This week on TechHive: Apple TV’s stealth attack on the cable box

Apple’s $149 streaming box is becoming a lot more useful for cable and satellite TV subscribers. With apps like Fox Now and WatchESPN, you can quickly launch live streams by voice, and find on-demand shows from across more than a dozen cable channels. Is Apple’s next step is to cut out the middleman, and let you subscribe to those apps directly? It would certainly help with the company’s goal to make Apple TV the heart of your living room. Read more on TechHive.

Weekly Rewind

PlayStation Vue heads to Roku and Android: Sony’s streaming channel bundle is an attractive alternative to cable TV, with packages starting at $30 per month for more than 50 streaming channels. Best of all, there are no contracts, hidden fees, or shady promotional pricing tactics. But until now, you couldn’t access the service on your television without a PlayStation console, Amazon Fire TV, or Chromecast (via iOS).

This week, Sony added Roku streaming boxes and smart TVs to the PlayStation Vue’s app lineup. Android support (with Chromecast) is coming next week. The only thing PlayStation Vue needs now is a name change. Read more on the PlayStation blog.

Netflix’s virtuous (or vicious) cycle: Netflix tends to be the foundation for any cable-free TV diet, but is it a sustainable business? The New York Times’ Joe Nocera took a deep dive, and came back with a fascinating look at the company’s culture and ambitions–along with some harsh realities. Netflix is barely profitable now, and its strategy of having subscriber growth fuel new content investments looks shaky as growth slows and the cost of content shoots upward. Take some time this weekend to read the full story.

More Catch-Up

TV networks are paying more than ever for sports broadcast rights. That’s bad news for cable TV customers, who ultimately foot the bill. How long until subscriptions come crashing down?
Android TV devices (such as the Nvidia Shield set-top box and Sony smart TVs) now support Netflix in search results.
Rumor has it that Netflix will support offline video viewing by year-end, following behind Amazon.

Save More Money

Speaking of Apple TV, it’s on sale this week at Best Buy, where you can save $25 on either the 32 GB or 64 GB model. Even if you’re not deeply connected to the iTunes ecosystem, Apple TV’s voice search capabilities are head-and-shoulders above other streaming boxes. I’m also a fan of the touchpad-based remote control, though I had to take some extreme measures to avoid losing it under the couch. (I’d go with the 32 GB model unless you’re planning to play a lot of games on it.)

Help a cord cutter out

Have a cable-free success story you’d like to share? Need advice on streaming services or hardware? Drop me an e-mail and you could be featured in a future newsletter. Thanks for your feedback and support!

-Jared