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.
Sending a correction: Sam’s Club Plus memberships are the ones that include Walmart+. The standard $60 per year membership does not. Apologies for the error.
Please don’t use AI hacks to debloat your TV
Jared Newman | 
Fed up with your smart TV’s bloated interface and aggressive data collection? The AI bros are on it.
Over the past week, several developers claim to have “hacked” their TVs with AI, making them faster and less privacy-invasive using tools like Claude Code. On sites like X and YouTube, they’ve been posting about their exploits and racking up millions of views in the process. TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez spotted the trend, which has since been covered by numerous other media outlets.
Temping as these solutions may be, you really don’t need vibe-coded AI hacks to make your smart TV work better. There are other ways to solve the problem that are both easier and safer.
Cord Cutting Guide update
As promised last week, I’ve now added NBA teams to my Streaming Savings Calculator. Enter your local team and any other channels or streaming services you want, and it will recommend the cheapest ways to get them all.
The calculator is part of my Complete Guide to Cord Cutting, which available as a one-time purchase or included with an Advisorator membership. I’m pretty confident that it can help save you money. (If you’ve already bought the guide, no need to buy it again; just use the link in your purchase email to access the latest version.)
I’m working on adding NHL coverage as well. Stay tuned!
Weekly rewind
Sam’s Club adds streaming: Sam’s Club Plus memberships now include Walmart+, which means they also include your choice of either Peacock or Paramount+. You can switch between the services once every three months.
Sam’s Club Plus costs $120 per year, versus $98 per year for Walmart+ by itself (or less if you sign up via AARP, as described here). But if you’re already a Sam’s Club member, this is a nice additional perk. Your move, Costco.
Netflix woes: Netflix’s stock is sliding as investors continue to worry about how much people are engaging with the service. The company recently cut ad sales forecasts, laid off 6% of its workforce, and canned a couple of executives. Sources told Financial Times that people aren’t logging in as much as they used to.
While Netflix once dreamed of being HBO, lately it’s pivoted to being more like cable, with less prestige TV and more programming aimed at broad appeal, all while aggressively raising prices. It’s made the service less appealing to me personally, at least, as I’m no longer subscribing year-round. With growth slowing and users tuning into cheaper alternatives like YouTube, Netflix may be getting exactly what it wished for.
More catch-up
- If you’re running a Plex server, hopefully you installed the security update that Plex sent emails about last month. Hackers are now exploiting the vulnerability in the wild. (If you’re not up to date, follow Plex’s instructions.)
- Verizon and Starz settle their carriage dispute.
- JustWatch launches its free streaming service after announcing it last month.
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.
New and/or notable deals this morning:
- Amazon’s new Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale for $20 with code FTV4K.
- YouTube TV’s Sports and News plan is still $50 per month for the first five months.
- Still looking out for better Paramount+ deals. For now it’s half-off two months of Premium for $1 per month with code SHO2MO, or 30% off a year with code SAVEANNUAL30.
As always, I keep a full list of up-to-date streaming deals on this page.
Thanks for reading!
Got cord cutting questions for me? Reply to this email and I’ll do my best to answer.
Until next week,
Jared