Technologies

Why You Shouldn’t Cancel Netflix This November (But Hulu Can Probably Go)

Which streaming services to keep and which to cancel for the month of November, based on fluctuating prices and what’s new to watch.

OK, we know, we know: This is the month Netflix launches its ad-based subscription for $7. But you only get one stream with that, and prices on the other plans are not changing. With that said, it’s a service you want to rock with this November for sure, especially with House of the Dragon, Rings of Power and She-Hulk already wrapped.

Every month you may wonder if you should cancel a streaming service to cut costs. And each month, I give advice on which ones to drop or keep during these difficult financial times. So, I’d like to offer one strategy: Churn like ice cream.

What does that mean? Subscribe for a term, cancel, switch to a different service, then resubscribe, keeping your favorites in a rotation. You can even pick one or two must-haves for the year and treat other streaming platforms like seasonal add-ons.The upside is that you get to save money when Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max and others don’t have the content you want to watch at a given time. Just remember to shut off autorenewal for your monthly subscriptions. Rotating may not be an option if you’re sharing your accounts with people outside your household, but if you can work out a system with your streaming posse, go for it.

Here are my recommendations on the streaming rotation you should have for November, primarily based on new TV shows and movies coming to each platform. Your tastes may differ, but if nothing else I urge you to at least consider the concept of rotating for savings. It’s easier than you might think.

Don’t let go of these streaming services in November

Netflix: Netflix has lots to offer this month. Animated flick The Bad Guys arrives on Nov. 1, but there are new releases galore. On Nov. 3, Blockbuster Season 1 arrives with Randall Park headlining the cast, and The Dragon Prince Season 4 drops as well. Enola Holmes 2, Manifest Season 4 part 1 and K-drama The Fabulous all land on Nov. 4. Then watch The Crown Season 5 starting Nov. 9 and Lindsay Lohan’s holiday movie Falling for Christmas on Nov. 10. Warrior Nun Season 2 also hits on Nov. 10.

Florence Pugh stars in The Wonder beginning Nov. 16, and the third and final season of Dead to Me debuts on Nov. 17. The ball keeps rolling with Elite Season 6 and Jason Momoa’s new film, Slumberland, on Nov. 18. Cap it off on Nov. 23 with Tim Burton’s Wednesday to see the Addams Family’s favorite daughter head to Nevermore Academy. Then follow up with Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery starring Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc.

HBO Max: HBO Max is worth keeping if you’re a fan of The White Lotus. Season 2 has seven episodes that will air into December. Other notable releases this month include Titans Season 4 (Nov. 3) with Joseph Morgan from The Originals/Vampire Diaries debuting as Brother Blood. A Christmas Story Christmas — the sequel to the 1983 movie — premieres on Nov. 17, as well as season 2 of The Sex Lives of College Girls. On Nov. 1, all the Harry Potter movies and a collection of Star Trek films come to the streamer.

Disney Plus: Binge what you can on Disney Plus, especially if you plan to cancel in December when the ad-free plan shoots up to $11 per month. This month, Andor wraps its 12-episode run on Nov. 23, so you can binge the whole show after that date. Here’s what’s new: The Santa Clauses TV series (Nov. 16), Enchanted sequel Disenchanted finally drops Nov. 18, and an unmissable Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special arrives Nov. 25. Director James Gunn stated that the holiday film will serve as a prequel of sorts for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. After you watch it, you may want to check out The Hip Hop Nutcracker starring Run DMC’s Rev. Run.

Dancing With the Stars airs its live finale on Disney Plus on Nov. 21. And Willow, the sequel series to the 1988 fantasy movie, premieres on Nov. 30 with Warwick Davis reprising his role. The show will consist of eight episodes.

Prime Video: If you already get this service through your Prime membership, you may as well keep it. My Policeman starring Harry Styles will be free to stream for Prime members on Nov. 4. Catch Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty Vol. 4 fashion show on Nov. 9. The English with Emily Blunt and Mammals starring James Corden are two new Prime Video series that premiere on Nov. 11.

You can cancel these services this month

Hulu: Cancel Hulu if you’re not into anime or network TV — or finishing up The Handmaid’s Tale, which ends season 5 on Nov. 9. As for new titles, God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty about Jerry Falwell arrives on Nov. 1. The dubbed version of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War premieres Nov. 4, and Welcome to Chippendales lands on Nov. 22. You can keep watching Chainsaw Man, Hulu’s new roster of holiday movies or broadcast shows from Fox, ABC, etc. if you like.

Starz: Raising Kanan and The Serpent Queen have ended their seasons. BMF won’t return until January 2023. Cancel Starz for now.

Paramount Plus: If you want to watch Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, it’ll be on this platform. New animated series, Transformers: EarthSpark debuts on Nov. 11. Other than that, Sylvester Stallone’s Tulsa King series — from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan — debuts Nov. 13 but it will also air right after Yellowstone on regular TV. Cancel unless you want to watch these shows or NFL football.

Peacock: Speaking of Yellowstone, if you were hoping to stream the season 5 premiere on Nov. 13 or right after, sorry to disappoint you. The show won’t be available on Peacock anytime soon. However, you can still watch sports like Sunday Night Football here.

Apple TV Plus: There are few new releases here, including the film Causeway with Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry and The Mosquito Coast Season 2, both arriving on Nov. 4. Mythic Quest Season 3 debuts Nov. 11. Because Mythic Quest and The Mosquito Coast have 10 episodes each, you can choose to binge both series next year when the entire seasons are available.

Save more money by being patient

If you’re not someone who routinely gets FOMO, then a smart method is to wait until the bulk or all episodes of your favorite series land on a platform. That way, rather than pay for a service for two or three months to cover the 6- to 10-week run of a show, you can catch up on everything by subscribing for one month. And then repeat the cycle again.

As an example, there are eight episodes of Willow this season on Disney Plus. The finale airs in January, so season 1 episodes will be available to stream at that time. Though it premieres on Nov. 30 and runs into 2023, why pay for all three months when you can wait to watch it in full anytime in January or February?

Think about how much you’re paying per month for each streaming service you have, and do the math. Netflix is $10 to $20, Disney Plus is anywhere from $3 to $8 depending on bundles, HBO Max costs $10 or $15, Hulu starts at $8 and Starz runs $9. The others have a base rate of $5 per month, and again, ad-free Disney Plus jumps to $11 starting in December. Should you decide to churn, set yourself a calendar reminder to alert you when it’s time to re-subscribe or cancel. We’ll see you next month for another streaming breakdown.

Technologies

Amazon Prime’s $2.5 FTC Settlement: Learn Who’s Eligible and How Much Payouts Will Be

The online retail giant will soon begin paying misled customers who subscribed to Amazon Prime.

If you thought your Amazon Prime signup process was a little confusing, it’s not just you. The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Amazon in 2023, alleging that the retail giant misled customers in marketing Prime subscriptions to its customers. In September, Amazon agreed to pay a $2.5 billion settlement, one of the largest in US history.

The FTC said $1.5 billion will go into a fund to repay eligible subscribers, with the remaining $1 billion collected as a civil penalty. And while Amazon did not admit to wrongdoing, it’s still making changes to how it presents the service. The settlement requires Amazon to add a «clear and conspicuous» option to decline Prime during checkout and to simplify the cancellation process.

«Amazon and our executives have always followed the law, and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers,» Mark Blafkin, Amazon senior manager, said in a statement. «We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership, and to offer substantial value for our many millions of loyal Prime members around the world.»

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Why did the FTC file a lawsuit against Amazon?

The FTC filed suit against Amazon accused the company of using «dark patterns» to nudge people into Prime subscriptions and then making it too hard to cancel. The FTC maintained Amazon was in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act.

«Specifically, Amazon used manipulative, coercive or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically renewing Prime subscriptions,» the FTC complaint states.

Who’s eligible for Amazon’s payout?

Amazon’s legal settlement is limited to customers who enrolled in Amazon Prime between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025. It’s also restricted to customers who subscribed to Prime using a «challenged enrollment flow» or who enrolled in Prime through any method but were unsuccessful in canceling their memberships.

The FTC called out specific enrollment pages, including Prime Video enrollment, the Universal Prime Decision page, the Shipping Option Select page and the Single Page Checkout. To qualify for a payout, claimants must also not have used more than 10 Amazon Prime benefits in any 12-month period.

Customers who signed up via those challenged processes and did not use more than three Prime benefits within one year will be paid automatically by Amazon within 90 days. Other eligible Amazon customers will need to file a claim, and Amazon is required to send notices to those people within 30 days of making its automatic payments.

Customers who did not use a challenged sign-up process but instead were unable to cancel their memberships will also need to file claims for payment.

How big will the Amazon payments be?

Payouts to eligible Amazon claimants will be limited to a maximum of $51. That amount could be reduced depending on the number of Amazon Prime benefits you used while subscribed to the service. Those benefits include free two-day shipping, watching shows or movies on Prime Video or Whole Foods grocery discounts.

Customers who qualify for the payments should receive them by Dec. 24.Customers outside the US aren’t eligible for the payout.

Technologies

These Already Affordable ANC OneOdio Headphones Are Even Better at $26 Off

They’re one of our favorite noise-canceling pairs for less than $100, and you can snag some for a record-low $64 right now.

Though you could easily drop $300 or even more, you don’t need to spend a fortune to get yourself a decent pair of headphones these days. There are some excellent budget-friendly options out there that still have plenty to offer, and right now you can snag one of our favorite pairs of 2025 for even less. Amazon has knocked $26 off the OneOdio A10s, which brings them down to a record-low $64. Though this deal could expire at any time, so be sure to get your order in soon.

These over-ear OneOdio headphones earned a spot on our list of the best noise-canceling pairs under $100 thanks to their sturdy design and superior comfort. According to CNET audio expert David Carnoy, they also «sound surprisingly decent and have reasonably good noise canceling with a transparency mode.» Plus, they boast an impressive 50-hour battery life and have a 3.5mm aux port for wired listening as well.

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HEADPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK

Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-Ear Headphones (Navy):

$298 (save $50)
Soundcore Life Q20 Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Headphones (Black):

$40 (save $20)
Beats Studio Pro Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones (Black):

$300 (save $51)
Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless ANC Over-Ear Headphones (Black):

$299 (save $151)
Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e ANC Over-Ear Headphones (Black):

$220 (save $180)

Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

Why this deal matters

Having earned a spot on our list of the best budget noise-canceling headphones, the OneOdio A10s are already a decent value at full price. So a chance to grab a pair on sale — let alone for a record-low price — is a serious bargain. They have a sturdy design, impressive sound and decent noise-canceling capabilities, which is a solid set of features for less than $70.

Though there are plenty of other excellent headphone deals available now, if you’re on the hunt for a different pair.

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Technologies

How President Jimmy Carter Slayed a Dragon and Is Helping to Eradicate an Ancient Disease

President Jimmy Carter, the Carter Center and LifeStraw have waged a war against Guinea Worm disease since 1986. We’re now closer than ever to completely eradicating an ancient disease from the planet.

Maybe you’ve used a LifeStraw to safely drink water from a stream while camping, or maybe you have one in your home to filter your drinking water. But did you know that the company behind this popular water filtration technology is close to completely eradicating an ancient disease from the planet?

For thousands of years, Guinea Worm or Dracunculiasis has plagued the continents of Africa and Asia, debilitating its victims and causing incredible pain and suffering. The disease stems from bad drinking water that contains Guinea Worm larvae, which for generations has been unwittingly ingested by humans. Once the Guinea Worm reaches maturity inside its host, the tapeworm bores its way out of the body, usually through the lower extremities. It’s a process that causes incredible pain and discomfort.

The battle against Guinea Worm is the focus of a new documentary by The Carter Center and Buffalo 8. The President and the Dragon — now playing on Amazon Prime Video, Hoopla and Verizon Fios — illustrates the struggles faced by President Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center in their fight to eradicate Guinea Worm. Carter ran a campaign in motion that used education, technology, surveillance, and a coalition of scientists and volunteers. The goal was to decrease the number of cases of Guinea Worm from 3.5 million victims a year in the 1990s to just 15 cases in 2024.

If the Guinea Worm Eradication program is successful, Guinea Worm will be the second disease ever eradicated from planet Earth. Smallpox, the first, was declared eradicated by the World Health Organization in 1980. What’s even more remarkable about this accomplishment is that the disease would be eradicated without the use of a vaccine or medicine.

I traveled to The Carter Center in Atlanta for a screening of Carter’s new documentary. I also interviewed Allison Hill, LifeStraw CEO, and Adam Weiss, the director of the Guinea Worm Eradication Program, about their work to eradicate the disease. You can watch the video to learn more about the documentary and the fight against Guinea Worm. Watch the trailer for The President and the Dragon below.