Hey there! I’m Jared Newman, and this is Cord Cutter Weekly, my newsletter on how to save money on TV and make the most of streaming. Sign up here if someone shared this newsletter with you.
Why Roku’s rebooting its home screen (and how to use it)
Jared Newman | 
Roku is making the most substantial changes to its home screen in over a decade.
Where you once had a simple grid of apps, Roku is now adding recommendation rows, a cluster of action tiles that change based on what you watch, and quick links to various submenus. The ostensible goal is to help you find things to watch, though it also also serves Roku’s agenda of upselling more subscriptions, of which it takes a cut. I like some of the changes more than others.
I’ve got a couple stories on the new home screen this week if you want to dive deeper:
- For Fast Company, I interviewed Roku’s VP of product about why it’s changing the home screen and what to expect.
- At PCWorld, I’ve got some tips on how to make the new home screen work better for you. With a few tweaks, you can mostly get it back to how it used to be.
Note that Roku is rolling out the redesign in phases, which means you may not see it right away. Looking over the details now might spare you some surprise later.
Weekly rewind
DirecTV price hikes: Effective June 25, DirecTV is raising prices for many of its live TV streaming packages. The rundown:
- MyKids: $20 → $21/mo.
- MyEntertainment: $35 → $43/mo.
- MyNews: $40 → $45/mo.
- MySports Original (legacy plan): $65 → $75/mo.
- MySports: Still $65/mo.
- MySports + MyNews Duo: Still $80/mo.
- MyCinema add-on: $10 → $11/mo.
- MiEspañol: $35 → $38/mo.
(MySports Original is a package that included sports and cable news channels. It’s no longer available for purchase, as DirecTV has moved those news channels into a separate “Duo” add-on for new MySports subscribers.)
DirecTV will also reportedly raise prices for its larger Signature packages, with increases ranging from $5 to $14 per month according to reports on Reddit. Strangely, DirecTV is refusing to publicly confirm those changes even though it’s emailing customers about them.
As programmers demand more money for their channels over time, price hikes for pay TV packages—including cable and satellite—are a regular occurrence. DirecTV’s genre packs (and YouTube TV’s similar genre plans) provide some relief by letting you pay for fewer channels, but they’re not immune to the same demands from programmers.
If you can’t beat ’em: As spotted by Cord Cutters News, Comcast has started selling YouTube TV subscriptions directly to some Internet-only subscribers through its Xfinity StreamStore marketplace. Comcast’s help page further notes that some customers may qualify for a $10 per month discount.
Otherwise, it’s the same $83 per month as if you’d subscribed through YouTube, the only advantage being a single bill for internet and TV service.
More catch-up
- Now you can subscribe to Fox One through the Roku Channel.
- DirecTV’s reportedly at risk of losing Scripps-owned local stations in a carriage dispute.
- YouTube rolls out a video playlist generator on its website.
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.
Some notable deals this morning:
- Paramount+: Still $1 per month for two months of Premium with promo code N8C27L for select returning subscribers.
- Acorn TV: Get a year for $70 with promo code ACORNTVMMM. (Thanks for the tip, Susan!)
- Fox One: Verizon home internet customers can get three months free. (Look under the “internet you want offers you more” section for details.)
- Starz: Back to $24 for a year, or $3 per month for three months.
- Fire TV Stick 4K Plus for $15 with code STREAMFTV.
As always, you can check my website for a full list of up-to-date deals.
This week in Advisorator
I wrote about how to keep AI from lying to you, control what Google’s AI knows about you, avoid overpaying for car rentals, and get Microsoft Office for less. Check it out →
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Thanks for reading!
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Until then,
Jared