2023 Cord Cutter Awards, free Paramount+ returns
This week on TechHive: The 2023 Cord Cutter Awards
On the cord cutting front, 2023 was a continuation of the trends we started to see last year—most of them not great.
Streaming services raised prices, ad-free viewing became a luxury, and streaming devices stagnated. Even over-the-air TV got a little worse as broadcasters started encrypting their ATSC 3.0 channels.
Yet there are always a handful of things worth celebrating in the realm of cord cutting, which despite what you might’ve heard is still cheaper than cable. In the interest of winding down the year on a positive note, I’ve rounded up the best devices, services, and developments on the streaming and over-the-air TV fronts over at TechHive.
Weekly rewind
Disney+’s Hulu hub: As expected, the Disney+ app has started rolling out a hub for Hulu content, which will appear if you subscribe to both services. Also as expected, it comprises only a fraction of Hulu’s catalog, so you’ll still have to switch between apps to watch everything. Full catalog integration will supposedly happen in March, though it’s unclear whether that’ll work with Hulu’s live TV service.
Last month, some reports wrongly suggested that Hulu is going away as a standalone app and service. There’s no evidence that this is happening, and in fact Disney eventually plans to bring some Disney+ content into the Hulu app as well. The company clearly wants you to bundle both services, but it’s not forcing the issue.
YouTube TV’s latency killer: YouTube TV has launched an experimental feature that cuts down on latency in live broadcasts, so there’s less of a time difference between YouTube’s feed and cable or over-the-air TV. This could be useful for avoiding sports spoilers if you’re sending text messages or looking at social media during a game.
A couple notable quirks, though: You can only enable the feature in 48-hour increments, and YouTube warns that it can lead to more buffering. To try it out, scroll down to YouTube TV’s “More” menu during playback, select “Broadcast Delay,” then choose “Decrease for 48 hours.*
PlayOn’s savings calculator: PlayOn has released a fun little calculator that shows how much you can save by downgrading to streaming services’ ad-supported tiers—then skipping the commercials with PlayOn’s DVR software.
I wrote extensively about PlayOn this TechHive article and also mentioned it in this week’s column. For most people, it’s not going to be worth the trouble. But if you want to take more ownership over streaming content, PlayOn is an increasingly economical way to do that.
More catch-up
- Android TV home screens get a link to Google’s free streaming channels.
- Plex’s “Discover Together” feature is a privacy fiasco.
- DirecTV exec floats dropping local channels in favor of national feeds.
- Sony deletes hundreds of Discovery shows for PlayStation owners, with no refunds.
- LocalBTV may be out of money.
Save more money
Paramount+ codes: Good news, everyone! Paramount+ coupon codes are working again, so you can get a free month by using the codes COLIN, THRILLER, or BASS. As before, the codes work for both new and returning subscribers, so you can keep using them repeatedly after each free month expires.
Verizon’s new bundle: Verizon has launched a $10 per month bundle that includes Neflix and Max (both with ads), but with a catch: You’ll need Verizon’s latest MyPlan cellular plan, which may be more expensive than what you already have. You can check Verizon’s MyPlan website to see if the math works out.
As always, I’ve rounded up more ways to save on the Cord Cutter Weekly website.
Thanks for reading!
Hope you don’t mind a moment of shameless boasting, but this was a cool thing to see this week:
Cord Cutter Weekly’s big list of streaming deals is moving its way up in Google search results, hopefully leading more folks to this newsletter! Thanks for your help in reading, spreading the word, and supporting independent, ad-free tech journalism.
Until next week,
Jared