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hey everyone I'm back with your
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streaming TV news and updates for
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December 2024 happy holidays support the
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channel visit Michael saves deals.com
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let's get right into it and start with a
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pricey alert this one comes from sling
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TV it's my number one pick for people
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who want live TV on a budget and now the
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service is raising the price of its
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Plans by $6 a month now this change
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takes effect on December 20th and this
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price increase it will affect
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subscribers to all of slings paid plans
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so orange blue and orange plus blue and
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I want to give you a look at my updated
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live TV streaming price tracker here
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sling TV's new starting price well it's
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still going to be about 20 to $30 a
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month less than most of its competitors
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and as you see here Direct TV stream
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fubo and Hulu Live Well they all raise
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prices this year there is a hold out the
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most popular live TV service
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google-owned YouTube TV it last raised
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its starting price in March 2023 now of
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course that's as of this recording this
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can change at any time and the news of
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Sling TV's price increase it comes as
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Direct TV's plan to buy Dish Network
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fell apart last month so that's no
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longer happening at least not for now if
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you're a sling customer let me know what
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you think about what's going on big
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picture here my concern is that these
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live TV services are are really going to
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run out of new customers as they keep
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raising the price of traditional bundles
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even as people are spending more time
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with free and lowcost On Demand options
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sure there are still people cutting the
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cable TV cord every day but do they even
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need a live TV service for a lot of them
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maybe not let's keep it moving some
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rapid fire news updates and it's another
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sign of the decline of cable TV Comcast
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is spinning off most of its cable
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networks into a separate business MSNBC
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CNBC USA oxygen e sci-fi and golf
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channel Bravo is not part of this
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planned spin-off it will remain under
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NBC Universal along with the NBC
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broadcast network and peacock all eyes
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are going to be on Netflix on Christmas
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day two exclusive NFL games Chiefs and
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Steelers and Ravens and Texans Beyonce
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performing at halftime for that second
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game now this is going to be a big test
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for Netflix after viewers complained and
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complain loudly about freezing and
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buffering during the recent Jake Paul
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Mike Tyson fight by the way Netflix has
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108 million viewers tuned in worldwide
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new this month an ESPN tile on Disney
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plus it'll give users access to select
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programming some Live Events too but
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don't get too excited this is not a
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substitute for the cable channel that is
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still in the works ESPN is planning to
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launch its long awaited Standalone
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streaming app in the fall of 2025 so the
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new tile is kind of a baby step in that
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direction I've got more news ahead but
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right now a mini review update this is
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the Roku Ultra 2024 recently got this
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one on sale now I have noticed some
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speed improvements nothing major but the
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biggest change really is the remote
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roku's voice remote Pro and I think I
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found my new favorite use for the
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handsfree voice controls so basically
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the way this works is that instead of
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pressing the microphone key on your
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remote you are going to say the prompt
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that I've got listed right here on the
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screen I'm not saying it out loud on
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purpose just in case it might affect
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some Roku users watching this video all
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right so after you say the prompt the
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Roku device is going to start listening
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for various voice commands and my
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favorite is these two skip commercials
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so when I'm watching YouTube the ad pops
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up I can just say the Roku command and
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then the word skip now if you do not
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like the handsfree voice controls some
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people don't you can always turn this
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feature off and only use the key on your
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remote to activate the voice controls
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now let's get back to the news I've got
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more rapid fire updates if you've got
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Hulu's on demand service I know a lot of
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people got the Black Friday deal well
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you can keep streaming streaming your
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favorite Fox shows the day after they
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air on broadcast TV Hulu and fox they've
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just renewed their content partnership
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and as part of this deal some out of
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season episodes of key Fox unscripted
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programs those will also be available on
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Hulu freey is being shut down as a
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standalone service kind of a bummer I
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liked freey but the good news is that
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the content is being folded into the
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Prime Video app it'll still be available
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free whether you have prime or not
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meanwhile a new partnership Amazon and
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PBS more than 150 local PBS stations as
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well as the PBS Kids channel they're
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going to launch over the coming months
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on Prime video free of charge a two
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billion doll deal is final Walmart has
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just acquired the TV maker Vio the
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retail giant says Walmart and Vio will
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continue to operate separately for the
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foreseeable future but one change you
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can expect to see more Walmart ads
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displayed through Vio TVs got a quick
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password sharing update for you Netflix
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and Disney plus they've already done it
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now Max is going to restrict the
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practice and it plans to implement paid
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sharing for Max an executive recently
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said that early gentle messaging will
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begin this month in December so if
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you've been using someone else's
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password to stream Max just know that's
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going to be ending most likely sometime
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in in 2025 and no words yet on how much
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Max's paid sharing is going to cost so
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Black Friday it's behind us but I wanted
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to share a few key takeaways after
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tracking all the deals as they came in
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and first a thank you to everyone who
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supported Michael saves deals.com I
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really appreciate it for streaming TV
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the deals were overall pretty good some
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of them on par with last year despite
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the regular price of the services going
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up in recent months also the push to add
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supported plans undeniable sometimes
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those are the only plans that had deals
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streaming device deals were also strong
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I did notice further price reductions
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from Roku closer to Black Friday here
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were the prices when I uploaded my Roku
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buying guide on November 19th and then
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you can see there were additional
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savings closer to Black Friday on the
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Roku Express 4K plus and the Streaming
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Stick 4K the discount for the new Roku
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Ultra 2024 held steady internet plan
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deals well they were okay A little
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better than average Verizon 5G home
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internet stood out with the free Xbox
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offer it was also a good year for phone
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plan deals some of those are continuing
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into December visible was offering $20 a
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month for 24 months plus a gift card now
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in December it's offering $20 a month
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for 25 months of the base B plan that's
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the one I've got but the real deal is
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not the base plan it's the $30 a month
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for 25 months of the Premium plan and I
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don't normally recommend that people
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start with visible plus but this is an
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excellent value for a plan on Verizon's
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network if I were a new customer I'd
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probably be getting this deal and then
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stacking it with the visible discount on
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Verizon 5G home internet give this video
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a like if you found it helpful I'll see
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you next time and on Michael saves
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deals.com thanks for watching
