sports (like Bundesliga), and originals. Presently, they have about 10 million subscribers in Germany and come 'bundled' with HBO Max ....basic price at 7-Euro a month, and 13-Euro for premium.
Joyn: Owned by ProSiebenSat.1, it offers free ad-supported streaming of German TV channels, movies, series, and some exclusives. Their price is similar (7-Euro). If you asked me to rate against RTL-Plus....it's sufficient but one step down.
Sky/WOW: Sky (now under Comcast) provides premium streaming via WOW, with a focus on movies, series, live sports (e.g., Premier League, Formula 1), and has HBO content. Their monthly starts at 10-Euro. I used the WOW service for 6 months in 2025....would rate their product almost at the RTL-Plus level.
Free....ARD Mediathek and ZDFmediathek: These are free apps from Germany's public broadcasters (ARD and ZDF). They stream live TV, on-demand shows, documentaries, news, and some international content. No subscription required, though funded by public fees (Rundfunkbeitrag).
Arte Mediathek: A free Franco-German cultural channel app offering high-quality documentaries, films, concerts, and European arthouse content in multiple languages. It's ad-free and focuses on educational/international themes. If you asked Germans in general about use of Arte (normal) or Arte-Mediathek...probably 90-percent would respond they've never watched either.
So, here's the thing....with my ranking.....most all of these alternates have US-productions...some more....some less...of what you'd expect.
I'd even suggest if you wanted non-US productions/movies/shows.....Netfix is still way ahead of everyone else. I'm partial to Netflix because of the Japanese/South Korean shows/movies/series offered (sub-titled). My belief....almost 50-percent of what is stored on Netflix-Germany....is non-US programing.
As much as people think they can punish Paramount, Netflix, Amazon....to be honest....the German streaming platforms are pretty well entangled in partnerships.
2 comments:
I just saw this comment on FB, what say you? "Almost half of Germans want US army to leave the country - The Local DE"
Well....since early 2025....public-TV in Germany and some news magazines/newspapers....have been on a anti-Trump tangent. Politically....the Greens, the SPD, the Linke....have various members who are hyping this. Once the Greenland business went turbo....the anti-US military agenda started up.
If you had been here for 3 years in the 1980s/1990s/2000s/2010s....I don't think you'd really recognize the landscape. Lot of economic woes (left from Covid), fear of unemployment growing, crime has grown a fair amount, drug-use probably double from the 2000-era, energy costs at a ridiculous level, urbanization seen as highly negative, layers of regulation making production a problem, crime-clans noted in most all German cities, etc.
So the media has this anti-Trump and anti-US thing brewing....in some ways to avoid looking at the problems of the nation. Then to be honest....the Ukraine-Russia war has triggered anxiety an stress. They thought war would never occur again, and now....it's on their mind. Recruitment to build up....a joke....probably less than 20-percent of German youth willing to fight for the nation. They torn down a lot of the bunkers.....so there's some new agenda....to rebuild bunkers.
Economic downfall for Kaiserslautern, Stuttgart and Wiesbaden? If they direct the US to leave....it'll be like France's insistence in the 1960s....a year or two to exit. Stuttgart has enough to survive on....Wiesbaden gets a property development issue which they really don't want....with K-Town probably seeing a serious drop in economic stability (probably for 20 years).
And in the end....as soon as the Ukraine-Russia war ends....the Germans will go back to buying Russian oil/natural gas....helping them rebuild the Russian military. (On that detail....Trump was 100-percent correct).
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