One of the questions I get surprisingly often is how I keep up with so many TV shows without subscribing to every streaming service under the sun.
The answer is…I don’t.
Years ago, I cut the cord and got rid of cable altogether. (If you’re curious why, I wrote about that decision in Time to Cut the Cord.) I’ve never looked back, although I do occasionally wonder what I’m missing.
These days I subscribe to four streaming services that are pretty much permanent fixtures: Netflix, Hulu, Max (still HBO in my heart), and Amazon Prime Video.
Although “permanent” might be a strong word. I periodically look at them all and ask whether they’re still earning their spot.
Max was actually the final addition to that group. For years and years I didn’t subscribe. I’d catch up on HBO shows whenever they eventually landed on Amazon, or I’d sign up for a month here and there if there was enough I wanted to watch.
Then a friend joked that if anyone deserved an HBO subscription, it was me.
Honestly? Fair. I’m still working through my backlog.
The bigger part of my strategy, though, is everything outside those four.
Instead of paying for Apple TV+, Peacock, Paramount+, and every other service all year long, I rotate them.
I’ll subscribe for a month, watch everything I’ve been saving up, and then cancel until there’s another backlog worth diving into.
It turns out most streaming shows aren’t going anywhere. If I don’t watch something the week it premieres, that’s okay. (Though I have been known to time a subscription around the Ink Master finale.) By waiting a few months, I usually get an entire season to binge instead of waiting week after week for new episodes. In fact, I recently wrote about why I’m getting better at letting shows pile up in Say Goodbye to Saved Shows.
The math also works surprisingly well.
My biggest tip? Cancel the subscription as soon as you sign up. That way you don’t forget a month later when the renewal hits. Most services make it easy to keep watching until your billing period ends anyway.
You’ll also sometimes get an offer to stick around at a discounted rate. Occasionally it’s worth taking them up on it, but more often than not I’m ready to move on to the next service in the rotation.
If I’m interested in one new series and maybe a movie or two, paying for a single month of a streaming service is often cheaper than renting or buying everything individually. And since movies make their way to streaming much faster than they used to, I’m usually happy to wait.
Right now, for example, I’m in a Peacock month. That means I get Peacock originals along with access to NBC shows, so it’s been a fun change of pace. Once it expires, I’ll let it go for a while, and I’ll share a roundup of everything I watched that was actually worth your time.
I also share my subscriptions with my dad since we’re considered the same household, which makes the value even better.
As for the services I keep year-round? Netflix, Hulu, and Max consistently have enough shows that I always have something I’m watching. Amazon Prime sometimes feels like a deal with the devil, but between the shipping benefits and the occasional show or movie, it still fills enough of a need that it stays…for now.
Streaming has become a little like the old cable packages it was supposed to replace. If you subscribe to everything all at once, the monthly cost adds up fast.
I’ve found that rotating services lets me watch almost everything I want, spend less money, and never feel like I’m running out of things to watch.
What’s the downside?
Occasionally there’s a watercooler show that everyone else is talking about while I’m waiting for my turn. And I still haven’t figured out sports. It’s not a huge loss for me most of the time, but at the moment I’m missing Wimbledon.
That’s a trade-off I’m willing to make.
I’d love to know: are you loyal to one or two streaming services, or do you rotate them like I do? And if there’s a hidden gem on Peacock I shouldn’t miss before my month is up, let me know in the comments.
