It’s the third major price hike for a live TV service this year, and it brings Hulu in line with YouTube TV and FuboTV, which both started charging $65 per month over the summer.

Sad as it is, we shouldn’t be surprised. If there was any doubt left about how the pay TV industry would respond to cord cutting, this latest price hike makes the endgame clear: There will be no pivot toward flexible packages, lower prices, or the mythical a la carte cable TV service. The prevailing strategy is now a scorched earth one, with routine price increases imposed on a shrinking number of pay TV subscribers.

That doesn’t necessarily mean going back to cable is a better option, but it does mean cord-cutters will have to make bigger sacrifices to save money, either by giving up channels they’d like to have or by dropping expensive bundles altogether. Read the full column on TechHive.

If you already have the HBO app, it should have upgraded automatically to HBO Max by now. But if you’re subscribed to HBO through Amazon Prime Video Channels, you’ll have to download the HBO Max app separately, then sign in with your Amazon credentials to get the extra content. (Whether Prime Video Channels subscribers would get access to HBO Max had been a major sticking point in WarnerMedia’s negotiations with Amazon, but they’ve managed to work it out.)

Meanwhile, Matthew Keys reports that Roku support for HBO Max may not be far behind. With Amazon and WarnerMedia ending their impasse, Roku reportedly has an “accelerated interest in reaching an agreement” and hopes to do so by the end of the holiday season. For now, iPhone and iPad users can still lean on Roku’s newfound AirPlay support to stream HBO Max on 4K Roku players.

Sinclair’s sports streaming plans: Now that regional Fox Sports channels have been booted from Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, FuboTV, and Sling TV, owner Sinclair is apparently planning to go it alone. As part of an $85 million deal with the casino group Bally’s, those regional channels will be renamed to Bally Sports, and local games will become available as a standalone streaming subscription next year. (The deal does not extend to Marquee Sports Network or YES Network, in which Sinclair also has stakes.)

Before you get too excited, the details are almost nonexistent right now. We don’t know what the service will cost, when it’ll launch, or whether any gaps might exist in its game coverage. The gambling angle—apparently the impetus for Bally’s involvement—also seems pretty murky. Still, if Sinclair is serious about unbundling live sports, it could send the pay TV bundle business crashing down sooner than anyone expected.

A matchmaker for movies and shows: The folks at Reelgood have come up with a clever idea—or, rather, capitalized on someone else’s viral tweet of an idea—for deciding what to watch with a friend or partner. On the new Swipe with Friends website, you can swipe right or left on a stack of movies and shows to approve or disapprove of each one. Share the site link with someone else, and they’ll be able to swipe on the same set of recommendations. Once you’ve hit a match, the site will let you know so you can start watching together.

It’s a neat alternative to the usual ritual of wading through endless menus and stopping to discuss each option along the way, though I’m still waiting for streaming services to start offering jointly-personalized user profiles instead.

• Roku Streaming Stick+ for $30 (reg. $50, my review)
• Roku Ultra for $70 (reg. $100, my review)
• Roku Streambar for $100 (reg. $130, TechHive’s review)
• Amazon Fire TV Stick for $28 (reg. $40, my review)
• Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K for $30 (reg. $50, my review)
• Amazon Fire TV Cube for $80 (reg. $120, my review)
• Refurbished Tablo Dual DVR for $80 (reg. $120, my review)
• On Black Friday proper, Best Buy will have a rare deal on Nvidia Shield TV tube for $130 (reg. $150, my review)