Imagine your subscriptions and account living on one server, then when you log in that server gives you the list and your client goes and gets all the data.
We already had this sort of federation figured out, it's the open web. We just have to find a way to get the open web to provide the things that google, facebook, reddit, provided.
Easy way to contribute content.
Discovery for new content.
Search ability.
Kill the things centralized websites provided, let people host websites within that system, and let the clients handle dealing with the fact that there are all sorts of providers out there.