Technologies

Streaming TV in March Is a Slam Dunk, But You Can Cancel 3 Services

Some big shows are releasing new seasons — including an anime favorite and Ted Lasso — but here’s a guide on which services to drop to save dough.

With so many shows returning to TV in March, it will be tough to decide which streaming services to keep or cancel. After more than a year of waiting, Ted Lasso and AFC Richmond are back on the Apple TV Plus field. Two years have passed since we’ve seen Baby Yoda, so fans will make The Mandalorian season 3 appointment TV this month. There’s more: Succession returns at the end of the month for a last hurrah, and I have to mention that one of the biggest anime series in the world is hitting the screen on March 4 to wrap up its story in Attack on Titan Final Season part 3.

That means some of you will need to keep at least three streamers in rotation this month — including Crunchyroll — if you want to watch these shows immediately when episodes are available. But you don’t have to.

Each month, you probably weigh whether to cancel a streaming service because of the cost and whatever content is currently available. In these iffy financial times, I’d like to offer one strategy: Churn like ice cream.

What’s that? Simply rotate your services. Subscribe, cancel, stream on a different platform, then resubscribe, keeping your favorites in a rotation. This allows you to save money when Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max and so on don’t have the content you want to watch at a given time. Just remember to shut off autorenewal for your monthly subscriptions. Churning may not be an option if you’re sharing your accounts with people outside your household, but if you can work out an arrangement with your streaming peeps, go for it.

To give you a head start this spring, here are my recommendations for which streamers to keep or cancel for March, based on new TV shows and movies (I didn’t consider sports and live TV streaming services) arriving on each platform. Your tastes may be different, but if nothing else, I urge you to at least consider the concept of rotating for savings. It’s easier than you may think.

Watch Ted Lasso on Apple TV Plus

$7 at Apple TV Plus

March streaming service rotation

	Keep	Cancel
Apple TV Plus	X
Hulu		X
Netflix	X
HBO Max		X
Disney Plus	X
Starz	X
Paramount Plus		X
Prime Video	X
Peacock	X

Keep streaming these services if you’re a fan of their shows

Apple TV Plus: On March 15, it’s Ted Lasso, y’all. That is all.

Netflix: Chris Rock goes live, Shadow and Bone is back and the second half of You drops along with a string of new titles. New releases are listed below, but if you’re mad at Netflix about the upcoming password-sharing fees for the US, do as you will.

Sex/Life season 2 (March 2)
Chris Rock: Selective Outrage live comedy special (March 4 at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET)
Divorce Attorney Shin K-drama (March 4)
MH370: The Plane That Disappeared (March 8)
You season 4 part 2 (March 9)
Luther: The Fallen Sun (March 10)
Nike Training Club releases new workouts, including yoga (March 10)
Money Shot: The PornHub Story (March 15)
Shadow and Bone (March 16)
Agent Elvis (March 17)
The Magician’s Elephant (March 17) animated original film based on book
Waco: American Apocalypse (March 22)
The Night Agent season 1 (March 23)
Love is Blind season 4 (March 24)
Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King (March 31) original anime film
Murder Mystery 2 (March 31)

Watch Shadow and Bone on Netflix

$7 at Netflix

Disney Plus: Keep streaming Star Wars: The Bad Batch and welcome The Mandalorian season 3 (March 1). You may also want to check out Chang Can Dunk (March 10). But if you’re not a Star Wars fan or don’t have kids who need to watch Disney Plus this month, then cancel it.

See at Disney Plus

Starz: BMF wraps its second season on March 17, the same day Tariq St. Patrick debuts with more drama in Power Book II: Ghost season 3. With Zeke and Mecca dead, there will be plenty to answer for in the latest installment. Right now, you can sign up for Starz and pay $5 monthly for three months.

power book II characters Cane, Effie, Tariq and Brayden stand around a table in an old warehouse — Power Book II: Ghost season 3 comes to Starz on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17.

Starz

See at Starz

Prime Video: Adapted from Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel, Daisy Jones and The Six is a new series that will be the biggest drop on Prime Video this month. Begin streaming it on March 3.

Peacock: Bel-Air continues to air weekly. The Poker Face finale drops on March 9, so if you’ve been waiting to binge the show, March is a good time to sign up for Peacock — there’s a free seven-day trial available. You can also stream Premier League soccer and new episodes of NBC shows too like Chicago Fire. If you’re not into any Peacock originals or NBC shows, cancel.

Pause or cancel these streaming services in March

Hulu: If you want, you can keep watching network shows like Snowfall, Abbott Elementary and The Masked Singer or Hulu original Wu-Tang: An American Saga. New drops include Unprisoned (March 10) starring Kerry Washington and Boston Strangler (March 17). It’s likely the new installment of Attack on Titan will stream here too. But if you’d rather wait to binge these titles or you’re not into network TV, pause your subscription for now.

Paramount Plus: Aside from Star Trek: Picard, Ghosts and a few reality shows, there may not be enough to keep you interested in Paramount Plus for March. But here’s what’s new: The Challenge: World Championship (March 6), School Spirits starring Peyton List (March 9) and Rabbit Hole (March 26) featuring Kiefer Sutherland as a spy.

HBO Max: The Last of Us finale airs on March 12, and Succession returns with its final season on March 26. Depending on your preferences, you might want to cancel HBO Max after The Last of Us ends, especially if you’re not a Succession fan. Friendly reminder that HBO Max now costs $16 a month for the ad-free version.

Succession s4 — If you really want to save money, hold off on watching Succession’s final season for a few months.

Claudette Barius/HBO

Save more money by waiting to binge

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 six- to 10-week run of a show, you can catch up on everything by subscribing for one month. And then repeat the cycle again.

For example, there will be 10 episodes of Succession season 4 on HBO Max. The finale drops around late May, so all episodes of the Roy family’s dysfunction will be available to stream at that time. Though it premieres on March 26 and runs through May, why pay for three months when you can wait to stream it in full anytime in June? The same practice can apply to The Mandalorian’s 10-episode run and 12 episodes in season 3 of Ted Lasso.

Note how much you’re paying per month for each streaming service, and do the math. Apple TV Plus is $7. Netflix is $7 to $20 (until account-sharing fees kick in), 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 per 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 April for another streaming rundown.

Technologies

Tim Cook Riffs on Retirement Rumors, AI, Phone Addiction and Trump

The Apple CEO discussed a range of topics on Good Morning America.

Tim Cook isn’t going anywhere just yet — not during Apple’s 50th anniversary celebrations, not with the company preparing to introduce its first foldable phone, not while the tech giant is trying to figure out how to beat the AI race.

In a sit-down interview with Good Morning America host and Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan this week, Cook, who turned 65 in November, said there was no truth to the rumors that he is considering retiring from Apple. He became CEO of the company in 2011, 13 years after joining from Compaq.

«I love what I do deeply. Twenty-eight years ago, I walked into Apple, and I’ve loved every day of it since,» Cook told Strahan. «We’ve had ups and downs, but the people I work with are so amazing. They bring out the best in me, and hopefully I can bring out the best in them.»

Strahan interviewed Cook during the Apple CEO’s visit to Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Visual Arts in Harlem, where students use Apple technology through the company’s partnership with the nonprofit Save the Music.

Speculation about Cook stepping down has been circulating since last November, when the Financial Times cited unnamed sources saying that Apple was preparing to usher in a new CEO «as soon as next year.» Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman threw water on that report, saying he «would be shocked if Cook steps down in the time frame outlined by the FT.»

During Cook’s tenure as CEO, Apple’s revenue has nearly quadrupled, with the tech giant adding dozens of new iPhone models, several more iPads, and updated Apple Watches and AirPods. This year, Apple has launched several new products, including the MacBook Neo, which at $599 has disrupted the budget laptop market. The company’s first foldable phone could come later this year.

Touch some grass

The GMA interview was short but wide-ranging, including Cook’s thoughts on how much people use their iPhones. Many studies estimate that people across most generations spend at least 4 hours a day on their phones, with millennials and Gen Z spending 5 to 6 hours.

When asked what he worries about most regarding Apple products’ impact on society, Cook weighed in, telling Strahan he doesn’t want people using iPhones «too much.»

«I don’t want people looking at the smartphone more than they’re looking in someone’s eyes,» Cook said, «because if they’re just scrolling endlessly, this is not the way you want to spend your day. Go out and spend it in nature.»

More on Apple from CNET:

AI and privacy

Cook told Strahan that AI «can be so positive,» but his response when asked whether he was «worried» about it was fairly flat.

«Technology doesn’t want to be good, and it doesn’t want to be bad,» Cook said. «It’s in the hands of the user and the hands of the inventor.»

Strahan questioned how much of iPhone users’ private lives are feeding Apple’s AI learning machine. Cook told him that because the smartphone is encrypted, Apple doesn’t have access to it. He went on to say: «When we can’t answer a question on your device, we send it to something called private cloud compute, which is essentially a big device in the sky that has the same kind of security and architecture as your phone.»

On its website, Apple says that it «does not use our users’ private personal data or user interactions when training our foundation models.»

To date, Apple has been cautious in diving into the AI scrum. While Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft are spending nearly $700 billion combined on AI tech this year, Apple is «only» investing $14 billion.

Trump and tariffs

Cook has been criticized for being too cozy with the Trump administration: donating $1 million to President Donald Trump’s inauguration; giving him a 24-karat gold plaque; and attending a White House screening of Melania, a film about the First Lady.

The Apple CEO told Strahan that he’s «not a political person» on either side.

«I’m kind of straight down the middle, and I focus on policy,» Cook said. «So, I’m very pleased that the president and the administration is accessible to talk about policy.»

One of those policies has been tariffs, which Trump has imposed on many nations to varying degrees during his second term in office, purportedly to pressure companies to shift their manufacturing to the US. The president has largely spared Apple, which promised to invest $600 billion over four years to make more products in the US.

Cook told Strahan that the glass for the front and back of an iPhone will come out of Kentucky by the end of the year, and that 100 million chip engines will be manufactured in Arizona this year. He also noted that 20 billion semiconductors will be made in the US. «We’re a very proud American company, and we want to do as much here as we can,» Cook said.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for March 19, #1012

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for March 19 #1012.

Looking for the most recent 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, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle features another tricky purple category, where words hide inside the clues and you have to dig them out. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

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

Yellow group hint: Children’s stories.

Green group hint: Lucky charms.

Blue group hint: One color, then the next.

Purple group hint: Hidden words relating to music.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Folk tale characters.

Green group: Good luck symbols.

Blue group: Things that change color.

Purple group: Ending in music genres.

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

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is folk tale characters. The four answers are Chicken Little, Frog Prince, Gingerbread Man and Goldilocks.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is good luck symbols. The four answers are evil eye, four-leaf clover, horseshoe and rabbit’s foot.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is things that change color. The four answers are chameleon, mood ring, sunset and traffic light.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ending in music genres. The four answers are baby blues, pet rock, scrap metal and soda pop.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 19, #542

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle No. 542 for Thursday, March 19.

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.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is tricky. Remember that many athletes’ surnames look like common words, so if you’re having trouble sorting the answers, think about whether a particular word could be someone’s last name. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for 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: Football division.

Green group hint: They catch the pigskin.

Blue group hint: College hoopsters.

Purple group hint: Where’s the glass slipper?