Making New Year's resolutions is a time-honored tradition Personal aspirations are usually diet, fitness, finances, and education However, we would like to suggest some streaming entertainment industry aspirations

Our 2024 streaming wish list covers Netflix, Disney Plus, and other top streaming services We think Netflix, Disney Plus, and the other top streaming services are all great services (although we'd love it if the price increases were modest), and we'd love to be able to watch them every day of the week, every week of the year I enjoy the new movies and shows that come out daily, weekly, and monthly, but there is always room for improvement However, there is always room for improvement So here's what I expect from streaming services in 2024

When it comes to streaming services, the city is simply big enough for all of them I literally write about TV shows and movies for a living, and even I don't have every streaming service out there Consolidation is needed, and the leading candidates are Paramount Plus and Peacock Paramount just merged its prestige streaming service Showtime with Paramount Plus, which will probably be sold sooner rather than later; Comcast, which owns Peacock, has just terminated its relationship with Hulu; and Hulu is in the process of merging with Paramount Plus, may get a new partner in the streaming wars

Either of these streaming services, or the companies, could face rumors of their own sale and merge with Warner Bros Discovery, which has reportedly met with Paramount about a merger But personally, I like what I get from Max, don't like what I get from Peacock, and don't own Paramount Plus So selfishly, I would like to see them pair up for a super streaming service It gets complicated because each company has its own broadcast network, and a potential merger would not allow them to own both, but this is a wish list, and a merger between Paramount and Peacock is my wish - MM

For a while now, the streaming TV model has been for studios to create their own streaming services and store content to encourage people to subscribe to those streaming services There is a problem with this It is not a good model for anyone Streaming services are not profitable, only Netflix's streaming service is And in order to make a profit, they raise prices and add advertising, discouraging potential subscribers

But over the past year, we have seen that stronghold begin to crumble Warner Bros Discovery began licensing shows to Netflix, and "Suits" was licensed to Netflix from NBCUniversal and became the streaming hit of the year My hope is this: in 2024, everyone will be licensing content to everyone It's a win for consumers and studios will have the money to fund more TV shows for us to watch - MM

I don't know all the whys and wherefores of streaming licensing deals (and most of the time, I don't even want to know), but sometimes there are shows that are missing from all services that don't make sense The most egregious example is "Battlestar Galactica," which once aired on Peacock but is nowhere to be found, because BSG was produced in-house at NBCUniversal and aired on the NBCU-owned Syfy channel If NBCUniversal licensed "Battlestar" to another streamer, say Netflix, that would be understandable They did it with "Suits" and, as Malcolm pointed out, it was a huge success But they didn't, and one of the best sci-fi shows of the past few decades has been lost in the streaming space - KW

One of my biggest pet peeves about streaming services is the fact that you have to upgrade to a more expensive plan to take advantage of 4K streaming In fact, most services have 1080p as their base streaming option Furthermore, fewer and fewer new 1080p TVs are being released So it's time for streaming services to make 4K their base resolution; there are already a handful of 8K TVs on the market, along with 8K content from services like YouTube It will be a long time before most content is captured in all its 8K glory, but I am just amazed that people are still accepting 1080p at this point - JV

I wish Marvel and Star Wars would produce another great movie, but in 2024, the two franchises will combine for a whopping one movie, Deadpool 3 So instead, let's focus on a few TV shows Marvel will produce five or six shows in 2024, the first of which is "Echo and Agatha": Star Wars has several shows, notably "The Acolyte" and "Skeleton Crew"

The problem here is that I am not sure about any of these shows Well, not really; I'm confident that season 2 of Tales of the Jedi and the final season of The Bad Batch will be good, but other than that I'm just praying that they're decent Their recent track record is not promising Marvel hasn't produced a great TV show since "Loki" season 1 As for Star Wars, it's a little more recent, but not by much The last great season of Star Wars TV was the latest season of "Bad Batch" earlier this year It's time for these two historic franchises to get out of their rut in 2024 - MM

The "keep watching" section of most streaming services is my nemesis It taunts me with an array of shows and movies that I started watching but never finished Or, sometimes a show or movie appears that I should have seen, but for some reason it is not marked as watched Some streamers have a way to remove programs from this section, but generally the method is complicated and cumbersome How long do you have to keep pressing to access the mobile app? Ugh In our Time Lord 2024, technology should be able to remove a program from "Continue Watching" with one click at most - KW

This will read as very contradictory, but as much as I am frustrated with "continue watching" on most streaming services, I would like to see it placed further up in their interface This section keeps me in the middle of what I'm actually in the middle of watching, even if I'm covered in stuff I've actually watched and will never finish watching Yes, it's useful (just wish it were a little more so, as above) But a quick check of the various apps shows that "Continue Watching" is five rows down on Netflix and Hulu, three rows down on Prime Video and Disney Plus, and nonexistent on Peacock; Max, Paramount Plus, and Apple TV Plus have it where it should be - top - where they should be - KW