Discovery+ unbundles, Super Bowl 2023 streaming options
This week on TechHive: Discovery+ stays unbundled
Ever since last year’s merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, we’ve been hearing that HBO Max and Discovery+ will combine into one mandatory bundle.
Now, the combined company is backtracking, and has confirmed that Discovery+ will remain a standalone streaming service after all. While the full Discovery+ catalog will also stream through HBO Max—or whatever its name ends up being—cord-cutters won’t have to pay for that more expensive service just to watch Discovery’s brand of comfort-food TV.
That might be a logical decision for Warner Bros. Discovery, but it’s also great news for cord-cutting’s central tenets of choice and flexibility. Not every streaming service needs to be as big and expensive as Netflix, and the sooner media companies realize that, the better.
Read the full column on TechHive ➝
Weekly rewind
Super Bowl streaming options: Most online guides are terrible at this, so let’s just round up the options short order:
- The Fox Sports app will stream the game for free (and in 4K, if you have a compatible TV and streaming player) on Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV/Google TV, and Xbox consoles. That’ll be the best way to watch for most people.
- You can also try the NFL app as a backup.
- Got an antenna? You can watch on Fox for free, with less latency than streaming, albeit at lower resolution.
- Any live TV streaming service with a local Fox feed will carry the game, of course. That includes YouTube TV ($65 per month), Hulu + Live TV ($70 per month), DirecTV Stream ($75 per month), and Fubo TV ($86 per month). Sling TV Blue subscribers in select markets get a Fox feed as well.
Credit goes to Phillip Swann for reporting on the free Fox Sports feed, as lots of sites are wrongly claiming that you’ll need a pay TV login. I’ve confirmed with Fox that no login will be necessary. If you’re hosting a party, may the streaming and over-the-air gods be on your side!
FuboTV’s regional sports fee: As announced last month, FuboTV has added regional Bally Sports networks to its lineup, joining DirecTV Stream as the only other live TV streaming service to carry those channels.
But with the new sports coverage also comes new hidden fees for more customers. While FuboTV advertises “No hidden fees” on its home page, it in fact charges $11 to $14 per month in areas with regional sports. Those fees are hidden until you reach the final checkout page. It’s a sleazy cable-style tactic that ought to be called out at every opportunity.
To read FuboTV’s lame excuses for advertising “No hidden fees”—along with my cranky rebuttals—check out my story over at TechHive.
Netflix password sharing update: Netflix is inching ever-closer to stricter rules against password sharing for U.S. customers. The company has now rolled out paid password share plans in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain, letting out-of-home users access the service for an extra fee. In Canada, for instance, account holders can now add up to two guests to their plan for $8 CAD (roughly $6 USD) per month, per person.
Netflix first started testing this approach in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru last year, and plans to bring it to the United States this spring, but still hasn’t announced pricing or timing here. I’ll keep you posted.
More catch-up
- Roku drops support for Roku 4 streaming boxes, which launched in 2015.
- TV business insiders predict the future of streaming.
- Sling TV expands its free streaming channel lineup and gives it a new name.
- Disney considers licensing old content to other streaming services.
- The first plug-and-play ATSC 3.0 TV tuner hits Amazon—for $250. (Read my past ATSC 3.0 coverage here.)
Save more money
Roku users can currently get six months of DoorDash’s DashPass subscription for free. The subscription waives the delivery fee on DoorDash orders over $12 for eligible restaurants. Just visit the offer page while signed into your Roku account, and you’ll get an email with a redemption link.
But there’s a catch: You’ll be auto-billed for DashPass at $10 per month after the promo period, and cancelling anytime beforehand will immediately end your benefits. If you take this deal, I strongly suggest setting calendar reminders and snoozing the welcome email so you don’t forget to cancel.
Other notable deals:
- ClearStream antennas are 23% off through Sunday with code LVII2023.
- The latest free Paramount+ codes are still ADVANCE, WEREWOLFESCAPE, or THEPACKISBACK. Here’s how to use them.
- Check the Cord Cutter Weekly website for a full list of up-to-date deals.
Thanks for reading!
Sorry for the delay today, folks. There is so much bad information going around about whether the Super Bowl will be available to stream for free that I had to spend some extra time tracking down confirmation.
Got questions for me? Just reply to this email to get in touch.
Until next week,
Jared