A message from Jared

Hey folks, quick reminder that it’s your last chance for a discount on my Advisorator membership. Sign up by Sunday, February 8, to get your first year for $37.50, which is 25% off the regular price.

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Again, this offer ends on Sunday, February 8. Thanks for hearing me out one more time! Now, onto the newsletter.

FanDuel Sports Network’s collapse is a blessing for baseball fans

Jared Newman   |   February 6, 2026

With Spring Training just a couple weeks away, baseball fans have something new to get excited about: They won’t have to deal with FanDuel Sports Network anymore.

Sinclair’s Main Street Sports Group, which operates 16 regional sports networks under the FanDuel brand, is potentially facing liquidation after failing to find a buyer. Instead of taking chances, nine Major League Baseball teams have walked away, and most are now turning to the league for distribution.

This won’t change much for cable and satellite TV subscribers, who will still get the games on TV if their package included them already. But for cord cutters, FanDuel Sports Network’s collapse will result in a better experience and lower prices. It’s about time.

Read the full column →

How the Super Bowl stopped being free

Over at Fast Company, I’ve got an extra story up this morning about how streaming the Super Bowl has gotten more expensive over the years. Until the 2020s, all the major networks used to stream the big game for free. This is the first year, however, in which there will be no free way to watch the game, not even on your phone. Meanwhile, the price of Peacock has jumped from $5 in 2022 (the last time NBC carried the Super Bowl) to $11 this year.

Read the full story for context, along with some ways to avoid spending too much.

Fubo-NBC update: Don’t expect NBC channels back on Fubo anytime soon. Fubo CEO David Gandler says that NBCUniversal stopped negotiating in January, and likely won’t reengage until Hulu + Live TV’s carriage agreement comes up for renewal. (Fubo and Hulu + Live TV combined their business in October after Disney acquired a controlling stake in Fubo, though the two services remain separate.)

Fubo previously accused NBCUniversal of demanding unfair rates for its channels and requiring the inclusion of non-sports channels in Fubo’s new Sports bundle. That bundle launched last September without NBC, and Fubo has dropped the price of its main bundle by $11 per month to make up for NBC’s absence. If you’re a Fubo subscriber, at least that’s enough to cover a month of Peacock for the Super Bowl.

Nvidia Shield TV’s story: Over at Ars Technica, Ryan Whitham wrote a neat story about the Nvidia Shield TV, and specifically how Nvidia’s been delivering software updates on every model for more than a decade. The Shield TV is a niche within a niche, but it is a neat product, and it’s been a real passion project inside Nvidia, which sound committed to keep updating it into the future.

Still, it’s unclear whether Nvidia will release another model to replace the current Shield TV, wh ich launched in 2019. The company didn’t rule it out, but didn’t commit to anything either. Check out the full Ars piece for details.

More catch-up

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.

Not much new happening on the deal front, but I will share an observation: Yesterday I signed up for a month of Peacock primarily for the Olympics, but also as a Super Bowl party back-up plan in case my over-the-air TV feed fails.

Since I have no interest in keeping Peacock after the Olympics, I immediately cancelled my subscription to avoid being auto-billed when my month is up. In response, Peacock offered me six months for $3 per month on its cancellation page.

I didn’t take the offer, but it’s worth a shot going through the cancellation process if you’re planning to keep Peacock for longer than a month.

Other notable deals and savings:

  • U.S. service members and vets: Watch the Olympics for free by signing into the NBC Sports app or Olympics website and choosing Exchange as the service provider.
  • Former Philo subscribers: If you previously paid $25 per month and then cancelled, you may see an offer to sign back up again for that price after signing in, according to Cord Cutters News.
  • Apple TV: 30 days free via this link for new and “qualified” returning subscribers.
  • Roku device deals: Streaming Stick for $16, Streaming Stick Plus for $24, Ultra for $75.

As always, I maintain a full list of active streaming deals on this page.

Thanks for reading!

And thanks for considering a discounted Advisorator membership. Support from readers makes a big difference in how much time I can put into my newsletters every week.

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Until next week,
Jared