This week on TechHive: Bundle-free network TV

Jared Newman
|
May 6, 2022

One of the most common questions I get from prospective cord-cutters is whether they can stream local network channels without paying for a large, cable-style TV bundle, such as Hulu + Live TV or YouTube TV.

You might think this would be easy, given that the major networks—ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox—are all available for free with an over-the-air antenna, but most of these networks only offer live, local channel streams as part of a broader pay TV package. That’s because the companies that own those networks also own many other popular cable channels, and they expect you to pay for them all. (They also don’t take kindly to services that try and skirt local broadcast rules, as we saw with Locast and Aereo.)

The good news is that you don’t have to pay upwards of $65 per month just to watch local network shows. The bad news is that you’ll need to work a bit harder to get those shows, and you’ll miss out on the live sports and other event coverage that the actual live channels offer. That’s just how it works when you’re trying to maximize your TV savings.

Still on board? Read the full TechHive column on unbundling network TV content.

Weekly rewind

The cost of regional sports: Sinclair has announced that its standalone streaming service will be called Bally Sports+, and it’ll cost $20 per month or $190 per year when it soft-launches, likely sometime this quarter.

While the price is on the steep side among standalone streaming services, it’s a bargain compared to the $90 per month that DirecTV Stream charges for its TV package with regional sports. For viewers in Bally Sports markets, this could be a cheaper way to access local team coverage without a huge TV bundle.

Still, Sinclair’s ability to round up baseball streaming rights remains in question. As of now, Sinclair has streaming rights for five MLB teams—the Tigers, Royals, Marlins, Brewers, and Rays—versus 16 NBA teams and 12 NHL teams. A broader baseball unbundling seems more likely for next year than this one.

Bravo unbundled: Peacock Premium is getting new episodes of Bravo shows the day after they air on cable. A handful of shows are available now—including Top Chef, Below Deck Sailing Yacht, and The Real Housewives of Atlanta—and the full lineup is headed to Peacock this fall along with past seasons of all Bravo shows.

The move is reminiscent of when Disney brought the full FX lineup to Hulu in 2019, effectively unbundling the channel from traditional pay TV service. While other networks have been hesitant to cannibalize their cable lineups in the past, this will surely change over time as they try to boost their new streaming services.

Google TV’s live guide update: If you have a Google TV device such as the 2020 Chromecast, you can now create a list of favorite channels inside the “Live” tab on the home screen. That means you can quickly see what’s on your favorite channels across YouTube TV, Pluto TV, Sling TV, or Philo without having to jump into each app. It’s a long overdue feature given that Amazon’s Fire TV devices and TiVo’s Stream 4K both have customizable live guides already.

To mark channels as favorites, just scroll over to the name of any channel and click on it. A star icon will appear under the channel name, and you should see a “Favorite channels” tab at the top of the screen.

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Save more money

Roku and Amazon are both holding Mother’s Day sales on their respective streaming players, but I wouldn’t count any of the deals as spectacular. You can save $11 on either the Roku Streaming Stick 4K or the Roku Express 4K+ (I’d pick the former), or grab the Fire TV Cube for an increasingly-common sale price of $70. Amazon has deals on other Fire TV devices as well, but with Prime Day coming up in July, you’re better off waiting unless the need is urgent.

Meanwhile, Amazon Prime subscribers can currently add two months of Showtime for $1 per month. And if you missed it last week, the latest code for a free month of Paramount+ is WALMART30.

Thanks for reading!

As always, let me know if you’ve got any streaming or cord-cutting questions you’d like me to answer. Get in touch by replying to this email.

Until next week,
Jared

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