Last week, Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery put an official price tag on Venu Sports, the live TV streaming service they intend to launch this fall.

Venu Sports will cost $43 per month as an introductory promo rate—it’s unclear what the price will be after that—and is notable for excluding general entertainment and news channels that don’t carry live sports.

There are many ways to think about whether Venu Sports will be worth it at that price, but the one I keep coming back to is a hypothetical conversation between sports fans about what, exactly, the service has to offer.

This may be one of my dumber column ideas, but please indulge me in reading it anyway →

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Weekly rewind

Disney price hikes: From October 17 onward, Disney will raise prices on all of its streaming services and most of its bundles. Here’s the rundown:

• Disney + with ads: $8/mo → $10/mo
• Disney+ no ads: $14/mo → $16/mo, or $140/yr → $160/yr

• Hulu with ads: $8/mo → $10/mo, or $80/yr → $100/yr
• Hulu no ads: $18/mo → $19/mo

• ESPN+: $11/mo → $12/mo, or $110/yr → $120/yr

• Disney+ and Hulu “Duo” with ads: $10/mo → $11/mo
• Disney+ and Hulu “Duo” no ads: $20/mo (no change)
• Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ “Trio” with ads: $15/mo → $17/mo
• Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ “Trio” no ads: $25/mo → $27/mo

• Hulu + Live TV (with ads for Disney+ and Hulu on-demand): $77/mo → $83/mo
• Hulu + Live TV (no ads for Disney+ and Hulu on-demand): $90 → $96/mo

As I expected, the goal here is to push more people toward bundling, as the standalone prices for Disney+ and Hulu are now just $1 per month less than the price of both. Meanwhile the new bundle of Disney+, Hulu, and Max remains at $17 per month with ads or $30 per month without.

Disney also says it will begin cracking down on password sharing next month, but remains cagey about the details.

Google’s nicer streaming box: The Google TV Streamer is a $100 set-top box that will replace the company’s cheaper Chromecast dongles. It’s launching on September 24 and has double the RAM (at 4 GB) and quadruple the storage (at 32 GB), plus a faster processor and a remote finder function. It also works as a smart home hub, with built-in Thread radios and Matter support.

Both Chromecast with Google TV models (HD and 4K) will be discontinued once current inventory runs out. Google is effectively ceding the budget Google TV device market to Walmart’s surprisingly great Onn 4K and Onn 4K Pro streamers, though it faces some brisk competition on the higher end from the Roku Ultra and Apple TV 4K.

For TechHive, I chatted with Google’s Shalini Govil-Pai about the new box, and the surprisingly sensible decision not to lard it up with too much generative AI. I look forward to reviewing the Google TV Streamer in the near-ish future.

Another MLB Network correction: In the past couple newsletters, I’ve mentioned that MLB Network is now available as a standalone subscription for $7 per month. That price includes MLB At Bat, which offers live game audio and minor league streaming. I didn’t notice that if you just want MLB Network, it’s available for $6 per month instead. (The channel is also included with MLB TV, but not if you get the service for free.)

More catch-up

• Starz will raise monthly prices by a buck (to $11/mo) on September 5, but almost always offers discounts. (Here’s one.)
• In-market New Orleans Pelicans games will be free with an antenna next season.
• Roku sets up a free round-the-clock sports channel, anchored by Sunday morning MLB games.
• ATSC dismisses whole-home DVR users as the “super, super, super sub minority.”
• Warner is killing off the cartoon streamer Boomerang, and will move some of its content to Max instead.
• Weird story I neglected to include last week: Spotify adds some free TV shows to its streaming music service.

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Save more money

I’m not seeing any new developments on the deal front this week, so I’ll just reiterate that you can lock in a year of Hulu’s annual plan (with ads) for $80 or the Disney+ annual plan (no ads) for $140 before price hikes take effect in October. Both will save $20 compared to the new annual pricing.

Hulu has a direct sign-up option for its annual plan, but Disney+ makes its annual plan difficult to find. From the Disney+ landing page, look for the tiny “Interested in only Disney+?” line under the “Choose Your Plan” section and choose “Get Disney+ Premium (No Ads).” After logging in, you can choose the annual option on the payment details page.

Other notable items:

• The latest Paramount+ code is still OGGMPZR3YBW, or you can just use this link. It’ll get you a free month if you’re a new or ex-subscriber.
• Verizon customers can still get one year of Netflix Premium and Peacock for $80 total, but only if you’re a new Peacock subscriber and have never redeemed Verizon’s Netflix deals before.
• I’ve got a master list of deals on the Cord Cutter Weekly website, updated every Friday.

Thanks for reading!

Against all odds I have achieved Inbox Zero. Feel free to undo my progress by replying to this email with your cord cutting questions! I always do my best to answer.

Until next week,
Jared