wrestling with streaming

I thought my next blog would be about the new streaming deal between WWE and Hulu, but it appears after about a week of everything except Smackdown listed as expiring Saturday last week, then Tuesday and finally last Friday, it looks like it will be the status quo for next day repeats of RAW and NXT to remain on Hulu instead of Peacock which is where we all expected them to end up.

Another surprise on Saturday morning threw my streaming plans out the window. Sling lost the rights to carry Disney programming including all the ESPN channels. This left me in a bind because I am unable to receive our ABC station out of Asheville, NC. I rely on ESPN3 to watch sporting events on ABC. So after first switching my sling base plan to "Sling Blue", which was the only plan available, I cancelled Sling and restarted my YouTube TV account. I watched last night's game between NC State and Clemson on ABC mainly...a few times I watched on ESPN3 on the ESPN app. I also, however continued to see ads for Hulu plus Live TV which now comes with Disney+ and ESPN+. I hadn't considered that service before and since I have separate yearly subscriptions to Disney+ and ESPN+. After some online digging, I discovered that as long as your email accounts are the same on all the services, it will apply the plan to all your accounts and give you a credit on your bill...I think the date given was December 21st. At $74.99/month for live TV, hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ it seems like a terrific deal. While I usually don't like monthly bills, I can prepare for one big bill more easily and also much like I did with Sling I can pay ahead of time with an online gift card.

My YouTube TV is already cancelled and will end on November 1st. So I have a new plan now. Hopefully consolidating my streaming services will help me lower costs.

The only thing Hulu with Live TV doesn't have is BBC America, but new Doctor Who episodes are so few and far between and there are plenty of ways to access them I think I can be do without it full time.