Technologies

A Trick for Spending Less on Streaming TV in 2023

HBO Max, Netflix, Hulu and all the other streamers are really eating into your budget.

This story is part of 12 Days of Tips, helping you make the most of your tech, home and health during the holiday season.

The new year is here, and 2023’s newest releases on Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu and HBO Max are soon to follow. But if one of your New Year’s resolutions is to save money, you may be thinking about updating your budget. Crunching numbers for your streaming subscriptions could leave you with the realization you’re spending $500 per year or more. But this is one set of expenses you can easily tweak.

Here’s the scenario: You’re subscribed to multiple streaming services, you watch one or two of them until your favorite series ends its seasonal run, then look for the next thing. But is it worth keeping all those accounts active if you’re not watching anything on them? I don’t think so.

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Take a look at this money-saving strategy to help you tame your streaming costs.

Rotate your streaming services

Dumping cable for good and switching to streaming is a crafty money move for cord-cutters. Because you’re able to sign up for monthly plans, it’s easy to jump into a streaming service and jump out when prices increase or content dries up. But according to Deloitte’s 2022 Media Trends report, the main reasons people cancel their streaming subscriptions are because of costs and lack of fresh content. Media companies call this behavior «churn.» We’re calling this the rotation method, and you should try it.

The incentive? You save your coins and avoid content droughts. Let’s say a popular title like The Last of Us or Willow is set to premiere on a service. Find the total episode count and wait until they’re all available at once on a platform. You cancel HBO Max, Disney Plus or other service and then, once all the episodes are available, resubscribe to catch up. Alternatively, you can start streaming a show midseason to cut costs. My monthly guide on which streaming services to cancel can help you keep up.

The downside? You won’t have immediate access to every show you want to watch and will have to wait until the full season airs. And since many streaming services release new episodes weekly, you might not be caught up at the same time as your friends. If you’re someone who prefers to watch episodes immediately when they drop, you may decide it’s worth it to have multiple subscriptions at a time. If you have patience, however, you can save some money.

The strategy can also work if you have a live TV streaming service to watch a particular sport or major event like the Super Bowl. Once the season wraps, cancel the service or move to a cheaper platform with fewer channels, like Sling TV.

Tip No. 1: Cancel your subscription before getting charged

Set calendar reminders for your billing cycle and upcoming TV show or movie release dates. Give yourself enough warning to begin or end a subscription. Apps such as JustWatch, V Time and Hobi help you track when and where TV shows and movies appear on a streaming service. And JustWatch recently added a tracker specifically for sports. If you have a smart home device from Google or Amazon, you can set reminders for specific dates and allow a voice assistant like Alexa to notify you of an upcoming bill or streaming release date.

Tip No. 2: Sign up for streaming service deals

Look for discounts on streaming services. For example, Starz is now $3 per month for three months, a drop from its regular $9-a-month rate. You can also take advantage of the Disney Bundle, which provides access to Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus in a single package for a reduced price. And eligible Hulu subscribers can add on Disney Plus for $2. Lastly, be sure to check with your mobile carrier to see which ones offer free streaming subscriptions.

Tip No. 3: Pick one or two default streaming services

Subscribe to one or two must-have services for the year, and select only one or two more options to fit your monthly budget. Rotate the bonus service(s) according to what you want to watch, ensuring you don’t miss your favorite shows while sticking to your monthly spending cap.

Tip No. 4: Use monthly billing only

Avoid annual subscriptions and pay attention to your auto-renewal payment dates. Your billing cycle can help determine when it’s the best time to quit a service, even if you’ve only signed up for a free trial. The only advantage to signing up for an annual plan is when the price is drastically cut down.

Tip No. 5: Don’t cancel your subscription, pause it

Hulu allows you to pause your subscription for up to 12 weeks, and Sling has a similar option with stipulations. Check with your streaming provider to see if you can take a temporary break without canceling.

Give it a shot, and if you don’t like it you can always resubscribe. For more excellent tips on streaming TV, check out this guide to Netflix’s hidden tricks and our tips on the best VPNs.

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 9, #402

Are you hungry? Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 402 for Wednesday, April 9.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle might be tricky. I couldn’t really make the connection between all the words until I read the spangram. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: That’s quite a (tasty) mouthful.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Long food words.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

FOUR, FLOW, WOLF, FATE, LABEL, LABELS, WEAR, WARE, WARES, CARE, FILL, ABLE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

ARUGULA, AVOCADO, WATERMELON, CAULIFLOWER

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is FOURSYLLABLES. To find it, start with the F that’s three letters down on the far left column, and wind down, up and over.

Toughest Strands puzzles

Here are some of the Strands topics I’ve found to be the toughest in recent weeks.

#1: Dated slang, Jan. 21. Maybe you didn’t even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.

#2: Thar she blows! Jan.15. I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT.

#3: Off the hook, Jan. 9. Similar to the Jan. 15 puzzle in that it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 9, #198

Olympics fans, you might like the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 198, for Wednesday, April 9. Here are hints and the answers.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

My father-in-law was almost a pro golfer, but I can barely hit a ball straight. So for me, the blue group of today’s Connections: Sports Edition was a toughie — especially one name I had never heard before. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Light the cauldron.

Green group hint: It’ll get you into a game.

Blue group hint: Fore!

Purple group hint: College towns.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Summer Olympic sports.

Green group: Information on a ticket.

Blue group: First words of notable golf courses.

Purple group: Big 12 school locations.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is summer Olympic sports. The four answers are archery, equestrian, judo and sport climbing.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is information on a ticket. The four answers are date, row, seat number and section.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is first words of notable golf courses. The four answers are Augusta, Bethpage, Pebble and Torrey.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Big 12 school locations. The four answers are Ames, Boulder, Manhattan and Stillwater.

Toughest Connections: Sports Edition categories

The Connections: Sports Edition puzzle can be tough, but it really depends on which sports you know the most about. My husband aces anything having to do with Formula 1, my best friend is a hockey buff, and I can answer any question about Minnesota teams.

That said, it’s hard to pick the toughest Connections categories, but here are some I found exceptionally mind-blowing recently.

#1: Series A Clubs, Jan. 11. Answers: Atalanta, Juventus, Lazio, Roma.

#2: WNBA MVPs, Jan. 21. Answers: Catchings, Delle Donne, Fowles and Stewart.

#3: Premier League team nicknames, Jan. 17. Answers: Bees, Cherries, Foxes and Hammers.

#4: Homophones of NBA player names, Jan. 26. Answers: Barns, Connect, Heart and Hero.

Technologies

Space Mission With Gayle King, Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez Launches Next Week

The crew, made up of all women, also includes a NASA rocket scientist, a bioastronautics research scientist and a film producer.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ space outfit Blue Origin is planning to make history in less than a week by sending an all-female crew on a spaceflight. The American spacecraft company’s 11th human mission, NS-31, is made up of NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, film producer Kerianne Flynn, CBS host Gayle King, Bezos’ fiancé and former journalist Lauren Sánchez, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyễn and pop singer Katy Perry.

The company is eyeing a liftoff date of April 14, with the launch window opening at 8:30 a.m. CDT, depending on weather and other factors. According to the Blue Origin website, the astronauts will ascend toward space at more than three times the speed of sound. Once they pass the Kármán line, the crew can unbuckle and float weightless before returning to Earth.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard program has flown 52 people above the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space about 62 miles above Earth.

First all-female crew since a Russian solo space flight

The flight will mark the first all-female crew since Russian engineer Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963.

Bowe told Elle magazine in an interview published this week that she’s «been training for and waiting for this moment my entire life.» Nguyen agreed, calling it «a dream come true.»

Reactions among the others varied:

«I have wanted to go to space for almost 20 years,» Perry said during the interview with Elle.

«I had a lot of trepidation — I still do — but I also know it’s very interesting to be terrified and excited at the same time,» King told Elle. «I can honestly say it has never been a dream of mine.»

Blue Origin has taken many notable names up above the Earth before, including actor William Shatner, Good Morning America host and retired NFL player Michael Strahan and Bezos.