How to Save Money on Streaming Services

Before we dig into streaming services, let’s first look at cable, which is the biggest chunk of many households’ monthly home entertainment bill.

My wife and I considered canceling our DirecTV satellite service but decided to keep it because it’s a good way for her to see most Yankees games. You may likewise find that a traditional cable (or satellite) package is the best way to get all the network TV you want. You may be able to negotiate for a cheaper cable TV rate, but other options might still be cheaper.

One other thing to consider is that several cable companies are now offering their own lower-cost streaming packages. Comcast’s Now TV, for example—marketed under the company’s Xfinity brand—is a streaming bundle that offers more than 40 live cable channels, about 20 free channels, plus Peacock Premium, for just $20 a month. There’s also a newer Now StreamSaver package that includes 40 channels of live TV, plus Apple TV+, Netflix Standard (with ads), and Peacock Premium, for $30 a month, or $60 a month when bundled with the company’s 300 Mbps internet service.

Charter offers a $40-a-month Spectrum TV Stream plan for its internet customers, which includes more than 90 live channels. There’s also a Spectrum Stream Latino plan, which features 45 Spanish-language channels for $25 per month.

But neither of these cable company plans include any live local or sports channels, so they’re not for everyone.

Of course, the least pricey approach of all is to use an inexpensive indoor antenna. If you live in or near a city, it might allow you to receive all the traditional networks, including local broadcasts, for free.

If you get good reception, an indoor antenna will get ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, plus PBS, Telemundo, and dozens of digital subchannels that have been added over the past 20 years. CR has tested good antennas selling for as little as $20. Just check the return policy in case it turns out that you have poor reception in your home.

If an antenna won’t work for you, consider using a cable replacement service. It may be cheaper than your cable plan and give you much of the same programming. Cable replacement services stream over the internet, just like Netflix, but they carry local networks and many other stations found on cable. Prices for these services—Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and some others—have been rising, but they may still be cheaper than a cable or satellite package.

After you’ve settled the cable question, it’s time to make a list of every streaming service you subscribe to. This might be as simple as scrolling through the apps on your TV, but be sure to check your credit card bills, too.

To make it easier to keep track of all your streaming subscriptions, consider moving them to one credit card. Another option is to subscribe to your streaming services through your Amazon, Apple TV+, or Roku account, so billing is all in one place. Then, each month, review every service you’re paying for and determine whether you’re still using it enough to justify the cost. This can also help you catch any price hikes.

There are also apps, such as Bobby, Rocket Money, and Subby, that can help you track and manage your streaming subscriptions. Some will send reminders, alert you if there’s a price hike, or even help cancel subscriptions.

Once you’ve made a comprehensive list of your streaming services, you might find it easy to eliminate some. For instance, if you subscribed last year to a niche service such as BroadwayHD, for $20 a month, just to watch “Anything Goes,” you can probably let that one go.

But what about the big services—like Apple TV+, Max, and Hulu—which periodically introduce really great shows that people talk about for months? There’s a solution for that.

Many people sign up for a streaming service to watch a particular series and then continue to subscribe even after they’ve seen every episode. It just becomes part of their monthly expenses, like a utility bill. But that’s unnecessary.

Because these services don’t require contracts, you can join Disney+ to host a “Star Wars” binge party, then quit until it releases another season of “The Mandalorian.” That will save you $10 or more a month.

“Service hopping” isn’t a novel idea. More than 29 million Americans—about one-quarter of paying streaming subscribers—have canceled three or more services over the past two years, according to Antenna, a subscription research firm.

And don’t worry about missing out. Websites and apps like JustWatch and Reelgood let you keep track of when the shows you want to see become available, so you can sign up just as a new season begins.

Not long ago, streaming services each offered just one pricing option. Now many companies have cheaper, “ad-supported” plans, where the shows come with commercials. That’s a good way to save money, especially when streaming services raise their prices. In my household, we subscribe to the ad-supported versions of Hulu and Paramount+. You can now get lower-priced, ad-supported options from Disney ($10 a month), Max ($10 a month), and Netflix ($8 a month).

But even these cheaper ad-supported services have become more expensive. This past fall, Disney hiked the prices of all its plans (and bundles), and Netflix recently increased prices again, even for its basic ad-supported plan, which had been exempt from its earlier price hike.

Many great shows and movies, such as “Frasier” and “The Wolf of Wall Street,” are available on free streaming services like Freevee, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, and Tubi. These services have original content, too. In exchange for watching, you’ll have to put up with some ads.

In addition, you might be able to take advantage of free promotions on paid services. You can no longer get Max for free from an unlimited AT&T plan, but T-Mobile customers with certain 5G plans plan can get Apple TV+, Hulu or Nextflix for free. Verizon customers with 5G Get More or 5G Play More can continue to get the Disney+ bundle for free, but those plans are no longer being offered. Those with eligible Unlimited service can get Disney+ Premium (No Ads) for just six months. But Verizon has been shifting some subscribers to new plans that don’t include the Disney+ bundle.

Cable companies are also getting into the act. Charter’s Spectrum customers can now get the ad-supported versions of Paramount+ and BET for free. This follows an earlier deal that saw Disney+ and ESPN+ added to some Spectrum TV packages at no additional charge.

Other options include getting Paramount+ for free with a Walmart+ membership, or being able to watch three months of Apple TV+ at no charge when you buy a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, or Mac. Instacart+ members now get Peacock for free.

If you take advantage of promotions like these, be sure to enter the end date of the free period on your calendar in case you want to cancel before you start getting charged.

Taking a page from the cable TV playbook, streaming services are turning to bundles to keep customers subscribed. Disney, for example, offers plans that combine Disney+ with Hulu and ESPN+ (with ads) for $15 a month.

If you’re a Verizon wireless customer, you can get a Netflix/Max package (with ads) for just $10 a month. A Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ bundle is included free as part of its 5G Get More or 5G Play More plans, or for $10 a month with other cellular plans.

Last summer we saw some streaming services—usually competitors—joining together to offer bundles. The highest profile one so far is from Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney, which teamed up to launch a combo package that includes Disney+, Hulu, and Max for only $17 a month (with ads), or $30 if you want to skip the ads.

We expect to see even more bundles emerge as media companies look to gain new customers and combat cancellations, which are on the rise. New data from the research firm Parks Associates shows that households are now subscribing to fewer services than they did even a year ago, and spending has dropped by about 30 percent since 2021.

People have been sharing passwords ever since the first streaming services arrived, and many companies actually encouraged it. But more companies, including Disney (and Hulu), Max, and Netflix are now cracking down on the practice, limiting account sharing only to people within the same household.

Right now, Amazon lets up to six people share an account. Apple lets you set up six separate accounts to share access to several of its services (including Apple TV+) as part of its Apple Family Sharing feature. Other services let you create multiple profiles for family members.

Most services control account sharing to some degree by limiting the number of people who can access the service simultaneously. Amazon and Paramount+, for example, allow only three devices to stream at a time, while Hulu allows just two concurrent streams.

Several streaming services offer more expensive plans that let more people stream at the same time. Netflix now lets you share your account with an additional member who gets their own profile and password for an additional $7 or $8 a month, depending on whether the plan has ads or not.

Let’s say the network you watch most is NBC. These days, you can sign up for NBC’s streaming network, Peacock, for $8 a month to watch shows a day after they air on live TV. With the ad-free $14-a-month Peacock Premium Plus plan, you also get local news, weather, and NBC shows live.

CBS has its own version, the ad-supported Paramount+ Essential, at $8 a month, or a largely ad-free version called Paramount+ with Showtime ($13 a month) that provides live local TV.

In addition to the regular shows you’d find on those networks, you’ll get some streaming-only shows. For example, Paramount+ has several “Star Trek” series, plus “Landman,” from “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan; “Tulsa King,” starring Sylvester Stallone; and the reboot of “Frasier,” starring Kelsey Grammer. Peacock’s original shows include “The Traitors,” “Special Ops: Lioness,” also from Taylor Sheridan, and “Lockerbie: A Search for Truth.” It also has the Oscar-winning movie “Oppenheimer.”

And remember, you can jump into and out of these services, too. My wife and I recently signed up for one month of Peacock to binge-watch all five seasons of “Yellowstone.” We then dropped it and signed up with Apple TV+ ($10) to see the new seasons of “Severance” and “Silo” before we had to pay for an additional month.