Instead, you can make choices and trade-offs. If you’re willing to go without regional sports or specific cable channels, you can still get plenty of entertainment from cheaper services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+. And if you’re able to get over-the-air channels from an antenna, you can even watch some major sporting events and prime-time shows for free.

Still, making sense of how to cut cable without a big channel bundle can be overwhelming, which is why I’m intrigued by a new website called MyBundle.TV. In addition to telling you which live TV streaming services offer your favorite channels, the site also suggests ways to ditch bloated bundles outright. While the site is clearly a work in progress, it’s still worth checking out, especially as live TV services become increasingly expensive for a shrinking amount of must-see content. Read the full column on TechHive.

Unmentioned by Mayer is that Disney-owned channels such as ESPN are some of the most expensive elements of live TV service, and with last week’s launch of Disney+, the company is moving some of its most valuable movies and TV shows outside the bundle. Mayer didn’t rule out offering ESPN on a standalone basis in the future, but that won’t happen until the company squeezes cable, satellite, and live TV streaming customers to the breaking point.

In any event, the price hike means that Hulu is no longer the least expensive streaming service with full local channel coverage. (That distinction once again belongs to YouTube TV, which itself raised prices from $40 per month to $50 per month earlier this year.)

More free streaming channels: As if on cue, Roku this week added 17 more live channels to its free Roku Channel app, including live sports coverage from BeIN, Sci-Fi movies from FilmRise, classic court and daytime talk shows from Nosey, kids shows from Toon Goggles, and a marathon channel for the Wipeout game show.

Meanwhile, Pluto TV has also added more free channels to its lineup, including one for sports bettors, one with highlights from the TODAY show, one for tweens, and one with nothing but classic Nickelodeon game shows.

Granted, none of these channels are the same as what you’d find on cable, so they’re not going to replace specific TV show or live sports coverage needs. They may, however, help fulfill a more basic need of keeping you entertained at a much lower cost. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be spending the next hour watching Nickelodeon GUTS. Let’s go to Mo!

Amazon’s Fire TV Blaster: Starting next month, Amazon will sell a free-standing infrared emitter that can control your TV with Alexa voice commands. By combining the $35 Fire TV Blaster with an Amazon Echo speaker and a compatible Fire TV device, you can ask Alexa to control the volume, turn the TV on or off, switch inputs, or tune to live channels on certain cable boxes. That’s in addition to all the things Alexa can already do without IR, such as controlling media playback and launching Fire TV content. Essentially, it’s a way to get all the controls of Amazon’s Fire TV Cube without spending $120 on a new streaming box.

Plex is selling a lifetime Plex Pass subscription for $90 through the end of today, down from the usual $120. By combining a Plex Pass with a media server device and compatible TV tuner, you can record over-the-air channels and stream them to all of your devices. Sign up here and use the code PLEX4LIFE to get the discount.

Also, Tablo’s Black Friday sale is already in effect for its Dual Lite over-the-air DVR, which you can now get $100 instead of the usual $140. Its video quality lags behind that of Plex, but it’s much easier to set up and operate. Just keep in mind you’ll need to plug in your own external hard drive with it.