Cord Cutter Weekly
Back in 2019, a notoriously gridlocked Congress managed to agree on at least one thing: Hidden cable TV fees had gotten out of control.

They passed a law, called the Television Viewer Protection Act, that requires pay TV services to disclose all of their extra fees before you finish signing up. The law also says that customers must be able to cancel service within 24 hours of signup at no charge, and that TV providers must notify customers when their promotional rates expire. It also forbids internet providers from charging a fee for equipment that you’ve purchased for yourself.

The Television Viewer Protection Act finally went into effect last month, so I was curious to see how companies like Comcast and Spectrum are dealing the billing transparency component in particular. None of these companies are known for being up-front about pricing; would the new law change things?

Short answer: Not really. Cable companies still advertise prices far below what you’ll actually pay, and some of them avoid revealing their true prices until the last possible moment. Even if they’re following the letter of the law, they’re not quite capturing the spirit. Read the full column on TechHive.

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Sling TV price hikes: This week, Sling TV raised the price of all its plans by $5 per month for new subscribers. That brings the price to $35 per month for Sling’s Orange or Blue base packages, or $50 per month for both packages combined. Most of Sling’s add-on packages are also going up by $1 per month, as is the “Total TV” deal that combines several add-ons with expanded DVR service. (If you have both Sling Orange and Blue, the Total TV add-on will increase by $2 per month instead, but the Sports Extra add-on will not increase in price.)

The silver lining here is that Sling is now including 50 hours of DVR service at no extra cost, up from 10 hours before, and a $5 per month option for extra DVR storage will now include 200 hours instead of the previous 50 ho urs. Sling is also keeping its word to not raise any prices for current subscribers, at least until July.

Unsurprisingly, Sling blames the price hikes on TV networks, which continue to raise their carriage fees as they pursue a scorched-earth strategy for pay TV bundles. Although Sling is cheaper and more flexible than other live TV streaming services, it’s ultimately dealing with all the same networks and is no more immune to price hikes than anyone else. As always, this is a good time to consider abandoning pay TV bundles entirely if you can live without specific cable channels.

IMDb TV on Roku: Speaking of unbundled TV, Amazon’s free IMDb TV streaming service is now a standalone app on Roku devices. That means you no longer have to dig through the Amazon Prime Video app in search of the free stuff.

Although it was originally an unremarkable service, Amazon’s gotten more serious lately about bringing in shows that aren’t available elsewhere, at least not for free, including full seasons of LOST and Mad Men. Here’s a list of popular shows on offer, arranged, appropriately, by IMDb ratings.

More sports (and “sports”) for Peacock: One of the big trends to watch for in the coming years will be the unbundling of live sports from pay TV packages, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens when NBC shuts down its national NBCSN channel at the end of 2021. NBC has already said that some of its programming will simply move over to USA Network, including NHL, NASCAR, and EPL coverage, but Sports Business Daily reports that the move is also part of a plan to grow NBC’s Peacock streaming service. NBC has already moved speed skating—previously an NBCSN staple—to Peacock’s $5-and-up tiers, and we could see some NHL games land on the service as well.

In related news, Peacock is also taking over the WWE Network on March 18. WWE Network was an early adopter of streaming, launching in 2014 as a standalone service, but now it’ll be part of Peacock’s $5-and-up tiers. That works out well for pro wrestling fans, who previously had to pay $10 per month for WWE Network alone. They’ll be automatically migrated over to Peacock and will have their monthly bills cut in half. Keep that in mind next time you read that cord-cutting keeps getting more expensive.

Roku’s Streambar is currently on sale from Amazon for $109, which is $21 off the regular price, and if you have an Amazon Prime credit card, you can also get 10% cash back instead of the usual 5%. That same cash back deal is also available with Roku’s companion subwoofer, which sells for $180.

The Streambar essentially combines a Roku streaming player and TV soundbar into one device that’s easy to set up and control. TechHive editor Mike Brown praised the Streambar’s audio quality given its small size, and the subwoofer provides a nice punch if you decide to add it. Amazon’s cash back offer effectively brings the Streambar back down to Black Friday pricing.

With the holiday season fading into rearview, and no major news coming out of CES earlier this month, I suspect we are entering what may be a lull in exciting cord-cutting news, so please send me an email with your questions, comments, and story ideas. I’ve had many column ideas over the years come from your lovely suggestions, especially during these cold winters when there’s nothing pressing to write about.

Finally, thank you one more time for considering an Advisorator subscription! I’m so grateful to be able to create publications that don’t depend on ad revenue or sponsorships to be sustainable, and I promise my acts of self-promotion will return to being less in-your-face next week.

Until then,
Jared