Free streaming TV tips, Fire TV improvements
This week on TechHive: Free streaming TV tips
If you thought subscription streaming services were confusing, take a look at the world of free, ad-supported streaming services.
Between Pluto TV, Tubi, Amazon Freevee, The Roku Channel, Plex, and an array of more obscure offerings, there’s a lot to keep track of. Many of these services have overlapping catalogs, along with hundreds of linear “channels” that emulate the feel of cable. With Warner Bros. Discovery planning its own free streaming service, and Netflix considering the possibility of a free tier, your options are only increasing.
As a result, cord-cutters will need to get even smarter about sifting through them all. Over at TechHive, I’ve got a collection of tips and tricks to help you distinguish between all the options, find the best free content, and possibly even avoid some unnecessary advertising.
Read the full column on TechHive →
By the way: I’ve also refreshed my big list of free streaming services over at the Cord Cutter Weekly website. Check it out, and feel free to share!
Weekly rewind
Fixing Fire TV: Here’s an interesting rumor from Elias Saba over at AFTV News: Amazon may finally open up the “Recently Watched” row on the Fire TV home screen to third-party apps, so you may be able to quickly resume shows from services like Netflix and HBO Max. Amazon may also pull in data from other apps’ watchlists, so they’d automatically feed into Amazon’s own universal watchlist feature.
I’ve routinely criticized the Fire TV home screen for promoting content from Prime and Freevee at the expense of everything else. It sounds like Amazon now wants to build a system similar to Apple TV, in which you can opt into sharing an app’s viewing data with Amazon so it appears on the home screen directly. There’s no word on when this might happen, but it would be a major step up if it does.
In the meantime, Amazon’s making a more modest improvement: Its home screen rows will soon become more personalized around the kinds of things you enjoy watching. Now all we need is for Amazon to dial back the sleazy banner ads for things like cars and insurance, and it’ll be in great shape.
Google TV updates: Elsewhere on the home screen front, Google TV devices are getting new pages for movies, shows, kids programming, and Spanish content. You’ll find them on the home screen beneath the “Continue Watching” row. The profile switcher’s also moving to a more prominent location, and there’s a new button for quick settings. You should see these updates on devices like the Chromecast with Google TV soon.
Disney’s theatrical push: Apparently Disney’s had enough of people waiting for new theatrical releases to land on Disney+. Via The Streamable, sources tell The Hollywood reporter that the company may lengthen the theater window for its upcoming animated films Elemental and Wish.
The feeling is that people have gotten too comfortable watching relatively new movies at home instead paying for movie tickets, and Disney would now like to correct that behavior. It’s part of a broader effort in Hollywood to unwind some less-profitable pandemic habits. At least Netflix is still holding strong on bringing new movies home in short order.
More catch-up
- Not just you: YouTube TV has a glitchy Apple TV app.
- It also sent out erroneous cancellation messages to family members.
- Rumor mill: The NBA could stream local games as Diamond Sports moves toward bankruptcy.
- Streaming dongles are fading from relevance as more folks just use their smart TVs.
- Pluto TV tries to crack down on ad-free streaming workarounds.
Save more money
Peacock is having yet another sale for new subscribers, this time cutting the monthly price in half. Sign up for Peacock Premium using the coupon code UMRWKXQECB, and you’ll get 12 months for $2.50 per month.
If you’ve subscribed before, consider using a masked email address to get the deal. You can also use a Privacy.com credit card to avoid getting hit with the regular price when your 12 months are up. See my TechHive article on limited-use cards for instructions.
Other notable deals:
- T-Mobile and Metro subscribers can now get a free year of MLS Season Pass via the T-Mobile Tuesday’s app. You must redeem this by March 14.
- The latest Paramount+ codes are PICARD, ALLNEW23, and ATMIDNIGHT. Use these instructions to get endless free months.
- Check out more ways to save with my big list of streaming deals.
Thanks for reading!
To the hundreds of you who just found this newsletter via Rich DeMuro’s podcast and radio show, welcome! I’m a fan of Rich’s work and had a great time chatting with him last weekend about streaming TV privacy, slick savings tactics for cord cutters, and Netflix’s now-defunct “Surprise Me” button. You can listen to my segment starting at the 1:27:17 mark.
Got cord cutting questions for me? I’m always happy to hear from you. Just reply to this email to get in touch.
Until next week,
Jared