This week on TechHive: What YouTube TV’s redesign should fix
YouTube TV is getting a redesign later this year, with a big emphasis on organization and personalization.
The shakeup is long overdue given that YouTube TV is nearly five years old. While it’s still a great live TV streaming service overall, it’s nonetheless allowed a handful of pain points to accumulate over the past half-decade.
Google hasn’t gone into detail about what the redesign will entail, nor has it offered a clear timeframe for releasing it. So, the best we can do right now is speculate. Based on my experience with the service and feedback from readers, I came up with a list of things I’d like to see from a YouTube TV redesign when it does eventually emerge. Read the full column on TechHive.
Weekly rewind
Netflix’s disappearing Marvel shows: Netflix hardly ever drops original programming from its catalog, but Marvel shows such as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage will soon become rare exceptions. io9 reports that those series will leave Netflix on February 28 along with Agents of SHIELD, which originally aired on ABC, and the rights will revert to Disney.
Netflix cancelled all of its Marvel series in 2018 and 2019, supposedly due to weak viewership, and its contract prevented those characters from appearing anywhere else for two years after. It’s currently unclear of the shows will land on Disney+, but the door does at least seem open to a comeback at a home that makes more sense for them anyway.
Paramount+’s Showtime integration: Starting this summer, Showtime will be available as an add-on inside the Paramount+ app. While both services are already available as a bundle for $12 per month with ads or $15 per month without, the integration will mean you won’t have to switch between two apps to access each service’s catalogs.
Thankfully, Cord Cutters News notes that the two services will remain available separately as well. On its own, Paramount+ costs $5 per month with ads or $10 per month without (with the latter plan also offering live local CBS stations), while Showtime costs $11 per month. Both services are owned by Paramount, which went by the name ViacomCBS until two days ago.
Building broadband monopoly-busting: The FCC is cracking down on exclusive deals between landlords and internet providers that result in limited choice and higher prices. As The Verge reports, newly-adopted rules will ban revenue-sharing deals that lock out competing providers, along with agreements in which an internet provider exclusively leases back cable wiring after selling it to the building owner.
In other words, if your building is an area served by multiple internet providers, you could have service installed without any interference from the landlord. The new rules could take effect later this year. Alongside budding 5G home broadband options from Verizon and T-Mobile, it’s another way in which the state of internet competition in the U.S. is starting to get a teeny bit better.
More catch-up
- Netflix clarifies that it’s not raising prices, it’s “updating” them.
- NBC aims to move more of its shows from Hulu to Peacock this fall.
- Rumor mill: Roku considers making its own smart TVs.
- FuboTV’s foray into quarterly-only pricing ends after just 10 days.
- NextTV looks at the decline of full-season streaming releases.
Save more money
Because several folks asked me about this last week, the current coupon code for a free month of Paramount+ is 1883. This should work as long as you don’t have an active subscription, and if you cancel the day after signing up, you’ll still get the full month without being charged at the end. These free codes have been redeemable on a regular basis for about two years now.
Also: If you took HBO Max up on its offer of six months for $7.49 per month last September, check your email. Several subscribers are reporting that the company is automatically extending the deal for another six months.
Sadly, there’s been no word on any new HBO Max promotions, though new subscribers can still snag a Chromecast with Google TV plus three months of HBO Max for $65 total. The streaming dongle alone normally costs $50.
Thanks for reading!
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Until next week,
Jared
Cord Cutter Weekly is a labor of love by tech journalist Jared Newman. Say hi on Twitter, and spread the word that there’s a better kind of TV out there.