Pardon the interruption.

Your regularly-scheduled episode of Cord Cutter Weekly continues below. But first, I’m excited to announce a new project.

It’s called Advisorator, and it delivers tech tips, insights, and deals to your inbox every two weeks. What Cord Cutter Weekly is to streaming and over-the-air video, Advisorator is to phones, computers, apps, gadgets, and online services.

As a journalist who’s covered technology for close to a decade, I’ve seen a need that isn’t being met by search engines, social media, and freestanding tech websites. People always tell me they want to get smarter about the technology they’re using, but they don’t know where to start, especially when so much tech coverage fixates on business news, industry gossip, and superfluous products. Advisorator is laser-focused on making you a more savvy tech consumer.

Sign up here with just your email address, and you’ll receive a free newsletter every two weeks during Advisorator’s trial run, starting Monday, May 14. On June 25, Advisorator will switch to a subscription model, with no distracting ads, no sponsorships, and full editorial independence. Click here for all the details.

To be clear: Cord Cutter Weekly is not going away, it will always be free, and its focus will not change. Advisorator is a separate newsletter for folks who want more than just TV coverage, and want to support my work along the way.

Thank you so much for reading Cord Cutter Weekly, and for giving me this opportunity to launch something new.

This week on TechHive: Google subtly retools its streaming TV strategy
Google didn’t make a big deal out of it,but the company has revealed a significant shift in its streaming TV strategy.

The company suddenly seems a lot more interested in Android TV, its streaming platform that’s long been overshadowed by Google’s Chromecast streaming dongles. During its I/O developers conference this week, Google promised cheaper Android TV hardware, a smoother path to market for device makers, better support for app developers, and a general recommitment to getting Android TV onto more streaming devices.

As a whole, these moves could turn Android TV from an afterthought into a compelling alternative to Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV. Read the full column on TechHive.

Weekly rewind

Hulu’s live TV guide is here: When Hulu launched its $40 per month live TV service last year, its lack of a grid-based channel guide was a point of pride. By omitting the guide, Hulu was trying to ditch old paradigms and emphasize on-demand video.

But old habits die hard, and so now Hulu is releasing a live TV guide after all. It’s available now on Xbox One, Apple TV (fourth generation or higher), first- and second-generation Fire TV devices, and the Nintendo Switch, with more device support coming soon. Just look for the lightning bolt icon near the top-left corner of the screen. You can record programs straight from the guide and switch to a list of your 10 most recent channels.

Over at TechHive, we still haven’t given Hulu’s live TV service a proper scored review since it launched as a public beta last year. We’ll be rectifying that soon.

Apple TV’s answer to Amazon: According to Bloomberg, Apple wants to start selling subscriptions to streaming video services directly through its TV app on Apple TVs and iOS devices. Currently, if you want to sign up for a service like HBO Now or Showtime on Apple TV, you must go to the App Store, install the app, then use that app to sign up for the service. Apple could remove a lot of that friction by handling the whole transaction through the TV app, which already aggregates video from sources like HBO, Showtime, Hulu, and NBA TV.

The approach would be similar to Amazon Channels, which lets Prime subscribers easily add extra video services through Amazon’s video apps and Fire TV devices. Channels has been a hit with TV networks, which need as much exposure and as little friction as possible in the cutthroat streaming business. I’m still waiting for Amazon to take the next logical step and start bundling some of these Channels together at a discount, but it hasn’t happened yet. Maybe Apple will get there first.

More Catch-Up

Save more money
It might be a little late for Mother’s Day shopping, but Roku’s Streaming Stick and Amazon’s Fire TV Stick are both $10 off over at Amazon. The Roku stick (my pick for best budget streamer) is down to $40, and the Fire TV Stick is down the $30. You can also bundle a Fire TV Stick with an Echo Dot smart speaker for $65, down from the usual $90.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks again for sticking with me through this week’s big announcement. I hope you’ll give Advisorator a try, and I’m happy to answer any questions you might have about it.

As always, you can support Cord Cutter Weekly with a coffee (see the button below) or by sending me your feedback. Just reply to this email or say hello on Twitter.

Until next week,
Jared