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Streaming Guide February 2023: 4 Services You Should Definitely Keep

The return of You and Party Down mean Netflix and Starz are keepers this month.

TV lineups tend to be a bit a dry at this time of year, but February is Super Bowl time and there’s still plenty to watch on streaming. But beware, changes are rolling in for some of your favorite services, including a $1 price hike for HBO Max’s ad-free plan and extra fees if you’re sharing your Netflix account. Despite those price hikes, you’ll want to keep those services if you’re planning to keep up with The Last of Us and You season 4, which are streaming this month.

Onward. You can stream Super Bowl 57 on a live platform such as Sling TV, Hulu with Live TV or YouTube TV. But if you’re wondering how you can cut corners elsewhere in your streaming budget, we’ve got you covered. Rotating — or churning — your services is the way to do it.

How? You subscribe for a specific time frame, cancel, choose a different service, then resubscribe, keeping your favorite streaming services in a rotation. Choose one or two must-have platforms for the year and treat additional platforms like occasional add-ons. This allows you to save money when Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max and others don’t have the movies and shows you want to watch at a given time. Just remember to shut off auto-renewal for your monthly subscriptions. If you share accounts with someone outside your household, this strategy may not be ideal, but if you can work it out with your streaming mates, go for it.

Here are my suggestions for which streamers to keep or cancel for February based on new TV shows and movies arriving on each platform. Your tastes may be different, but if nothing else, I encourage you to at least consider the concept of rotating your memberships to save money.

Read more: Best Live TV Streaming Service for Cord Cutters in 2023

Definitely keep Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu and Starz

Netflix: Joe Goldberg’s antics on You aren’t the only attraction on Netflix this month. There’s a documentary about a rich dog, more Outer Banks, anime and reality TV. Here’s a list of noteworthy new releases:

  • Detective Conan: The Culprit Hanzawa (Feb. 1)
  • Gunther’s Millions – documentary about a dog with a hefty inheritance (Feb. 1)
  • Freeridge — an On My Block spinoff (Feb. 2)
  • Bill Russell: Legend (Feb. 8)
  • My Dad the Bounty Hunter animated series (Feb. 9)
  • Love to Hate You — K-drama (Feb. 10)
  • You season 4, part 1 (Feb. 10)
  • Your Place or Mine starring Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon (Feb. 10)
  • Perfect Match features an all-star lineup of Netflix dating show contestants (Feb. 14, 21 and 28)
  • African Queens documentary series (Feb. 15)
  • Aggretsuko season 5 (Feb. 16)
  • Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal (Feb. 22)
  • Outer Banks season 3 (Feb. 23)
  • Formula 1: Drive to Survive season 5 (Feb. 24)
  • We Have a Ghost (Feb. 24)

HBO Max: Keep watching The Last of Us and tune in for the Max exclusive, Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special on Feb. 9. Also new this month: Empire of Light (Feb. 7), All that Breathes documentary (Feb. 7), Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm (Feb. 8), Puppy Bowl XIX (Feb. 12) and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Feb. 19).

Hulu: Your network favorites are still airing current seasons, but these are new arrivals in February: A Million Little Things final season premiere (Feb. 9), ABC’s Not Dead Yet (Feb. 9), final season of Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Feb. 15), The Masked Singer season 9 (Feb. 16), American Idol season 21 (Feb. 20) and Snowfall season 6 (Feb. 23).

Starz: After ending more than a decade ago, Party Down returns for a season 3 debut on Feb. 24. BMF is still airing too. Shop around for Starz deals to pay less for your subscription for the next few months.

Prime Video: You should cancel Prime Video if you only have a standalone subscription and you’re not interested in Carnival Row season 2. Otherwise, check out the fairy drama on Feb. 17 along with Harlem season 2 (Feb. 3) or The Consultant starring Christoph Waltz (Feb. 24).

Disney Plus: Again on the keep-cancel cusp this month, Disney Plus may be tempting for the short term if you love Black Panther or if you have kids. You can keep streaming Star Wars: The Bad Batch, but here are the new selections for February: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Feb. 1), The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder season 2 (Feb. 1), Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Feb. 15) and BTS star J-Hope’s In the Box arrives Feb. 17.

You can drop these streaming services this month

Apple TV Plus: There’s not much to stream here. We now know Ted Lasso isn’t coming until spring, but if you want, you can stream Hello Tomorrow! or Dear Edward on Feb. 3 on Apple TV Plus. We’ll also note that subscribers who are soccer fans can begin signing up for MLS Season Pass beginning Feb. 1 and receive a discounted rate.

Paramount Plus: Football season is over, so you may not want to dish out the money for Paramount Plus this month. But here’s what’s new: 65th Grammy Awards (Feb. 5), rom-com movie At Midnight debuts on Feb. 10, Star Trek: Picard season 3 (Feb. 16) and The Wolf Pack TV series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar airs through February until March 16. Drop the service if you these titles don’t interest you.

Peacock: If you’re a fan of Bel-Air, keep Peacock because season 2 debuts on Feb. 23. This is also where you can watch SyFy’s The Ark (Feb. 2) and The Real Housewives of New Jersey (Feb. 9). Cancel if you’re not interested in these releases, or in the awfully good Poker Face.

Save more money with patience

Waiting until most or all of the episodes of your favorite series arrive on a platform is a smart move to make if you don’t get FOMO. Instead of paying for a service for two or three months to cover a show’s six- to 10-week run, you can catch up on everything by subscribing for one month. And then repeat the cycle again.

For example, there are 10 episodes of Star Trek: Picard this season on Paramount Plus. The show airs into April, so all 10 episodes will available to stream at that time. Though it premieres in February and runs through April, why pay for three months when you can wait to watch it in full at any time in April? The same system can apply to all 10 episodes of Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga or Peacock’s Poker Face.

Consider how much you’re paying per month for each streaming service, and do the math. Netflix costs $7 to $20, Disney Plus is anywhere from $2 to $11 depending on bundles, HBO Max costs $10 or $16, Hulu starts at $8 and Starz runs $9. The others have a base rate of $5 a month. Should you decide to churn, set yourself a calendar reminder to alert you when it’s time to resubscribe or cancel. We’ll see you in March for another streaming rundown.

Technologies

Anthropic warns investors of AI’s ‘existential risk to humanity’ in IPO prospectus, reports say

Anthropic’s IPO filing dedicates 80 pages to the risks of AI, nearly double the 48 pages it spends discussing its business plans, according to Reuters.

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Technologies

U.S. and Iran hold separate mediated talks as Middle East oil exports hit wartime peak

U.S. and Iranian officials have engaged in separate mediated talks aimed at ending the seven‑month war, while Middle East oil exports have surged to near‑record levels despite the conflict.

Iranian and American officials reportedly held separate meetings with mediators on Monday, urging a ceasefire.

Middle Eastern crude exports climbed this month to their highest point since the war started in February.

According to Kpler, a total U.S. export ban on diesel would keep about 1.2 million barrels per day domestically and could overwhelm Gulf Coast storage capacity.

The ruins of the Shajareh Tayebeh primary school, destroyed in Minab, Hormozgan province, are shown in an image taken on August 10 2026, surrounded by rubble. Six months later, AFP journalists gained rare access to the site, which remains largely in ruins, with collapsed walls and twisted steel framed by portraits of the children who were killed and Iranian flags waving above the debris. Iran asserts that the attack involved two separate U.S. Tomahawk missiles, though neither the United States nor Israel has officially claimed responsibility. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images) / Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images

U.S. and Iranian officials have reportedly engaged in separate indirect talks with mediators on Monday, reviving efforts to end the seven‑month war. Tehran is pushing for a response to a revised ceasefire framework while Middle East crude exports reach their highest level since the conflict started.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Qatari mediators in New York, where he stayed after the United Nations General Assembly, and said he expects a reply from Washington by Tuesday. “We discussed ideas and how to find solutions to meet Iran’s conditions,” Araghchi said, adding that he plans to return to Tehran once a response arrives. “Whenever the Qataris have an answer, they know how to get it to us.”

Iran’s proposal, first presented on the sidelines of last week’s General Assembly, calls for the United States to release frozen Iranian funds within four to five days, lift sanctions on Iranian oil, and end the naval blockade of Iranian ports, with nuclear talks slated to begin within seven days. Tehran has linked any reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to the fulfillment of these steps.

President Donald Trump called the plan “unacceptable” on Sunday and rejected it, telling reporters that Iran seeks a rapid agreement because of the economic pressure it faces. At the White House on Monday, Trump said U.S. officials had spoken separately with mediators but offered no further details, adding, “We’re going to win. It’s going to go pretty quickly.”

The diplomatic push comes as physical supply data indicates the war’s impact on the oil market is easing. Middle Eastern crude exports rebounded this month to roughly their highest level since the conflict began in February, according to Kpler. The tracking firm noted that Middle East crude exports are at just under 80 % of pre‑conflict levels.

The Strait of Hormuz itself remains far from normal. Kpler’s real‑time tracking showed total traffic through the strait at 10,591 kilobarrels per day on Saturday, compared with a pre‑war baseline of 17,133.

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Technologies

Oil prices fall as crude exports recover at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea ports

Saudi Arabia has restored flows through the pipeline to around 3.5 million barrels per day, according to media reports.

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