Comcast and Hulu + Live TV price hikes
This week on TechHive: Price hike avoidance
Hey folks, I’ve had a couple loosely-related stories go live on TechHive since last week’s newsletter.
First, here’s a piece on how to dodge an upcoming price hike for Hulu + Live TV. While existing subscribers will see prices jump to $75 per month on December 8, you can keep the current $70 per month price if you don’t mind bundling the ad-supported version of Disney+. As before, Hulu + Live TV includes Disney+ and ESPN+ at no extra charge, but if you’re not an avid Disney+ watcher, you might as well downgrade and keep the money. Check out the full column for details and instructions.
And if you’re feeling gloomy about streaming price hikes in general, my other column looks over to the cable side of the fence, where Comcast is raising rates by at least $10 per month in several markets for the second year in a row. You won’t see this reflected in Comcast’s advertised prices, though, as the bulk of the hikes are tucked into the company’s hidden “Broadcast TV” fee. As always, those who attempt to go back to cable will find that it’s a lot more expensive than it used to be. Read the full column for details.
Weekly rewind
The DirecTV-Fox fight: Just in time for the next USMNT World Cup match and Big Ten Championship (Go Blue!), DirecTV customers could lose Fox’s broadcast and sports channels as the two companies square off in a carriage dispute. Fox, which presumably wants DirecTV customers to pay more for its channels, started making threats on Sunday, and the two companies are still negotiating ahead of a midnight deadline.
A blackout, if it happens, would apply to customers of DirecTV, DirecTV Stream, and U-Verse, and would affect Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network, and Fox Deportes. As Phillip Swann notes, the Fox app would still work for watching Fox’s local affiliate stations, but not in the 18 markets where Fox itself owns the stations, and not at all for Fox’s sports channels.
It’s a pretty standard carriage dispute drama, with Fox even launching a website to scare customers into advocating for their own price hikes. (I do like this bit of counter-programming by Media Matters, which asks customers to take the opposite stance.) Whatever happens, though, you’re bill’s only moving in one direction.
Evoca in trouble: Evoca, a service that uses ATSC 3.0 to deliver a paid bundle of live channels, has warned customers that it may shut down by the end of this month if it can’t secure more funding. The service operates in parts of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, and Michigan, and is most notable for offering regional sports channels that otherwise require a much more expensive pay TV package.
While the concept of an over-the-air TV bundle is interesting, Evoca doesn’t have deals with any major TV networks, so its lineup is pretty thin outside of regional sports and the local broadcasts you can already get for free with an antenna. Its demise also would be a blow to ATSC 3.0, which has been steadily rolling out over the past few years but has yet to deliver much practical benefit.
More catch-up
- Having HBO Max playback problems on Apple TV? They’re working on it.
- For the owner of Bally Sports channels, the future looks bleak.
- Roku and Fire TV search issues made Yellowstone hard to find.
- Don’t count Google out of NFL Sunday Ticket streaming rights.
- Alan Wolk makes the case for a free version of Hulu.
- Beeoww…brrraBING! Even YouTube’s app has a launch sound now.
Save more money
I know a bunch of you had trouble redeeming the Paramount+ and Showtime bundle deal that was available during Black Friday. The good news is that it’s still available through January 2 for both new and returning subscribers, letting you get a year of both for $60 total, though the process is still a bit convoluted:
- Head to the Paramount+ website.
- Click the “Redeem Now” button at the top, or sign in if you have an account already.
- On the plan selection page, click the “Annual” tab before choosing a plan.
- On the next page, select “Get the Bundle.”
- If you’re a returning subscriber, enter the code WINTER50 at checkout to cut the price in half.
- Confirm that your plan includes both Paramount+ and Showtime for $60 (or $75 without ads) before hitting the sign-up button.
As always, you can still get Paramount+ for free in one-month increments if you’re not interested in Showtime. Select a monthly plan and use the codes TULSAKING or FANTASYFOOTBALLMOVIE to redeem it.
I’ve also updated my big list of streaming deals at the Cord Cutter Weekly website, so check it out for even more ways to save.
Thanks for reading!
For those in the U.S., I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving and successful Black Friday (either because you scored some great deals or successfully avoided spending money in the first place). Got cord cutting questions for me? Get in touch by replying to this email.
Until next week,
Jared