The thing to remember is that all of these "services" are not services. They're businesses. And the difference there is that businesses want you to enjoy them and sponsor them, because if you do not then they die and people's lives change.

Exclusive contracts are by far the most valuable- but that doesn't mean that Netflix and Hulu are "no better than cable." Netflix and Hulu you 100% decide what you watch (well, Hulu has commercials, but pretty close to 100%). With cable, you probably watched, what, 2% of what they offered? And the rest of the time it was useless?

I think a lot more consumers need to stop looking at these things as rights. Netflix will let you watch every episode of your favorite shows in whatever order you want, and let you pause whenever you want with no advertisements. That would make your head explode 10 years ago. I mean that. Imagine if this happened in the 90's and you heard someone say "this is no better than cable!" You would wonder if they had seen cable.

I don't mean to sound rude, but I think that you're taking for granted what is an offer, not a service.