At the height of the “Hamilton” craze, tickets to the musical cost hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars. It was the hottest, most expensive show on Broadway, and I knew all the lyrics before ever seeing it. So after Disney+ announced the movie version would be streaming in July to subscribers who pay just $7 a month, I raced to sign up on its debut weekend.
Then I immediately canceled the subscription.
When you cancel, you still get to stream for the month. You also avoid paying extra by forgetting to unsubscribe later. This strategy, I’m convinced, is the only way to survive the Great Streaming Battle: Remain loyal to just one or two services you can split with family—then tack on others ad hoc, for just a month at a time, as you chase the must-watch shows from platform to platform.
There has never been more entertainment to watch at home. But figuring out what, where and how to stream videos over the internet has never been more confusing. There are dozens of services—too many!—and, because licensing is complicated, there’s no one-stop shop for everything you want to watch. Like Angelica Schuyler said, you’ll never be satisfied...with just one service. Still, you might feel like a sucker if you pay for them all.
There are different kinds of offerings: the live TV cord-cutters (YouTube TV, Sling TV), the one-off channels (Sundance Now, MLB.TV, Tennis Channel Everywhere) and the streamers ( Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime). For the purposes of this guide, I’m focusing solely on U.S.-based services in this last category. It’s enough of a maze on its own, with five newcomers in less than a year: Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Peacock and the smartphone-based Quibi.
The services are young, scrappy and hungry for your subscription—but they’re not without their particular issues. HBO Max parent WarnerMedia owns the Harry Potter franchise, but it’s losing the eight films on Aug. 25 because Peacock owner NBCUniversal holds the TV rights and gets a six-month run starting in October. Meanwhile, Disney can’t show some of its own Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar shows because of expiring deals with Netflix.
Convoluting things further, you can’t watch Peacock or HBO Max on a Roku or Amazon Fire TV streaming device. At least, not now. Insiders expect this will eventually be resolved, but nobody has a firm date. Needless to say, there’s no Android version of Apple TV+. And for no good reason, you can’t access Quibi on computers or TVs, even though its content is packed with high-paid Hollywood stars. (Quibi is struggling to find an audience.)
So what mix of them is worth spending your money on? Here’s how to build your own at-home entertainment bundle, without throwing away your…money. (And, yes, sorry, the “Hamilton” references stop here. I promise.)
Do you already pay for it?
Lately, cellular and internet providers stock plans with entertainment offerings to make them more enticing.
Verizon’s Mix and Match Unlimited phone plans (Play More for $45 a month and Get More for $55 a month) include the Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ bundle. AT&T’s top cellular, internet and TV plans come with HBO Max.
Peacock Premium, host to the full catalog of NBC shows, as well as live sports such as the Tour de France and Premier League, is available to Comcast Xfinity X1 and Flex customers, as well as Cox Contour subscribers. Android device and Android TV users get complimentary access through Oct. 15.
And of course, there is Amazon Prime, the e-commerce giant’s mega subscription, which costs $119 annually and includes fast shipping and Prime Video. You get access to Amazon Studios originals (such as the award-winning “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Fleabag”) as well as network hits like “House” and “Mr. Robot.”
The new streaming service on the block is NBCUniversal's Peacock, which offers a free tier to stream shows such as ‘Friday Night Lights’ and movies including the Matrix trilogy. A $5-a-month premium plan adds Peacock originals and plenty of live sports.
Photo: NBCUniversalIs it available free?
If you’re willing to watch ads—sometimes lots and lots of ads—you can stream some movies and shows without subscribing to anything. Peacock is NBC’s new service, with an ad-supported free tier that includes “SNL” and “30 Rock” plus movies such as the Bourne and Matrix trilogies.
Other sites include Fandango-owned Vudu, Amazon-owned IMDb TV and Fox Entertainment-owned Tubi, as well as Roku’s own free channel. While those sites primarily host old classics and titles you’ve never heard of, there are hidden gems. “Mad Men,” “Lost” and “Shrek” are on IMDb TV, for example. Reelgood, a search engine for streaming shows and movies, has a comprehensive database of free offerings online. You can also use Reelgood to see what’s streaming—and what’s coming and going—on any given service.
Can you buy in bulk?
For the services that offer annual plans (Hulu with ads, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Peacock Premium and CBS All Access), you’ll get a discount by committing to the year. The trade-off is that month-to-month plans can be canceled more quickly.
Bundled services also save. The Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ package is $13 a month—an overall 25% discount. Getting AppleTV+, CBS All Access and Showtime together costs $15, which is less than if you subscribed separately to CBS All Access and Showtime.
But check to see if signing up for one service through another provider limits your access. For example, signing up for HBO through Roku doesn’t allow you to sign into HBO on other platforms, including HBO apps.
Can you share?
Another way to optimize a subscription is by sharing it. Most services allow one account to stream on multiple devices simultaneously. As many as four screens can watch Netflix and Disney+ concurrently, while Hulu and Prime Video limit users to two concurrent streams. (See the details in the table below.)
No service encourages password sharing (I asked), although it’s a fairly common practice. Netflix, Hulu and Peacock limit authorized users to a household defined by people residing within the same address. HBO Max extends sharing privileges to immediate family or household members in its terms of service. Apple TV+ and Prime Video require users to link accounts more formally, through Apple’s Family Sharing and Amazon Household—but that means you don’t have to give someone your password to let them use your subscription. (Prime Video only allows offline downloading for the primary account holder.)
In any case, the more people who can take advantage of the account, the better its value. And if you do share account credentials (without breaking any terms of service), you can use a password manager’s sharing feature to keep the information safe.
What content matters to you most?
The best thing you can do for your wallet? Sign up for a service with shows and movies you will actually want to watch.
Everybody has their own priorities, from sports to kids’ programming to reality TV. While I could tell you what I prefer, maybe it’s best for you to take the streaming quiz my colleagues made.
Which Streaming Services Are Right for You? Take the WSJ Quiz.
Can you remember to unsubscribe?
The beauty of canceling a subscription is that you can still stream until the end of the monthlong billing cycle. (The exception is Amazon Prime, which ends the day you cancel.) When a channel has only one show you want to watch, unsubscribe right away, then get bingeing. If for some reason you aren’t done with your show, you can always reup your subscription for another month.
You can cancel your membership using the service’s website. It’s also easy if you subscribed through the App Store or Google Play. On your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name at the top, then select Subscriptions. On an Android device, open the Play Store, tap menu, then Subscriptions.
I’ll be back on Disney+ again next month, when the live-action remake of “Mulan” hits the service. It will require the $7 monthly fee and, for the first time, a one-time $30 charge for the new-release movie itself. I hope it’s worth it.
(Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, has a commercial agreement to supply news through Apple services.)
Send your streaming confusion-related questions and comments to nicole.nguyen@wsj.com. For more WSJ Technology analysis, reviews, advice and headlines, sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Write to Nicole Nguyen at nicole.nguyen@wsj.com
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