A message from Jared

Hey folks,

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This week on PCWorld: Is DirecTV MySports worth it?

DirecTV has made good on its plans to launch a sports and broadcast streaming package for less than its standard TV plans, but the savings aren’t enormous.

The DirecTV Stream MySports plan costs $70 per month (with an extra $20 off for the first three months) and includes a mix of local broadcast channels, national sports networks, league-specific channels such as NFL Network, and access to ESPN+. This is uncharted territory for pay TV service, which typically requires paying for a big bundle of news, entertainment, and family programming just to access live sports (and vice versa).

Still, DirecTV’s new sports package is missing some major sources of sports—notably CBS and regional sports networks—and is not even available yet in every U.S. market. It can save money in some scenarios, but only if you make some trade-offs.

Read the full column on PCWorld →


Weekly rewind

Sling’s DVR changes and “Pause Extra” plan: Sling TV is officially revamping its $5 per month DVR add-on to include unlimited storage, up from 200 hours previously. As before, Sling’s base packages include 50 hours of storage instead.

But there’s also bad news: Those recordings now expire after nine months, both on the free and upgraded versions. The nine-month time limit is fairly standard among live TV streaming services, but it feels extra restrictive when combined with the 50-hour limit on Sling’s basic DVR.

In other Sling news, it’s now offering a $5 per month “Pause Extra” plan for subscribers who attempt to cancel. Upon cancellation, those who accept the plan get access to AMC+ and unlimited DVR storage for Sling’s free streaming channels.

Each month of Pause Extra then becomes a $5 credit toward a full Sling subscription, so if you pause for two months (and pay $10 for Pause Extra), you get $10 off when reactivating Sling proper It’s a bit convoluted, but I appreciate the creativity.

Streaming ads compared: Sherwood’s Jon Keegan had a great story last week visualizing the length of commercial breaks on the ad-supported tiers of Disney+, Paramount+, Hulu, Peacock, Max, and Netflix. While the results vary by show, Disney+ and Hulu had most ads per minute overall.

Missing from the report was Amazon Prime, which now charges $3 per month extra for ad-free viewing and plans to stuff more ads into its videos this year. I’m curious how free streaming services such as Tubi and Pluto TV compare as well.

More catch-up


Save more money

I’m running an experiment with Hulu, which has been offering one-month free trials since early December. The offer is for both new and “eligible” returning subscribers, raising the question of how often you can keep signing up for free in one-month increments.

To test it out, I signed up with a new account, then immediately cancelled the subscription, so it expires on February 18. We’ll see if I can sign up for another free trial then. Want to run the experiment along with me? Sign up here.

Other notable deals:

Remember that my big list of streaming deals has a longer list of active discounts, and I update it every Friday.


Thanks for reading!

Good news: I’m finally caught up on email! Feel free to add to the pile with your cord cutting questions and comments, which you can send by replying to this message.

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Until next week,
Jared