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Cable déjà vu? Look who's bundling streaming services (and what it's going to cost you)
A few years ago, I saw streaming services already following in cable TV's footprints with higher rates and similar packages. Now, old-school cable company Comcast is rolling out Xfinity StreamSaver, a package of Netflix Standard with ads, Peacock Premium with ads, and Apple TV+ for $15 per month, with no annual contracts.
This StreamSaver bundle is available for current and new Xfinity Internet or TV customers. You can also combine the bundled streaming services with NOW TV for an all-in-monthly price of $30. That's a discount of over 30% compared with subscribing to the services separately.
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NOW TV is Comcast's lightweight live TV streaming service. It comes with 40+ live TV channels, including AMC, A&E, Hallmark, History Channel, and Lifetime, plus over two dozen integrated FAST channels. These are primary regional streaming channels such as AccuWeather, NBC News, TODAY All Day, and Xumo Movies. Unlike Sling TV and YouTube TV, it does not come with local network channels.
In any case, you can only get this service if you're an Xfintiy Internet or TV customer. Comcast Xfinity also handles all the billing for the separate services. You'll just pay the one bill, and you're done.
All these apps are integrated into Comcast X1, Xumo Stream Box, and Flex devices. Comcast is also providing StreamSaver apps for other streaming devices, such as Apple TV and smart TVs.
This is only part of the new trend of streaming service bundling. Disney and Hulu started packaging their services together this March under the cumbersome name Hulu on Disney+. With ads, this package costs $9.99 a month. Without them, it's $19.99 a month.
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You can also add ESPN+ to this combo for $14.99 a month with ads or $24.99 without them (except on ESPN+ which will still have ads). Before you get too excited, remember this is just the Hulu streaming service, not Hulu + Live TV. If you want Hulu + Live TV and Disney and ESPN+, that will run you $76.99 with ads or $89.99.
There's still more, though. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery will soon offer a bundle that combines Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max. We don't know what this bundle will cost yet, but we'll know soon. It should be made available this summer. It will also offer ad and ad-free versions. This as-of-yet unnamed service will also include BBC, CNN, DC, Discovery, Food Network, FX, HGTV, Marvel, Pixar, Searchlight, and Warner Bros. networks.
But wait! There's yet another bundle from Disney and Discovery coming. In this one, they join forces with Fox to launch a new streaming sports online service: Venu Sports. It will include the ESPN channels, FS1, and FS2, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, SEC Network, TBS, TNT, and TruTV. It will not include CBS and NBC, so most NFL games will not be available on the new network. Venu is expected to arrive before the college football season, so I expect to see it debut in August. We still don't have a price for this sports bundle. Guestimates, though, have Venu coming with a monthly bill of just over $40 a month.
Subscribers will also be able to bundle Disney+, Hulu, and/or Max with Venu. This appears to be simply a matter of adding on the services at their usual prices, rather than offering them as a discounted bundle.
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It's possible Veru won't launch that soon, though. Fubu, the streaming service that has staked its flag as being the best all-sports streaming service, has sued all the companies involved and may yet stop this plan in its tracks.
What all this means for you, dear reader and TV watcher, is that deciding which streaming services to subscribe to is becoming an ever more complicated question. I expect other streaming services to join the bundling services ring as well.
In the short run, we'll probably all save some money. To do that, take a long, hard look at what streaming services you're using now, what ones you want, and how much their individual bills add up to. For example, if you're a Comcast customer and you have or want Netflix, Peacock, and Apple TV+, StreamSaver will save you money. It's as simple as that. Indeed, if you're in an area where you have a choice between Comcast and other internet service providers (ISP), Xfinity Internet starts at $25 a month for 300 Megabits per second (Mbps) a month or $50 a month for a Gigabit per second (Gbps). Those are good prices for good broadband.
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We'll have to wait and see what the other bundled services offer and their final price tags. If you're a fan of Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel shows, any package that includes Disney+ will be worth a look. Venu will be good for sports fans, but NFL fans will need to look elsewhere.
In the long run, though, well, we all know what happened with our cable and satellite TV bills over the years. We may yet see a rerun of those ever-increasing bills in our future TV bills. Mind you, we're already seeing that anyway over all the online streaming services. That said, for now, these bundles deserve your attention.