Apple TV+ is now plain-old Apple TV, Apple told us yesterday. Confusing? Not for most. Indeed, Apple TV+’s dropping of the “+” was as inevitable as Max getting the “HBO” back.

First, the news: In its announcement that the Brad Pitt blockbuster F1: The Movie will make its debut on Apple TV+ in December, Apple casually noted that as of now, Apple TV+ isn’t Apple TV+ anymore. 

“Apple TV+ is now simply Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity,” Apple’s press release reads. What’s the new identity, you ask? Aside from a new and multicolor Apple TV logo, that’s hard to say. 

Those of us who follow the streaming industry greeted the news with furrowed brows. So Apple TV the streaming service is now on Apple TV, the streaming box? Isn’t that kind of confusing? Yes, the Apple TV streaming player is officially known as “Apple TV 4K,” but still. 

Well, it’s details like the “+” and the “4K” that cause headaches when it comes to clear and consistent branding, and the truth is most folks haven’t bothered with the “plus” for a long time. Severance, The Studio, The Morning Show, Ted Lasso—those are all Apple TV shows, according to everyday streamers. 

Sometimes, simplicity and familiarity are best. Take HBO Max, which went through a three-year-old rebranding drama that saw the service renamed as “Max,” a change that was mainly driven by the now-unraveling alliance between the former WarnerMedia and Discovery. 

Warner Bros. Discovery likely spent a fortune trying to get the Max branding to stick, but most subscribers just kept calling it HBO Max. Finally, the entertainment giant stopped swimming against the tide and restored the old name. 

Same goes with Paramount, which yanked the “Showtime” branding from its Paramount+ streaming tiers back in June. Starting in 2022 with Paramount’s plan to blend Showtime content into its Paramount+ service, the streaming had a number of different “with Showtime” tiers, leading to confusion and some very ungainly streaming plan names.  

Ultimately, Paramount relented, ditching the “Showtime” branding for the streaming version of Paramount+ (there’s still a linear Paramount+ with Showtime channel). Now it’s just Paramount+ Essential and Paramount+ Premium, which (incidentally) both include Showtime shows. Again, it’s a change that only the suits and industry watchers cared about. 

So yes, Apple TV+ is now just Apple TV, although for most it’s always been Apple TV. But what about Apple TV—you know, the streaming box? 

Well, there’s an interesting theory making the rounds that a new—and renamed—Apple TV will clear up any lingering confusion. The Apple TV Max, maybe? Apple TV Pro? Or maybe a name that ditches the “TV” altogether, like the Apple Streamer or the Apple Hub (a smart home hub plus video streamer). 

It’s not clear exactly when a new Apple TV—or a new Apple Streaming Whatever—will arrive (it’s reportedly coming soonish, if not this week), but when it does, the whole “Apple TV+ is now Apple TV” issue might become moot. 

For a case study in how a once-promising technology turned toxic, look no further than ATSC 3.0.

Also known as NextGen TV, the new broadcast standard promised to revolutionize free over-the-air TV with features like 4K HDR video, time-shifting, on-demand viewing, and interactive programming. For cord-cutters who get free local channels with an antenna, this was a genuinely exciting technology when it began rolling out way back in 2019.

Six years later, that excitement has evaporated thanks to restrictive digital rights management (DRM) and high adoption costs. While the broadcast TV industry has failed to make ATSC 3.0 stick, they’ve succeeded in getting tech enthusiasts, consumer advocates, and even some individual broadcasters to fear and despise it.

Now, broadcasters are hoping for a bailout from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which announced this week that it will consider their wishes to wind down the existing ATSC 1.0 standard and mandate ATSC 3.0 adoption. If that happens, most antenna users will need a new TV or tuner box by 2030 at the latest. Having failed in the marketplace, broadcasters now want the government to help foist ATSC 3.0 upon people instead.

Sadly, it didn’t have to be this way.

What’s happening with ATSC 3.0?

NextGen TV broadcasts are available in more than 90 U.S. markets, covering 70 percent of the population, but accessing these broadcasts requires an ATSC 3.0 tuner, and most TVs don’t have one.

If the FCC disappears ATSC 1.0, over-the-air TV viewers will need to upgrade their tuners even if they don’t need a new TV or care about ATSC 3.0’s new features.

Low-cost TV makers tend to exclude ATSC 3.0 from their sets, and some bigger brands–including Samsung and LG–have either pulled back or stopped supporting the standard entirely. External ATSC 3.0 tuner boxes can bring support to existing TVs but they’re expensive at $90 and up.

As such, broadcasters estimate that only 14 million compatible TVs and 300,000 external tuner boxes have been sold in the United States through the end of 2024. That means only about 11 percent of U.S. households can tune into ATSC 3.0 channels today.

Broadcasters argue that by winding down ATSC 1.0, they’ll have more bandwidth for features like 4K resolution (which remains largely unavailable in today’s actual ATSC 3.0 broadcasts), additional channels, or improved reception. They believe this will finally stimulate demand for NextGen TV and get more hardware makers on board.

That’s one way to look at it. The other way is that if the FCC lets ATSC 1.0 support disappear, viewers will need to upgrade even if they don’t need a new TV or care about new features. Meanwhile, broadcasters would be free to repurpose additional spectrum away from free TV over public airwaves.

Either way, broadcasters are hoping the FCC will force the issue. This week, the commission released a notice of proposed rulemaking that seeks public comment on what broadcasters want. That includes the ability to sunset ATSC 1.0 broadcasts for the 55 largest U.S. markets in 2028 (and every market in 2030), along with a potential mandate to force every TV maker to include a ATSC 3.0 tuner in their sets. After the public comment period, the FCC will come up with proposed rules to adopt and eventually vote on them.

Doing early adopters dirty

Broadcasters could have stimulated demand for ATSC 3.0 in a more organic way. Instead, they’ve stymied the groups most likely to advocate for its success.

SiliconDust is a case in point: It was the first manufacturer to sell a consumer-grade ATSC 3.0 tuner in the U.S. Its HDHomeRun tuner lets you set up an antenna in one room, and then access live TV across multiple networked televisions via its streaming apps. Users can also set up DVR servers to record over-the-air channels, using either HDHomeRun’s software or third-party solutions such as Plex and Channels DVR.

Nick Kelsey, SiliconDust’s CTO and founder, told me in 2020 that the company wanted to spur the market for ATSC 3.0 with a bleeding-edge product. But since then, broadcasters have punished both SiliconDust and its customers for their early enthusiasm. As broadcasters have started encrypting their ATSC 3.0 channels with DRM, HDHomeRun users have been unable to access that content because their boxes can’t decrypt the programming.

While HDHomeRun tuners are “NextGen TV-certified” and licensed to decrypt copy-protected content, a private group of broadcasters called the ATSC 3.0 Security Authority (A3SA) has separately been certifying devices to receive encrypted channels. The group refuses to do that for HDHomeRun tuners, citing SiliconDust’s use of a chip by a subsidiary of the Chinese company Huawei as a security concern.

It’s unclear why the A3SA waited five years to point out this potentially disqualifying hardware issue. It’s also a little fishy, given that SiliconDust has cited numerous other roadblocks along the way.

Either way, the upshot is that not a single whole-home DVR with encrypted ATSC 3.0 channel support exists on the market today. Tablo indefinitely delayed its plans for an ATSC 3.0 product in 2022, citing DRM concerns. ZapperBox is working on a whole-home solution but it doesn’t expect full functionality for another year.

Broadcasters understandably want to protect their content from piracy, but balancing that goal with all the existing use cases for over-the-air TV should have been a priority. Instead, broadcasters alienated their most enthusiastic audience and mutated ATSC 3.0 from a promising technology into a poisonous one.

DRM alienated everyone

The downsides of DRM extend beyond just whole-home DVRs. Some NextGen TV tuner boxes won’t decrypt channels without an internet connection, and the YouTube creator Tyler “Antenna Man” Kleinle has reported that some TVs can fail to decode encrypted channels for no apparent reason. Lon Seidman has found that decryption certificates on ATSC 3.0 products will eventually expire, rendering them unable to receive encrypted channels at all. (Both creators have been encouraging viewers to complain to the FCC.)

Even broadcasters that have no plans to encrypt their channels could run into problems. Weigel Broadcasting Company, which operates MeTV and several other popular digital subchannels, has told the FCC that televisions may eventually block or hinder users from viewing stations that haven’t purchased an encryption certificate. That effectively could turn the A3SA, a private entity, into a gatekeeper for the public airwaves.

Meanwhile, no permission is needed to innovate on the unencrypted side of the fence.

Channels DVR, for instance, just released a breakthrough multiview feature that integrates with HDHomeRun tuners, making it the first solution for split-screen viewing of free over-the-air channels. Weigel just launched a new Western-themed channel to join its stable of rerun-centric over-the-air offerings. Tablo’s $100 whole-home DVR continues to get better with a newly-launched offline mode and integration with more streaming channels.

Had broadcasters not alienated these kinds of torchbearers, they might’ve fared better at convincing the public that ATSC 3.0 is essential. Now their only hope is to cry to the government about it.

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After years of watching—and paying for—so-called “peak TV” on the likes of Netflix, Apple TV+, and HBO Max, my eyeballs were starting to glaze over. 

Sure, I love The Crown, Mindhunter, and Hacks, but true streaming gems tend to be few and far between. (Yes, I know, I need to stream Severance. I’ll get to it!)  

All too often, the latest prestige shows with those marquee stars and the terrific, glossy trailers turn out to be bloated bores, and they’ve all started to feel the same. Life is too short.

Worst of all, I was throwing away $20 or more every month on streaming services I wasn’t really enjoying—and don’t even get me started about the price hikes. Couldn’t I put that cash to better use? 

Time for a change

That’s when the idea of switching to an over-the-air antenna began percolating. For the cost of roughly two months of Netflix, I could purchase and install a (small) backyard TV antenna that would beam dozens of free over-the-air channels to my television, for free. 

And some of the free TV shows being broadcast right now are pretty enticing. Topping the list in our household was Abbott Elementary, a fast and funny sitcom that boasts snappy writing, characters you care about, and a svelte 22-minute running time, meaning no self-indulgent filler. Why pay for Abbott on Hulu when I could get it over-the-air for free? 

Then there’s the matter of setting up an over-the-air DVR, which—for me, anyway—is where Plex came in. Besides being a streaming video service and a home media server, Plex can also work as a self-hosted DVR if you use a supported TV tuner, giving you the benefits of free over-the-air TV plus DVR functionality. 

I already had a Plex media server running on a Raspberry Pi 5, but I’d never bothered to set it up as a DVR, namely because a) I lacked a TV tuner, and b) I didn’t have a TV antenna. It was time to rectify those issues. 

Gathering the equipment

For the antenna, I faced a few obstacles. For better or worse, I don’t own a suburban home with an antenna-friendly roof; instead, my family and I rent a ground-floor apartment in a brick-and-mortar Brooklyn brownstone, with zero reception indoors. Luckily, we do have a small back yard, and I was able to install a $38 GE outdoor antenna that faces the broadcast towers in Manhattan. (Check out our recommendations for the best TV antennas.)

Next, I needed to choose a TV tuner. Because I wanted to pair my antenna with Plex, I needed to buy a tuner that’s compatible with Plex’s DVR functionality. Plex supports TV tuners from AVerMedia, Hauppauge, SiliconDust, and VBox, which are all solid choices.

Ultimately, I went with SiliconDust’s $110 dual-tuner HDHomeRun Flex Duo, mainly on the strength of our review of the pricier Flex 4K. (The latter is a $200 four-tuner unit that supports the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast TV standard, which is still struggling to gain momentum.)

Making the connection

Connecting the HDHomeRun box to Plex was a snap. Once the HDHomeRun was connected to my network via ethernet, Plex detected the device in just a few clicks, and soon it was scanning for available channels. Once the scan was complete, I wound up with a collection of 66 (!) stations, most of which I never knew existed. 

Plex offers a full-on electronic programming guide, and you can also search or browse by TV show, movie title, genre, or channel. Just click an upcoming show to record it, or start watching live TV that you can pause or rewind. 

There’s a catch, though. Like most other self-hosted DVR providers, Plex’s programming guide isn’t free; instead, it’s included in a paid Plex Pass subscription, which got hit with a substantial price hike back in March. Following the price increase, Plex Pass costs $7 a month (up from $5/month), $70 a year (up from $40/year), or $250 for a lifetime subscription (up from $120).

There are other options for self-hosted, over-the-air DVRs, but almost all of them cost money. Plex competitor Channels DVR charges $8 a month or $80 a year for their DVR service, which includes an electronic programming guide, while Emby goes for $5 a month, $54 a year, or $119 for a lifetime license.

Related: Best DVR for cord-cutters

An exception is Tablo, the $100 over-the-air tuner and DVR that does offer a free, no-subscription electronic programming guide. The fourth-generation Tablo DVR recently added Apple TV support as well as an offline mode, the latter coming after a series of server outages that borked the unit’s TV guide and left Tablo users unable to access their over-the-air channels and recordings.

Finally, there’s Jellyfin, the free and open-source media server with DVR functionality. Jellyfin is gradually turning into a polished alternative to paid media servers and DVRs, but it doesn’t offer a built-in programming guide. Instead, you’ll need to gather and configure XMLTV-formatted guide data on your own (a tricky and laborious process) or sign up with Schedules Direct, a non-profit that offers U.S. and Canadian TV guide data for $35 a year or $9 for two months.

Hello, (mostly) free TV

Now, I couldn’t be happier. We have all four of our network TV affiliates (no need to hand $83 a month to YouTube TV for ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC), tons of local channels, and a few movie channels that show old westerns and classic films.  

Even better, our DVR queue is filled to the brim with the likes of Abbott Elementary, Elsbeth, Survivor, Kitchen Nightmares, and some choice picks from a recent Steve McQueen film festival.  

And no, there’s no ESPN, but I thoroughly enjoyed getting Sunday afternoon NFL games on CBS and Fox, along with NBC’s Sunday Night Football matchup. 

Finally, I can stream my over-the-air TV to my Apple TV, my iPhone, and my iPad—even when I’m away from home.

So, why didn’t I make the switch sooner? Great question.

Had it up to here with commercials that crank the volume during your favorite streaming shows? Relief is on the way thanks to a new California law that seeks to dial down the intrusive ads. 

Signed on Monday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, SB 576 mandates that commercials broadcast by streaming services shouldn’t be any louder than the programs they’re accompanying. 

If the language of the new legislation sounds familiar, you might be thinking of Congress’s Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (or CALM) Act, which was passed in 2010. That law also sought to curb annoyingly loud commercial breaks, but it only applied to broadcast and cable TV operators, not streaming services. 

“We heard Californians loud and clear, and what’s clear is that they don’t want commercials at a volume any louder than the level at which they were previously enjoying a program,” said Newsom in a statement. “By signing SB 576, California is dialing down this inconvenience across streaming platforms, which had previously not been subject to commercial volume regulations passed by Congress in 2010.” 

Authored by state Senator Thomas Umberg (D-Santa Ana), who introduced the bill after loud streaming commercials had been waking the baby of his legislative director, SB 576 only applies to California. 

But as Politico notes, the new law could well become the national standard for streamers considering California’s “massive sway” in the industry. The volume caps for streaming ads will go into effect in July 2026, according to Politico. 

SB 576 arrives amid the growing popularity of ad-supported streaming plans, which offer a cheaper alternative to the ever-increasing price of ad-free streaming tiers.  

Netflix, for example, charges just $7.99 a month for its “Standard with ads” plan, versus a much pricier $24.99/month for its top-of-the-line Premium tier, which offers ad-free 4K HDR streaming. 

But as more and more streamers sign on for ad-supported streaming plans, advertisers are getting more aggressive about the volume levels during commercial breaks—so much so that the FCC issued a call for public comment in February following a spike in viewer complaints about too-loud ads. 

Cord-cutting is a challenging proposition for any sports fan, but puckheads just might have it the worst. Unlike the NFL, which broadcasts most of its games on channels available over the air in every major U.S. city, the NHL’s TV schedule still leans heavily on cable and subscription platforms.

For the 2025-26 season, ABC, ESPN, ESPN+, Hulu, and TNT will air a combined 172 nationally televised games during the regular season, with only ABC’s games available over the air. ESPN will stream its games via its direct-to-consumer app, while TNT’s coverage will stream on HBO Max. For the Stanley Cup Final, ABC holds exclusive broadcast rights in even-numbered years such as 2026, so the full Final series will be on over-the-air television (and simulcast via ESPN). But to follow your local team, you’ll still need access to its regional or in-market broadcaster, which varies by team.

That’s a tall order, but not an impossible one. We’ve put together a guide to all your options, so you can catch every game that matters to you.

Watch hockey over the air

Most streaming services advertise ABC as being included in their subscription packages, but its actual availability will depend on your local market (most services offer an easy way to check availability based on your zip code). In the event the network is not available to stream in your area, consider picking up an over-the-air antenna to reach your local ABC affiliate. Check out the best picks by category in our guide to the best TV antennas for cord-cutters.

Sling TV

Sling TV offers ESPN and TNT, and you can get them together in the Sling Orange package for $45.99 a month. You can round out your hockey coverage with the NHL network with the Sports Extra package for an additional $11 a month.

Sling TV typically includes device discounts with prepaid commitments. Check the current promotions—they change frequently—but you can usually expect some combination of streaming-device deals or introductory discounts when you sign up.

DirectTV Stream

DirectTV Stream offers ABC, ESPN, and TNT in its Entertainment package for $84.99 a month. You can get the NHL Network as well by upgrading to the Ultimate package for $119.99 a month. DirecTV Stream frequently runs promotional discounts on its plans, so check for current offers when signing up.

DirectTV Stream is also a great choice to follow your local team’s broadcasts. Over the last few years, Sling TV, FuboTV, YouTube TV, and Hulu + Live TV have all dropped various regional sports networks from their product offerings. DirectStream TV is the only service to offer a full complement of regional sports networks, including the NBC Sports regional networks, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, New England Sports Network, YES Network, and Spectrum SportsNet LA. It also offers ESPN, FS1, TBS, and MLB Network.

FuboTV

Sports-centric streaming service FuboTV offers ABC and ESPN, in its $84.99-per-month Pro package. That includes unlimited Cloud DVR space that can be used for recording games, so you don’t miss a minute of action. You can add the NHL Network with the Sports Lite add-on for $10.99 a month.

Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV

Both Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV offer live TV services for a flat fee, and both include ABC, ESPN, and TNT in their base packages. Hulu + Live TV currently costs $82.99 a month with ads ($89.99 effective October 21) or $95.99 without ads ($99.99 effective October 21), and the plan also includes access to Disney+ and ESPN+. That gives hockey fans an edge, since many out-of-market NHL games stream exclusively on ESPN+. YouTube TV is $82.99 a month and also includes unlimited DVR storage.

ESPN Streaming

Out-of-market NHL games are available through ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer service, which launched in August 2025. The Select tier (essentially the legacy ESPN+) carries live out-of-market games, on-demand replays, and exclusive NHL coverage for $11.99 a month. Hockey fans who also want access to ESPN’s linear channels and simulcasts of ABC games can upgrade to the Unlimited tier, which costs $29.99 a month. Both tiers can be bundled with Hulu and Disney+.

Catch all the action on the ice

While streaming hockey can still require a bit of juggling, fans have more legitimate options than ever. With national broadcasts spread across major platforms and every out-of-market game available to stream, following the NHL no longer depends on a cable subscription. The landscape will keep evolving, but for cord-cutters the direction is finally headed in the right direction.

Streaming accounts are a favorite target of cyber criminals and Netflix is at the top of the list. The perpetrators gain access via leaked passwords, phishing emails, or malware, and use the account for their own purposes or for resale on the darknet. For those affected, this often manifests itself in blocked logins, unknown profiles, or suspicious activity. We will show you what you can do in such cases below.

Hacked Netflix account: What to do

Case 1: You still have access

In many cases, users notice suspicious activity but can still log in. Typical indications are strange profiles, unknown playbacks in the history, or new devices in the account. This is how you proceed:

1. Log in on your computer directly via the Netflix page.

2. Immediately change your password in the account settings and use a strong, unique combination. Before you click on Save, make sure you tick the box for Require all devices to sign in again with new password.

3. Check all linked devices under Security > Access and devices. If you have forgotten to tick the box when changing your password, you can locate unknown devices in this list and log them out or — better still — log out all devices at once.

4. Contact Netflix support if you notice any irregularities or suspect misuse.

Case 2: You no longer have access, login fails

If your login no longer works, attackers have probably changed your password. Here’s what to do:

1. Click on the Forgot your password? option on the Netflix login page and request either an email or text message to reset your password.
2. If the email address associated with the account has also been compromised, contact Netflix customer support directly. Support can block the account, verify identity, and restore access.

While your account is compromised, unauthoriszed persons can not only use your profiles, but also misuse your payment details. It is therefore crucial to carry out all steps consistently and immediately.

How to protect your Netflix account in the long term

A successful hack is usually the result of stolen or reused (simple) passwords. To protect yourself in the long term, you should:

• Use a separate, strong password for each platform.
• Use a password manager to securely store complex combinations.
• Do not share Netflix passwords with anyone outside your family.
• Verify the email account linked under Security and the telephone number stored.

These measures will make it much more difficult for attackers and reduce the risk of falling victim to another hack.

In the days leading up to a potential blackout of NBC channels on YouTube TV, NBCUniversal made a seemingly outlandish claim.

“Google, with its $3 trillion market cap, already controls what Americans see online through search and ads—now it wants to control what we watch,” the company said.

While NBC did not elaborate on what exactly that meant, we’ve since learned that Google (which owns YouTube TV) wants to fundamentally change how programmers like NBC distribute video in the streaming age. In addition to carrying NBC’s broadcast and cable channels, Google also wants YouTube TV to serve streaming content from Peacock, NBC’s separate streaming service. (For now, the companies have agreed to a short-term deal extension to avoid a blackout.)

Why is this a big deal? If Google gets its way, it will give customers one place to watch all of NBC’s programming, tearing down a longstanding divide between pay TV packages and standalone streaming services. While that ultimately makes sense for viewers, it’s probably not something NBC and its programming peers want.

What the YouTube TV and NBC dispute is about

As I often tell folks who are trying to cut cable TV, streaming TV options typically fall into two buckets.

The first bucket includes standalone streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, and Peacock. They offer a mix of original and library programming, including exclusive shows and movies that aren’t available on cable.

The second bucket consists of live TV streaming services, also known as cable replacements, or vMVPDs in the TV industry (the acronym stands for virtual multichannel video programming distributor). These services replicate the cable experience with a big bundle of live TV channels, cloud-based DVR service, and a library of on-demand programming. YouTube TV is the largest of these services with an estimated 10 million subscribers. Others include Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, and Sling TV.

The distinction between these buckets used to be pretty clear, but in recent years the lines have blurred. Standalone streaming services increasingly carry content that was once exclusive to cable channels, and live TV providers have started bundling up access to individual streaming services that have their own exclusive programming. (DirecTV, for instance, offers a bundle of entertainment channels, Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max for for $35 per month.)

These changes are happening because traditional pay TV bundles are becoming worthless for anything but news and sports. The best new shows moved over to standalone streaming years ago, so distributors want to bundle up those services as a way to preserve value.

But surely you can see the problem, right? If YouTube TV starts offering bundled access to services like Peacock, people might spend less time using the actual YouTube TV app. The future could be one in which subscribers must sign into a bunch of different apps to watch everything that comes with a YouTube TV subscription, which isn’t great for YouTube and isn’t ideal for viewers either.

Enter “ingestion”

So when Reuters’ Aditya Soni and Puck’s John Ourand report that YouTube TV is seeking “ingestion” of Peacock’s content, they mean that YouTube wants to solve the problem of sending subscribers elsewhere. YouTube TV doesn’t want to just bundle Peacock subscriptions with its service, it wants the full Peacock catalog to be available directly inside YouTube TV.

NBCUniversal doesn’t like that idea. It wants people spending time inside the Peacock app, where it can collect viewing data, make more money from targeted ads, and promote more Peacock content. When the company says Google “wants to control what we watch,” it’s likely alluding to YouTube being in control of the experience, plus all the advertising and data collection that comes with it. (Also, NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast, which has its own plans to aggregate streaming content, so it might not want to cede ground to a competitor.)

Not every programmer is entirely opposed to “ingestion.” Philo, for instance, says it will bring HBO Max and Discovery+ content into its own app early next year, and Fubo will add ESPN+ programming to its app in the coming weeks. Amazon has also built a thriving business selling subscriptions to other streaming services (including Peacock’s ad-free tier) and offering their content through its own Prime Video app.

Still, programmers are unlikely to give up complete control of their content to third-party aggregators, which means skirmishes like the one between YouTube TV and NBC will keep happening with each new carriage renewal. While Hollywood loves to complain about how streaming destroyed the pay TV bundle, it’s not all too eager to let streaming companies build it back up again.

Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming insights.

Google is expanding the features of YouTube Premium, bringing the benefits of the paid subscription service to more devices, according to a recent community thread post. YouTube Premium subscribers will see the following improvements:

High-quality audio: Enjoy a more immersive listening experience with improved audio quality (256 Kbps). This feature, previously available in the YouTube Music app and only as an opt-in experiment on YouTube, is now fully available in the YouTube apps for Android and iOS. (But only for official/premium music videos and Art Tracks.)

Faster playback speeds: You can now speed up playback on multiple devices in 0.05x increments up to a maximum of 4x. Previously only available on Android and iOS, this YouTube Premium feature is now fully available on Android, iOS, and the web.

Skip forward: Jump to the most interesting parts of videos faster by seamlessly skipping to the most important moments via AI and your user data. This feature is already available on Android, iOS, and the web and is now also available for YouTube on smart TVs and gaming consoles.

Shorts Smart Downloads: Automatically download your favorite Shorts based on your previous viewing history so you always have something new to watch—without you having to do a thing. Previously available on Android and as an opt-in experiment on iOS, this feature is now fully available on iOS.

Shorts Picture-in-Picture (PiP): Have your Shorts play in a small window while you scroll through other content on your device. Previously available on Android and as an opt-in experiment on iOS, this feature is now fully available on iOS.

How much is YouTube Premium?

For individuals, YouTube Premium costs $13.99/month or $139.99/year. Families can get YouTube Premium Family for $22.99/month while students can get YouTube Premium Student for $7.99/month.

If you only care about an ad-free viewing experience and none of the other benefits that come with YouTube Premium, you might want to look into the new YouTube Premium Lite option. However, even Premium Lite still has some ads in some areas of YouTube.

Disney is raising prices on most of its streaming services again, and the subtext is clearer than ever: If you’re not bundling, you’re wasting money.

The price hikes, which take effect on October 21, push the standalone cost of Disney+ to $12 per month with ads and $19 without, while Hulu’s ad-supported plan is increasing from $10 to $12 per month. While Disney’s various bundles will also cost more, the price hikes for those services aren’t as drastic, and in some cases aren’t increasing at all.

(Yes, the timing is terrible, with Disney’s temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel last week leading to a wave of Disney+ and Hulu cancellations, but it’s also coincidental. The company has raised prices every October since 2023, and it told Bloomberg that it planned the latest round months ago.)

This was all too easy to see coming. Disney and its peers have latched onto the idea that when people bundle services together, they’re less likely to cancel. They are now taking those incentives to their logical conclusion, in which bundled pricing provides cover for price hikes across the board.

Disney price hikes compared

Here’s a full list of Disney’s 2025 streaming price hikes, which take effect on or after October 21:

Streaming Service	Current Price	New Price
Disney+ (with ads)	$10/mo.	$12/mo.
Disney+ (no ads)	$16/mo.	$19/mo.
Hulu (with ads)	$10/mo.	$12/mo.
Hulu (no ads)	$19/mo.	$19/mo.
ESPN Select	$12/mo.	$13/mo.
ESPN Unlimited	$30/mo.	$30/mo.
Disney+ and Hulu (with ads)	$11/mo.	$13/mo.
Disney+ and Hulu (no ads)	$20/mo.	$20/mo.
Disney+ and Hulu (with ads) with ESPN Select	$17/mo.	$20/mo.
Disney+ and Hulu (no ads) with ESPN Select	$27/mo.	$30/mo.
Legacy Disney+ (no ads), Hulu (with ads), and ESPN Select	$22/mo.	$25/mo.
ESPN Unlimited with Disney+ and Hulu (with ads)	$36/mo.	$36/mo.
ESPN Unlimited with Disney+ and Hulu (no ads)	$45/mo.	$45/mo.
HBO Max with Disney+ and Hulu (with ads)	$17/mo.	$20/mo.
HBO Max with Disney+ and Hulu (no ads)	$30/mo.	$33/mo.
Hulu + Live TV (includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Unlimited)	$83/mo.	$90/mo.
Hulu + Live TV (ad-free Disney+, ad-free Hulu on-demand, and ESPN Unlimited)	$96/mo.	$99/mo.
Some observations:

• As before, the “Duo” bundle of Disney+ and Hulu is only $1 more than getting either service a la carte, either with or without ads.
• On their own, Disney+ and Hulu will become $2-per-month pricier with ads, but as a bundle the price only increases by $2 per month total.
• Although ad-free Disney+ is getting a $3-per-month price hike, the bundled price for ad-free Disney+ and Hulu stays the same.
• While the cost of Disney’s “Trio” bundles with ESPN Select are increasing by $3 per month, newly launched bundles with ESPN Unlimited (which includes all of ESPN’s cable programming) aren’t changing. (A limited-time promo also knocks the price ESPN Unlimited, Disney+, and Hulu down to $30 per month for one year.)
• Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav recently argued that HBO Max is “way underpriced.” Don’t be surprised if the new bundle price accounts for an eventual HBO Max price hike.

Pushing bigger bundles

The overall trend is similar to what played out with ad-supported streaming plans several years ago. Originally pitched by programmers as a way to bring streaming prices down, in the end they merely provided cover for more price hikes. (To wit: At $12-per-month, Disney+ with ads costs nearly twice what the ad-free version sold for in 2019.)

Looking ahead, we’re likely to see a bigger push toward larger TV packages with more streaming services thrown in. An early example is DirecTV’s MyEntertainment plan, which includes ad-supported Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max; plus, a collection of cable news and entertainment channels (no sports or local broadcasts) for $35 per month. The cost for that package is not increasing.

Likewise, Spectrum has packed a slew of streaming services into its TV Select plans, whose non-promotional rates start at $125 per month. The streaming offerings include all of Disney’s services, HBO Max, Paramount+, Peacock, and AMC+, but of course require paying for an entire cable TV package.

Comcast, meanwhile, is doing a $15-per-month bundle of Netflix, Peacock, and Apple TV+ for Xfinity internet customers. That’s only $4 per month more than the standalone cost of Peacock after it drastically raised prices over the summer.

Disney’s latest round of price hikes will inevitably push more people toward bundling, and that’s by design. With ever-higher standalone rates, these bundles are starting to feel less like a deal and more like a necessity.

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