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Roku’s Howdy streaming service is what Netflix used to be
Jared Newman | 
Have you heard this one before? A scrappy entertainment company launches a small catalog of ad-free streaming movies and shows for cheap. It doesn’t seem like a big deal at first, because the content is mostly B-movies and reruns, but it proves popular with consumers and goes on to change TV as we know it.
I could be referring to Netflix, which started down that exact path with its “Watch Now” streaming catalog in 2007. But I could also be prognosticating about Howdy, the $3 per month streaming service that Roku launched last week.
The parallels are obvious. Roku is starting with a small catalog, heavy on filler, and says it’s not trying to compete with incumbents. But it’s also arriving at a time of frustration with larger streaming services, which are becoming more like the bloated, expensive cable packages they once aimed to displace. Howdy may seem insignificant now, but like Netflix, it could be the start of something bigger.
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Weekly rewind
The price of Fox streaming: Fox One, the forthcoming streaming service for Fox’s broadcast, sports, and cable news channels, will cost $20 per month when it launches on August 21. The company previously said it would set a high price to avoid driving people away from cable, and it delivered on that promise.
But there will be at least one way to defray the cost: ESPN and Fox will offer a $40 per month bundle with both of their standalone services, $10 less than getting them separately. (ESPN’s service, which covers all of its cable channels and ABC’s sports programming, is also launching on August 21, but the bundle won’t arrive until October 2.)
I’m going to write more about this next week, because there’s a lot to unpack with these standalone options. For now, let’s say that while I’m glad they exist, they may not be the most economical options in every circumstance.
The Hulu app’s impending demise: Disney plans to discontinue the Hulu app in 2026 and will roll all of its content into a “unified” Disney+ app. You’ll still be able to subscribe to Hulu by itself, but you’ll have to use the Disney+ app to watch, and you can expect a lot of upselling toward bigger bundles with Disney+ and ESPN.
The Disney+ app already provides access to some Hulu content for subscribers, but it doesn’t cover everything and doesn’t tie into Hulu’s live TV service. It’s unclear exactly when the full integration will happen, so feel free to keep using the Hulu app until further notice.
Sling’s day passes: Sling TV now lets you subscribe to parts of its service on a less-than-monthly basis. You can get a day pass for $5, a weekend pass for $10, and a week pass for $15. (Sling normally charges $46 per month.) If you want Sling’s various add-on packages, those cost an extra $1 for the day, $2 for the weekend, and $3 for the week.
One caveat: The day passes only work with Sling’s Orange package, so you can’t use them to watch Fox- or NBC-owned channels. Still, I could see this coming in handy in certain scenarios, like wanting to watch a single Monday Night Football game without having to pay for a month of ESPN.
More catch-up
- Warner says it’s getting serious about HBO Max password sharing now.
- After buying Frndly TV, Roku now installs it by default.
- ESPN snags WrestleMania rights away from Peacock.
- Comcast launches an $85 per month soccer-centric streaming bundle.
- Fubo’s sports-centric bundle is a few weeks away.
Save more money
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American Express has increased the monthly credit on Disney streaming services with its Blue Cash Preferred card. Card holders now get up to a $10 per month credit on those services, which for instance would bring the cost of the Disney+ and Hulu Duo bundle down to $1 per month with ads, or $10 per month without.
The card itself has a $95 annual fee after the first year, so this isn’t worth doing if you have no use for AmEx’s other benefits. But if you like the card and are committed to the Disney bundle, this’ll cover the annual fee and then some.
Other notable deals:
- Roku streaming players are still at Prime Day pricing: Roku Streaming Stick for $19, the Streaming Stick Plus for $29, the Streaming Stick 4K for $39, and the Ultra for $79.
- Roku’s 65-inch Mini-LED TV is also on sale for $600.
- DirecTV takes $35 to $45 off the first month for its standard TV packages. New subscribers only.
- YouTube TV is still doing $50 per month for the first three months. New subscribers only.
As always, I keep a full list of up-to-date deals here. Still waiting and hoping for Peacock and Paramount+ offers to return.
Thanks for reading!
Shout-out to all the major media companies that made big announcements on the exact week that I took a vacation. Anyway, it’s nice to back. Let me know if you have any questions!
Until next week,
Jared