Remember when cutting the cord was the smartest money move you could make? Dump the cable box, grab a couple of streaming apps, pocket the difference.
That difference is gone.
Fortune added up the cheapest ad-free plans on eight big services — Netflix, Apple TV, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, HBO Max and Prime Video — using list prices as of Sept. 8. The total: $139.41 a month, or $1,672.92 a year.
Now compare that to cable. Citing Leichtman Research Group, Fortune says the average pay-TV bill hit $103.10 a month in 2016. Adjusted for inflation, that’s roughly $143 today. In other words, a full streaming lineup now costs more than the cable bill you fled.
And Fortune’s tally is already stale. Two weeks later, Disney raised prices on ad-free Disney+ to $21.49 from $18.99. Ad-free Hulu jumped by the same amount to the same price. Those two hikes push the eight-service total to $144.41 a month — more than $1,730 a year.
I’ve spent 35 years watching companies pull this move. Lure you in cheap, wait until you’re comfortable, then raise the price one step at a time. Here’s how to fight back.
1. Rotate, don’t stack
The single biggest mistake is paying for everything at once. You can only watch one show at a time, so why pay for eight libraries every month?
Keep one or two services, and swap when you run out of things to watch.
Suppose you keep Netflix Standard at $19.99 and HBO Max Standard at $18.49. That’s $38.48 a month instead of $144.41 — a savings of about $106 a month, or more than $1,200 a year.
That’s a weekend getaway, or a car payment, for doing nothing more than rotating the lineup.
The shows aren’t going anywhere. They’ll still be there in three months when it’s that service’s turn.
2. Cancel the day you finish the show
You might put off canceling because you think you’ll lose the days you already paid for. At some services, you won’t.
Netflix, for example, says that if you cancel partway through a billing cycle, you can keep watching until that cycle ends. After that, the charges stop.
Netflix also says it keeps your viewing activity and recommendations for two years after you leave, so they’ll be there if you come back.
So don’t wait until the night before the renewal date and risk forgetting. Finish the season, cancel, and keep watching what’s left of the month. Check your other services’ help pages for their rules.
3. Take the ads when the upcharge isn’t worth it
Ad-free plans cost a lot more than they used to. At Netflix, Standard with ads is $8.99 a month. Standard without ads is $19.99. That’s an $11 gap, or $132 a year, to avoid commercials.
When we ran the numbers, we found that you’re paying $13.53 an hour to skip Netflix ads. That’s a steep price for a few minutes of commercials.
Using Fortune’s Sept. 8 prices, picking the ad tier wherever one exists dropped the eight-service total to $89.92. That’s nearly $50 a month back in your pocket.
You don’t have to go all-in. Keep ad-free on the one service you watch most, and take ads everywhere else.
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4. Bundle only when it actually saves
Some bundles are real deals. Disney sells a Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max bundle without ads for $34.99 a month.
Buy those three ad-free plans separately, and you’d pay about $61 a month at current list prices. The bundle saves about $26 a month, or roughly $318 a year.
The catch: A bundle only helps if you’d actually watch all three. Paying $34.99 for three services when you only want one isn’t saving money. It’s spending more.
Also check your phone bill. Some wireless plans throw in streaming. T-Mobile, for instance, says it includes Netflix Standard with ads on its Experience Beyond and Experience More plans.
If your phone bill is the bigger leak, you can compare cheaper cellphone plans here.
And keep an eye on the corporate shuffle. HBO Max and Paramount+ are now under the same owner, and the new boss says he plans to combine them. As explained in this look at what the Skydance merger means for you, consolidation rarely lowers prices.
5. Start with the free services
Before you pay for anything, see what you can get for nothing. Plenty of legal, ad-supported services offer movies and TV shows at no cost.
They won’t have this week’s hottest series. But if you mostly want something on in the background, or you like older movies and reruns, they might cover more of your viewing than you’d guess.
We rounded up 18 streaming TV services that are completely free. Try a few for a month before you renew a paid plan.
6. Use your library card
This is the best-kept secret in streaming. Many public libraries give cardholders free access to Kanopy and Hoopla, two streaming services stocked with movies and TV shows.
The Los Angeles County Library, for example, offers both. There are limits: LA County cardholders can borrow up to five Hoopla titles a month, and each one expires after seven days.
Still, that’s free entertainment you’ve already paid for with your taxes. Check your library’s website to see what it offers. Rules and limits vary by library.
7. Do the annual-plan math
If there’s a service you know you’ll keep all year, paying up front can beat paying monthly.
Disney+ Premium costs $21.49 a month, or $214.99 for a year. Pay monthly for 12 months, and you’d spend $257.88. The annual plan saves you about $43.
HBO Max Standard runs $18.49 a month or $184.99 a year. That’s a savings of about $37 versus 12 monthly payments.
But there’s a trade-off. An annual plan locks you in, which is exactly the opposite of rotating. Only pay for the year if it’s a service you’d never cancel anyway.
The bottom line
Cord-cutting didn’t fail. The streamers just figured out what the cable companies always knew: Once you’re settled in, you’re less likely to leave, so they can raise the price.
Disney’s hikes are a perfect example. Current subscribers won’t be charged the higher rate until Oct. 21 at the earliest — long after they’ve stopped paying attention.
Don’t let inertia set your entertainment budget. Rotate, take the ads where you don’t mind them, use your library card, and cancel the minute you’re done. Do that, and streaming can be the bargain it was supposed to be.
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