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.
YouTube TV’s hidden genre plans and how to get them
Jared Newman | 
YouTube TV’s cheaper genre plans are finally available to anyone, though they’re still not easy to find.
Instead of just listing all the plans on its welcome page, YouTube TV hides them behind a login wall and a largely-useless plan picker menu. There’s no easy way to just look up every YouTube TV plan with full channel lists and pricing.
So allow me to do what YouTube won’t by putting all the YouTube TV genre plans in one place. Chances are you’ll be able to save some money over YouTube TV’s $83 per month standard plan.
Weekly rewind
Sling’s new plan: Sling TV has launched a new $20 per month “Essentials” package that includes ESPN and ESPN2, plus a bunch of entertainment channels such as Disney Channel, MeTV, and Lifetime Movies. For an extra $15 per month, you can also bundle the Essentials plan with Sling Select, which includes FS1, Fox News, NFL Network, and a handful of other channels.
Sling Essential by itself is actually $10 per month cheaper than ESPN Unlimited (albeit without ESPN+ programming), and the $35 per month Essential and Select bundle would pair pretty well with an antenna for sports fans. I see this as a much-needed reset to what Sling originally was: a narrower channel selection anchored by a handful of popular channels.
Comcast’s streaming bundles: Comcast is expanding the number of discounted streaming service bundles that it offers to TV and Internet-only customers. Here’s the full list:
- Netflix (w/ ads), Peacock (w/ ads), and Apple TV: $18/mo. (This is $3/mo. more than before.)
- Pick any three of Netflix (w/ ads), Peacock (w/ ads), HBO Max (w/ads), Disney+/Hulu (w/ads), or Apple TV for $22/mo.
- Pick any four of Netflix (w/ ads), Peacock (w/ ads), HBO Max (w/ads), Disney+/Hulu (w/ads), or Apple TV for $30/mo.
- Get all five of Netflix (w/ ads), Peacock (w/ ads), HBO Max (w/ads), Disney+/Hulu (w/ads), or Apple TV for $35/mo.
You can also upgrade to the ad-free versions of these services, with the difference being charged to your Xfinity bill. The bundles are available through the Xfinity website or via the StreamStore on Xfinity X1 and Xumo boxes.
Spectrum’s Fire TV app: In other cable company news, Spectrum will finally launch a Fire TV app on April 15. This joins its existing apps for Roku, Google TV/, Apple TV, Samsung TVs, LG TVs, Vizio TVs, and Xbox consoles. If you’re not cutting cable, using your cable company’s free streaming apps instead of expensive cable box rentals is a good way to save money.
More catch-up
- Xfinity drops 40 local stations around the country amid a carriage dispute with Scripps.
- Sling adds various multiviews for split-screen sports and news.
- Netflix launches a “Playground” mobile app with games for kids.
- Netflix makes its Apple TV app worse by dropping Apple’s native video player.
- T-Mobile will still offer Netflix with ads for free after the latest price hike, but ad-free upgrades will cost more.
- NBA and NHL teams will leave FanDuel Sports Network after this season as Main Street Sports winds down.
Save more money
This part of the newsletter has some affiliate links, which earn me a commission if you wind up buying or subscribing to something.
Alright folks, I’ve got a fresh Paramount+ code for select returning subscribers. Sign up for the Premium plan with promo code N8C27L to get two months for $1 per month.
As before, these codes are for select returning subscribers only, and won’t work for existing or new subscribers. If you redeemed one of the previous codes I’ve shared here and have since cancelled your subscription, I’d be curious to know if the new code gets you back in.
Other notable deals:
- Roku streamer upgrade deals are back for select users: Streaming Stick for $10, Streaming Stick Plus for $15, Streaming Stick 4K for $30, Ultra for $50. Log into this page to see your offers.
- Not eligible for the above? Walmart has the Roku Streaming Stick for $15 instead.
- Fire TV Stick 4K Max on sale for $30 with code MAX4K.
As always, I maintain a full list of active streaming deals on this page.
More tech advice from me
In case you missed it, I’ve been publishing some good stuff (I think) in Advisorator lately:
- An interactive wireless plan picker and an easy way to see what your old phone’s worth at trade-in.
- Whether Apple’s and Google’s built-in password managers are worth using.
- The new web browser I’m enjoying over Google Chrome.
Become an Advisorator member to get actionable tech advice like this every week. If you just want quick tech tips and deals, you can check out the free version instead. I’d love to have you aboard either way!
Thanks for reading!
That’s all for now. Got questions? Reply to this email and I’ll do my best to answer.
Until then,
Jared