Streaming TV privacy guide, MLB TV savings
This week on TechHive: The streaming TV privacy guide
While cord-cutting has created all kinds of ways to watch TV for cheap, it’s also opened up the door to a lot more personal data collection.
Your viewing habits are deeply valuable to marketers, who can infer a lot about you based on the things you watch. And unlike on phones and computers, where privacy-centric web browsers and tracker blockers can provide some level of defense, streaming devices are a place where the data still flows freely.
But with a little bit of effort, you can dial back the data collection and limit which companies are privy to what you’re watching.
Read the full column on TechHive →
Weekly rewind
Paramount+ price hikes: Paramount+ plans to raise prices in the third quarter of this year, bringing the ad-supported plan to $6 per month (a $1 increase) and the ad-free plan to $12 per month (a $2 increase).
It’s not all bad news, though, as the pricier tier will include Showtime’s catalog at no extra charge. That bundle previously cost $15 per month, and Paramount has already reduced the price to $12 per month for new and current subscribers.
And as of now, the endless coupon code trick still works, letting you get Paramount+ and Showtime on a month-by-month basis at no charge. (The latest codes, per Doctor of Credit, are ALLNEW23 and ATMIDNIGHT.)
MLB TV price hike (and discount): Keeping with annual tradition, MLB TV is raising prices. The service for streaming out-of-market baseball will jump to $150 for all teams and $130 for a single team, both up $10 from last year. As Phillip Swann notes, existing customers will pay the higher price when their subscriptions auto-renew on March 1.
My advice? Disable auto-renew now, let the subscription lapse, then sign up at a discount. As with last year, you can get half-off MLB TV with a $25 MLBPAA fan membership, bringing the total price to $100. MLB TV also tends to offer deals throughout the season, most notably on Father’s Day, where it has historically cut the price in half. (T-Mobile customers: I’ve yet to hear either way whether the carrier will offer MLB TV for free again this year, so hang tight.)
Comcast kills free Peacock: After indicating a couple months ago that it would stop giving away Peacock Premium to Xfinity customers, Comcast is making good on its promise. New Xfinity customers will no longer be eligible for the service from April 3 onward, and existing customers will lose access on June 26. Cox TV subscribers also lost their Peacock Premium privileges last month.
Comcast does plan to offer some kind of deal on Peacock Premium for Xfinity customers, but hasn’t gone into specifics. Peacock already offers discounts on a fairly regular basis—most notably its $1 per month for 12 months deal on Black Friday—with no Xfinity subscription required. We’ll have to see if Comcast goes above and beyond for its cable customers or treats them like everyone else.
More catch-up
- Netflix kills the “Surprise Me” button, says hardly anyone used it.
- Plex adds a “Skip Credits” button (for media server content, too).
- Apple’s MLS Season Pass streams will top out at 1080p.
- Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy could shake up baseball streaming.
- Warner may go with “WBTV” for its forthcoming free streaming service.
Save more money
T-Mobile is adding MLS Season Pass to its list of free streaming perks. The service, which includes every MLS match with no local blackouts, will be claimable through the T-Mobile Tuesdays app from February 21 through March 14, and is available for all T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile customers.
If you’re not with T-Mobile, you can at least get a $20 discount on MLS Season Pass by temporarily signing up for Apple TV+. Read my recent TechHive story for instructions.
One more notable new deal right now: The British TV service Britbox is offering two months for $2, both for new and returning subscribers, through February 21. The price returns to $8 per month after the promo period.
For more ways to save, check out my big list of streaming deals at the Cord Cutter Weekly website.
Thanks for reading!
As always, send me your cord cutting questions, and I’ll do my best to answer. Get in touch by replying to this email.
Until next week,
Jared