I think we've started to discover what the ???? steps before profit were.
The model was:
- Start streaming service
- ????
- Profit
It's now:
- Start streaming service
- Subsidise it heavily creating premium content whilst undercutting competition.
- keep doing it until competitors go broke
- Raise prices to an actually sustainable level
- Profit (although we've lost a ton of capital)
This is a form of market manipulation which is outright illegal in some countries (e.g. Australia) and can be illegal in the US and EU if it meets certain criteria. It falls under anti-trust and monopoly prevention laws.
Basically our regulators aren't doing their job well enough, but what's new?