The low prices of "the good old days" were not sustainable. Back around 2015, US legacy pay-TV (cable/satellite/IPTV) subscriptions were over 100 million. That's where the content creators made their money. Netflix revenues were a bit of gravy on top. Today, the US legacy pay-TV number is 65 million and falling. With the loss of a lot of legacy pay-TV revenue, Netflix etal, have to pay their fair share now. Just like cable-TV rates went through the roof, so too are streaming services, now that content creators are targeting them.