Peacock price hikes, no more Netflix Basic
This week on TechHive: Avoiding Peacock’s price hikes
Well, this a bummer.
Earlier this week, Peacock raised the price of its Premium plan, so it now costs $6 per month or $60 per year with ads, up from $5 per month or $50 per year before. The ad-free version now stands at $12 per month or $120 per year, up from $10 per month or $100 per year. Existing subscribers will see the price hike on or after August 17.
On Thursday, I wrote a story for TechHive imploring folks not to pay full price. Peacock routinely offers coupons on its service, including one that saved $40 for a year even after the price hike.
But as of this morning, that coupon code no longer works. My story does have some other ways to save on Peacock—including student discounts and some bundle deals from Spectrum and Comcast—but otherwise I suggest waiting around for another coupon code before jumping in.
Read the full column on TechHive →
Weekly rewind
Netflix Basic begone: Netflix has killed off its $10 per month Basic ad-free tier for new subscribers in the United States and United Kingdom, shortly after doing the same in Canada. That plan allowed one simultaneous stream at 720p resolution.
Existing Basic subscribers can keep the plan, but Netflix’s Standard plan is now the cheapest ad-free option for new subscribers, at $15.49 per month with two simultaneous 1080p streams. Netflix’s ad-supported plan still costs $7 per month, also with two 1080p streams at a time.
Although Netflix added more than 1 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada last quarter, revenues in those markets decreased. My pet theory is that a lot of folks downgraded their plans after Netflix ramped up its password-sharing scare tactics, and the company panicked. Netflix makes more money per subscriber from its ad-supported plan anyway, so that’s where it wants you if you’re going to downgrade at all.
D-backs unbundle: Bally Sports has dropped its second Major League Baseball team after losing the Padres in May. This time it’s the Arizona Diamondbacks, whose games will now be produced and distributed by the league itself.
The games will continue to air on cable, satellite, and streaming TV packages that carry Bally Sports Arizona, but now there’s also a standalone streaming option via MLB TV. It costs $55 for the rest of the season or $20 per month, and is separate from MLB TV’s out-of-market plans.
Bally Sports owner Diamond Sports Group (no relation to the Diamondbacks) continues to eke out payments to other teams, most recently the Reds, so baseball won’t see a big unbundling this year. If you’re a local Padres or D-backs fan, consider yourself lucky.
YouTube TV ad-skip issues: YouTube TV has acknowledged a bug that’s led to unskippable ads in some cases, and says it’s looking into it. While I haven’t seen this happen on my end, I occasionally hear from readers about ad-skipping issues on YouTube TV and never know if it’s a glitch or just YouTube’s confusing “Library” menu to blame.
So I bring this up just to emphasize that, yes, you should be able to skip ads on all YouTube TV recordings, and if you can’t, it’s not by design.
More catch-up
- Watching YouTube without ads now costs $14 per month.
- Women’s World Cup fans are getting hosed by DirecTV blackouts.
- Hulu + Live TV will get Tennis Channel, T2, Comet, and Charge—in January.
Save more money
Bally Sports+ is on sale in markets where it carries local baseball, both for new and returning subscribers. If you’re an area with local Tigers, Marlins, Royals, Brewers, or Rays coverage, you can get 12 months of Bally Sports+ for $15 per month, which is $5 off the regular price. (Annual plans are also on sale for $180, but that seems like a dicier proposition as Bally owner Diamond Sports Group goes through bankruptcy.) The offer runs through August 31.
Other notable deals:
- The latest Paramount+ codes are CHALLENGEPOD, TVCLASSICS, or MIXTAPE. Learn how to get it for free.
- Tuning into Messi mania? See these MLS Season Pass savings tactics.
- Verizon subscribers can still get a year of Netflix and Starz for $75 total.
- See more ways to save on the Cord Cutter Weekly website.
Thanks for reading!
One last little note: Some of you have been asking about ATSC 3.0 encryption, likely due to Lon Seidman’s informative series of videos on the topic. I’m not trying to ignore the issue—here’s an article I wrote about it more than five years ago—but it’s taking me some extra time to nail the details down and write the story I have in mind. Stay tuned.
Got questions for me? Just reply to this email to get in touch.
Until next time,
Jared