Hey there! I’m Jared Newman, and this is Cord Cutter Weekly, my newsletter on how to save money on TV and make the most of streaming. Sign up here if someone shared this newsletter with you.
How Roku should fix its home screen
Jared Newman | 
If you’ve been using a Roku player or smart TV over the past year or so, you’ve probably noticed some big changes on the home screen.
What used to be a straightforward grid for all your installed apps has now become a mishmash of menu options, shortcuts, and content recommendations. While you can still simplify the Roku home screen with some settings tweaks, the trend is clearly toward stuffing it with content that can help Roku make money.
So here’s my counterproposal: Instead of keeping up the pretense of a simple home screen, Roku should just toss it in favor of something more useful. In fact, Roku already has a perfectly good starting point lurking in a different part of its menu system.
Weekly rewind
Hulu isn’t dying: Despite all the headlines you might’ve seen about Hulu shutting down, Disney says that’s not happening anytime soon, if at all. As I reported for Fast Company this week, the company has no timeline for discontinuing the Hulu app and will keep selling standalone Hulu subscriptions.
While Disney does plan to roll the full Hulu catalog into the Disney+ app next year, it will keep the existing Hulu app around and see how folks respond before deciding when (or whether) to get rid of it.
Apple TV name change: Apple is changing the name of its streaming service from Apple TV+ to just plain old Apple TV. I’m not exactly sure when this is happening, though, as Apple’s website still calls it Apple TV+, and the URL is still apple.com/apple-tv-plus. (Heading to apple.com/apple-tv redirects you to a page about the Apple TV 4K streaming box.)
The name change makes sense, in a way, but dorks like me will still get endless amusement from talking about using the Apple TV app to watch Apple TV on your Apple TV.
The Apple TV-Peacock bundle: Speaking of Apple TV (the service), it’ll soon be available in a bundle with Peacock Premium for $15 per month. That’s only $2 per month more than Apple TV by itself, and $4 per month more than the standalone cost of Peacock. (A bundle with the mostly-ad-free Peacock Premium Plus will cost $5 per month extra.)
Apple One Family or Premier subscribers will get additional discounts, but Apple hasn’t given exact dollar figures yet. We’ll find out on October 20, when the new bundles will become available. (If you’re struggling to keep track of all these bundles, I keep a list of them here.)
CNN’s streaming launch: CNN will make its second attempt at a standalone streaming service on October 26. It’ll cost $7 per month or $70 per year, yet it won’t include CNN’s actual cable channel. Instead, subscribers will get “a selection of CNN’s live U.S. and International programming” along with next-day access to CNN Originals.
The launch coincides with HBO Max’s plan to remove its CNN Max news feed on November 17, as corporate parent Warner Bros. Discovery plans to spin off its standard cable channels into a separate company. CNN’s previous attempt at a standalone streaming service only lasted a month.
More catch-up
- Netflix adds a “Last Chance to Watch” section for content that’s leaving the service soon. (Here’s a link straight to it.)
- By me: Roku’s AI-powered voice search sounds better than Google’s and Amazon’s versions.
- DirecTV’s $35 per month MyEntertainment package gets AMC and Hallmark channels.
- Will Apple do anything interesting with Formula 1? Jason Snell ponders.
- Mint Mobile launches cheap wireless home internet service on T-Mobile’s network. (Mint is owned by T-Mobile.)
Save more money
This section of the newsletter has some affiliate links, which earn me a commission if you wind up buying or subscribing to something.
Not much new happening on the deal front this week, so I’ll just quickly rehash a few recent developments:
- Hulu + Live TV: Still three months for $65 per month for new and former subscribers.
- DirecTV Genre Packs: Two months of MySports for $60 per month, or two months of MyEntertainment for $30 per month for new subscribers.
- Roku Ultra: Still on sale for for $69.
I keep a full list of up-to-date deals on the Cord Cutter Weekly website.
How I’m using AI (and not paying for it)
This week in my Advisorator newsletter, I made a running list of ways I’m using AI, along with some ways avoid paying for AI tools like ChatGPT. While I’m decidedly not aboard the AI hype train, I’ve found some ways to nibble at using it and wanted to have a living document that can expand over time.
Become an Advisorator member for as little as $5 to read both pieces and unlock a bunch of other helpful tech resources as well. (You can also read the free edition, including a sneaky Amazon sales tactic to beware of.)
Thanks for reading!
Got questions? Let me know!
Until next week,
Jared