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I'm back with your streaming TV news and
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updates plus the big stories that I'm
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going to be following for all of 2025
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today's video kicks off my 10th year of
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helping people cut the cord and save
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money and in that time I have never seen
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such a strong reaction to a live TV
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streaming price hike like the one we
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just experienced of course I'm talking
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about YouTube TV and the $10 a month
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price increase now 83 bucks a month for
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new customers and and if you are an
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existing customer you're going to pay
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more starting this month unlike in the
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past there was no new content and no new
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features announced along with the
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increase and really I think that's one
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reason why there's been so much push
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back after this last increase the fifth
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in YouTube TV's history now here's the
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thing about price increases usually
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people say they're going to cancel but
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then they don't and the services know it
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but I've been reading your comments and
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based on the feedback I've been
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wondering if this time could be
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different you tell me for a couple
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reasons I don't think we'll know that
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answer to that question at least not
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right away so here's why first a lot of
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current YouTube TV users they got a
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retention offer simply by going through
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the cancellation steps and that delayed
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the price increase for the next 6 months
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so maybe there will be a new wave of
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cancellations starting in let's say May
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or June the second factor and really a
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wild card that could affect all live TV
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services the launch of ESPN Standalone
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service in the fall how much of an
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impact that makes I think it's going to
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come down to what ESPN charges for that
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service YouTube TV has somewhere around
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8 million customers and the new starting
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price it's in line with the other
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premium live TV services I'll link below
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to my video with more on the
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Alternatives as well as some ways to
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lower your YouTube TV Bill something
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else I'm tracking for 2025 the Blurred
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Lines between live services and On
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Demand Services let me explain more Live
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Sports and More Live Events they're
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showing up on services that have
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traditionally offered OnDemand content
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and there's two big examples of this
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happening in January WWE Raw makes the
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move to streaming after decades on
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linear TV you can watch it on Netflix as
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of Monday January 6th and in mid January
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Prime video it gets an exclusive NFL
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wild card playoff game looking ahead
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only more of this trend Prime Video has
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struck a deal to exclusively stream some
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NBA games and that starts with the 2025
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2026 season based on that alone I would
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not be surprised if Amazon Prime gets a
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price increase this year or next year it
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last raise prices in 2022 and putting
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higher prices aside some ad supported
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streaming services including Prime video
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have already said they will be
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increasing that ad load in 2025 let's
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keep it moving and another thing I've
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been wondering will there be another big
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hit show that premieres on cable or are
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those days just over let me show you
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this headline it's from variety despite
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all the talk about people canceling
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cable Yellowstone series finale Drew
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record ratings and this is a show that
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you needed a pay TV service to watch new
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episodes first aired on the Paramount
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Network so that's a little context and
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then I read this next article not
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surprising but still shocking and this
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is from The Hollywood Reporter it says
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aside from Yellowstone only one just one
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scripted cable show averaged more than 2
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million viewers last year it was a
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Hallmark Channel show When Calls the
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Heart That example shows that while the
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cable networks still have a lot of
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sports news and reality shows the
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scripted shows have mostly moved to
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streaming they're expensive to produce
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and the cable networks are all about
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cutting costs this is really happening
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at all the Legacy Media companies but
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the cuts at paramounts cable networks
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both programming and staff have been
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some of the most widely reported
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Paramount as you may know is in the
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process of merging with Sky Dan and
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speaking of that more mergers and more
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consolidation that could be a big story
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in 2025 as well as more collaboration
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among competitors one recent example of
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that the Disney Plus Hulu and Max bundle
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it launched last summer and it's been
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considered a success I also think it's
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not a bad value for consumers in the
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year ahead I'm also curious what's going
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on with free streaming services like
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streaming services in general I think we
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can all agree there's just too many of
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them after all these years I'd still say
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Pluto TV tub and the Roku channel are my
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top three picks you can let me know
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yours in the comments below but now
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Direct TV has joined some other live TV
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services in offering a free tier this
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one is called my free Direct TV and so
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far I describe it as a light version of
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Sling free stream now these Services all
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have one thing in common and that is
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lots of ads but for companies like
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Direct TV is AD Revenue really the
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endgame I've been wondering based on my
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testing it seems that Direct TV is using
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the free service to try to get people to
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sign up for paid plans problem is the
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current plans start at $87 a month way
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too expensive and not something a person
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signing up for a free service would ever
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be interested in so if the goal of the
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free service is to upgrade users to a
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paid plan they really need to offer more
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affordable bundles and Standalone
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subscriptions this is something Direct
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TV has said it wants to do will it
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happen in 2025 we'll wait and see really
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what I'm trying to figure out is if any
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of the newer free services are making
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moves to stand out from their
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competitors or are they just offering
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the same content with a slightly
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different user interface because if
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that's the case I'll probably just stick
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with Pluto TV tub and the Roku channel
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on the home internet front it was
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recently reported that a million people
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are on a wait list for T-Mobile 5G home
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internet they want it they just can't
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get it I've been covering the rise of 5G
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home internet services and testing them
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out over the past few years the new
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competition well it's been a real
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headache for cable internet providers
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they've responded though with better
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deals now internet for example this is
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from Comcast and it starts at only $30 a
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month so will 5G home internet continue
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to grow in 2025 my bet would be yes and
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that growth although it may be slowed
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down by availability issues it could
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force additional changes from the cable
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companies it's an example of how
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competition has worked for consumers and
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if you haven't checked out my internet
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plan comparison tool lately I'll have a
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link below it's also on Michael saves
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deals.com I want to show you the results
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of a poll that I put on my YouTube
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Community tab just before the new year
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check it out here's what people say they
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are planning to spend on streaming TV in
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2025 37% between $50 and $100 a month
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32% less than $50 a month and thank you
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to a viewer for reminding me that
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discover has 5% cash back on select
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streaming services that is for the first
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quarter of the year so if you've got a
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Discover Card make sure to log in and
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activate that offer thanks for watching
