Technologies

Sharing Your YouTube Premium Plan? Your Service Could Be Paused

YouTube is making sure that you and your family members live at the same address to get access to its Premium family plan.

That popular workaround for sharing a YouTube Premium family plan with friends and relatives in different homes is now squarely in Google’s crosshairs. A new wave of enforcement has begun, with subscribers reporting they’ve received emails warning that their account access will be suspended. The ultimatum is clear: confirm all members live at the same address within 15 days, or lose your premium perks. And now that’s something you should watch out for, whether you plan to stream videos or listen to music with ads, both of which you can still do if the service is paused.

While the «same household» requirement has always been in the terms of service, this recent crackdown signals a major shift from passive policy to active practice. For anyone ignoring the notice, the consequence is a swift downgrade back to YouTube’s ad-supported tier, a jarring change for those used to ad-free viewing and offline downloads.

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A YouTube spokesperson told CNET, «Our family plan policy hasn’t changed and we are continuously enforcing it. You can learn more about the YouTube family plan here.»

On its support page, YouTube says that an account manager can add up to five family members in a household to their Premium membership. But, the post says, «Family members sharing a YouTube family plan must live in the same household as the family manager.» Groups can only be changed once every 12 months.

YouTube has been testing a two-household plan that would offer a discount for those who want to share, but that plan is not yet available in the US.

YouTube offers a one-month trial for its Premium and Music accounts, which cost $23 per month.

Subscription sharing crackdowns

YouTube joins other paid services that have started to enforce policies to cut down on the sharing of premium services.

Disney Plus and Netflix were among the services that began discouraging, and then actively blocking or restricting accounts they find are sharing passwords. Max joined them this year, introducing an $8 fee for those who want to share their account with one other person.

Similarly, Amazon is ending a program that allowed for sharing of its Prime service, requiring that those who don’t live at the same residence use their own paid Prime accounts for things like getting packages shipped free. Amazon’s Prime Invitee benefit-sharing program is ending Oct. 1.

The enforcement is meant to help recover revenue that these companies say they lose when people use someone else’s premium account instead of paying for their own.

«It’s not hard to understand why streaming services feel the need to crack down. After all, the revenue to spend on new content or an improved experience must come from somewhere,» says Carl Lepper, Senior Director of Technology, Media & Telecom (TMT) Intelligence at JD Power.

«The calculation from streaming companies seems to be that limiting password sharing and account access will lead to more subscribers. You could argue the same about any sort of subscription service. It’s fairly intuitive. There’s a solid amount of evidence from media coverage that it works, at least initially,» Lepper says.

Does it work long-term? Lepper tells CNET that companies have to balance enforcing their policies without «ticking off» existing customers or denying potential customers from getting a chance to see what their service has to offer and potentially converting to their own account eventually.

Enforcement itself isn’t free, he points out. «Streamers themselves need to devote time and resources to enforcing such a policy,» Lepper says.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Sept. 13

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Sept. 13.

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

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s the longest Mini of the week, and at least one of the clues, 7-Across, isn’t something that everyone has heard of. Need answers? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Give away a secret
Answer: BLAB

5A clue: A, B, C or D, but not E
Answer: GRADE

6A clue: Rhimes who created «Grey’s Anatomy» and «Scandal»
Answer: SHONDA

7A clue: Many posts by Instagram influencers, informally
Answer: SPONCON

8A clue: «Look, here’s the thing …»
Answer: LISTEN

9A clue: Performed in a play
Answer: ACTED

10A clue: Clutter
Answer: MESS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Literary sisters behind «Jane Eyre» and «Wuthering Heights»
Answer: BRONTES

2D clue: Poked with a knight’s weapon
Answer: LANCED

3D clue: Extra feature
Answer: ADDON

4D clue: Edamame or chickpea
Answer: BEAN

5D clue: Abruptly stops texting
Answer: GHOSTS

6D clue: Valuable substance in the «Dune» universe
Answer: SPICE

7D clue: Word after grand, body or poetry
Answer: SLAM

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Sept. 13, #355

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Sept. 13, No. 355

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 trusts that you know your sports movies and your mascots. If you’re struggling 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 show up in the NYT Games app but appears 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: Think Wimbledon.

Green group hint: Cinema on ice.

Blue group hint: Iconic team symbols.

Purple group hint: Not basketball, but…

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Tennis shots.

Green group: Hockey movies.

Blue group: Live college mascots.

Purple group: ____ baseball.

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 tennis shots. The four answers are backhand, drop, slice and smash.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is hockey movies. The four answers are Miracle; Mystery, Alaska; Slap Shot and The Mighty Ducks.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is live college mascots. The four answers are Bevo, Sir Big Spur, Smokey and Uga.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ baseball. The four answers are backyard, fantasy, inside and major league.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Sept. 13 #559

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Sept. 13, No. 559.

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 is fun, but tricky. Even after I had solved for a few answers, I didn’t quite understand the theme, though it eventually came to me. (Answer below.) 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: Better than good.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Tony the Tiger says this.

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:

SEAT, SEATS, GRAM, GRAMS, PLATE, PLATES, PEAS, NUTS, PLAT, PLATS, LAKE, THEN, MIND, GREAT, STONE, TONE

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 have 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:

APES, AUNTS, LAKES, MINDS, PLAINS, EXPECTATIONS

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is THEYREGREAT. All the answers can take the word «great» in front of them, like Great Plains, or great aunt. To find the spangram, look for the T that’s the farthest-left letter on the top row, and wind down.