Streaming services I use (2023 edition)
Streaming services in 2023 have changed rapidly since a year ago. While streaming services do carry plenty of flaws, I still like using streaming for watching TV; I’m certainly not going back to paying for cable TV (and its fees). I’m not currently paying for Netflix; it’s expensive, and I’d finished watching what I wanted (or it was cancelled). However, I do enjoy various Netflix alternatives.
Below is a list of streaming services I’m currently using, as of September 2023. Not included is Plex, since it’s used more as a home media server.
Disney+ (and the Disney bundle)
The Disney bundle, bundling Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ together at a discount, has been a mainstay of mine for the past few years. It’s a better deal than buying the services separately. Also, Disney+ and Hulu together make up for each other’s weaknesses as stand-alone services. (Maybe why Disney plans to integrate Hulu more tightly with Disney+ sometime soon.) I’m paying for the ad-free version of the Disney bundle.
Disney+ viewing in 2023 has included:
The final few episodes of “The Owl House.”
The final episodes of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.”
A few movies.
There’s a few other things in my Disney+ watchlist, including “Muppets Mayhem,” “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3,” and “American Born Chinese.”
Hulu
While I’ve had Hulu for years, upgrading to Hulu without ads feels like a vast improvement over the ad-based version.
Hulu’s been useful for watching some TV shows, including reality shows and a few game shows. It’s also the home of a chunk of the 2010s-era Cartoon Network library (“Craig of the Creek,” “OK KO! Let’s Be Heroes,” “We Bare Bears,” etc.), especially after Warner Bros. Discovery purged such content from HBO Max.
My Hulu viewing over the past year includes:
A few ABC game shows, such as “The $100,000 Pyramid.”
A few reality shows, mostly cooking- or food-related ones.
A few movies, including “Fire Island,” about a group of gay friends trying to enjoy a vacation to Fire Island, New York.
ESPN+
ESPN+ is useful as a way to watch out-of-market hockey games, including both games on the Canadian Saturday night show “Hockey Night in Canada.” I note ESPN+ isn’t as useful a service during the summer months (when hockey season’s over), or during the playoffs, since those games aren’t carried on ESPN+. And of course, I can’t watch my local hockey team’s games, as those are blacked out. It says a lot about the sports world (and its cash-grabbing nature) that it’s cheaper and easier to watch my old hometown team (from across the country, back in the Midwest) versus a team across town.
ESPN+ via ESPN3 also simulcasts any sports on ABC. These include the occasional “Monday Night Football” game, as well as some NBA basketball coverage.
Tennis is also another mainstay for ESPN+, including the US Open and the Australian Open.
Paramount+
While “Star Trek” is Paramount+’s big selling point, my “Trek” viewing has waned in recent years. (A phrase I would never have imagined ever saying in high school or college, but….). In my case, I use Paramount+ for watching other material owned by the home of “Star Trek,” including:
Movies, including “Top Gun: Maverick.”
Some cartoons, such as “The Loud House” and “Transformers: EarthSpark.”
“RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
Sports, since Paramount+ carries NFL games during the fall.
Since I currently have the ad-free version of Paramount+, I also get access to my local CBS station, plus Showtime (both on-demand and live streaming of the traditional cable TV version). The former’s useful for local news and the infrequent non-sports-related live CBS event. The latter I haven’t used much, however.
Peacock
Comcast stopped offering Peacock for free for customers, save for a few exceptions. One such exception is for long-term customers enrolled in their free rewards program, which I qualify for (since there’s no other real choices for broadband where I live). Thus, I still get Peacock’s ad-based tier for free.
The Hallmark Channel and part of their movie library are now carried by Peacock. These include Hallmark’s recent attempts at improving diversity, such as “The Christmas House,” a holiday romantic comedy featuring the network’s first prominent gay couple.
I haven’t gotten much use out of Peacock outside of fall and winter (i.e. football season/the holidays), but material I’ve watched on Peacock:
“Sunday Night Football.”
Some live events, such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade.
A few Christmas specials, such as “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
A few movies.
MLS Season Pass
MLB Season Pass comes for free from my phone carrier. The service provides full access to the season’s slate of Major League Soccer (MLS) games through the Apple TV app. Unlike ESPN+ and similar sports services, MLS Season Pass also streams local team coverage without blackouts.
I use it to watch my local MLS team, the Seattle Sounders.
MLB.TV
MLB.TV also comes for free via my phone carrier. The service streams out-of-market local baseball games; of course, home games are blacked out. There’s also no nationally broadcast games, playoff games, or World Series games; thus, the service is basically only useful between April and September.
I occasionally use it as background noise, playing my old hometown teams’ games.
Free services
I also use a few free services, including:
Tubi
Pluto TV: I have it installed on my Roku, though it’s mostly redundant since I have Paramount+.
PBS: I use PBS’ app often, including watching “PBS News Hour” and my local PBS affiliates.
Movies Anywhere
Kanopy
Hoopla
YouTube
Conclusion
Adding up the cost of the above non-free services I use (and factoring in a few impending price hikes):
Disney bundle (Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+)(ad-free tier): $25
Paramount+ (ad-free tier): $12
Peacock (ad-based tier): $0
MLB.TV: $0
MLS Season Pass: $0
Total: $37
At under $40, the above services, plus the free ad-supported ones and my Plex server (with my ripped DVD/Blu-ray collection) provide plenty of TV, even if I don’t have the biggest service, Netflix. No, you don’t have to buy every streaming service at the same time, which is the only way streaming costs as much as or more than cable TV.
The above doesn’t include occasional use of Amazon Prime, a service I sometimes subscribe to for a few months for birthday/Christmas shopping. I assume most people have Prime mainly for the shipping and related shopping services. While Prime Video is available as a stand-alone service, one would be better off just getting the full Prime service and treating Prime Video as an extra.
"HBO Now Apple TV" by Harrison Weber is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (Flickr / cropped from original)