Latest / The Lineup by CableTV.com. Stop Overpaying. Start Watching. / Streamflation Is Real. Here's How to Beat It in 2026

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Streamflation Is Real. Here's How to Beat It in 2026 · The Lineup by CableTV.com. Stop Overpaying. Start Watching.

• 0:00
  Welcome to the cable tv .com podcast where we
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  give you the lowdown on all things television
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  streaming and internet. Thanks for stopping by.
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  Do you remember when streaming services were
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  the hero saving us from overpriced cable? Now
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  they're the villains sneaking bigger bills onto
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  our bank statements. Seriously, Netflix's price
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  tags keep climbing like it's chasing Everest
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  and Hulu's not far behind. I get sticker shock
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  every time I check my subscriptions. Today, we're
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  pulling back the curtain on streaming price hikes,
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  why they happen, which ones are sensible, which
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  are just cash grabs, and whether your favorite
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  service is still worth it. We'll spotlight Netflix's
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  wild ride, Disney's turbo increases, Hulu's slow
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  changes, and Apple TV's oddball tactics. Plus,
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  bundle hacks, ad add -ons, and Crunchyroll's
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  switch from free to paid. Ready to decode the
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  madness? Back in the day, Netflix at $7 .99 felt
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  like the deal of the century. Unlimited binging,
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  no ads, almost too good to be true. Honestly,
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  price hikes barely crossed my mind then. Netflix
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  was rock solid for years. So predictable, it
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  was boring in the best possible way. Now, yearly
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  increases are so routine, I brace myself whenever
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  I get an email from them. It's wild how what
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  was once a playground is now a maze, with every
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  service, changing plans, adding tiers, or restricting
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  sharing. Speaking of sharing, Netflix's password
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  crackdown really marks the moment streaming turned
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  into a tightly controlled and expensive business.
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  When Netflix started, it was basically a free
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  add -on if you were getting DVDs. Now, the standard
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  plan is nearly $20, premium almost $27. That
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  escalated fast. What's wild is how the first
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  price hikes were sneaky just a few bucks every
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  couple years. Suddenly, doubling the price is
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  normal, and ad -free is now a luxury. Plus, they
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  killed the basic plan. Two streams max, and if
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  your family's bigger, you pay more for each member.
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  It's almost ironic what started as unlimited
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  TV for all now feels like a premium club with
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  hidden fees. Makes you question if Netflix still
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  delivers on its original promise. That's the
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  big question. Is sticking with Netflix still
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  worth it? or are we just paying out of habit?
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  Disney Plus took the opposite approach. It launched
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  in 2019, but doubled its price within four years.
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  No slow climb, just pedal to the metal. And don't
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  forget, ads arrived in 2022. Now you pay more
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  to remove them, plus they slash tons of content.
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  Feels like they're scrambling to recoup costs.
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  Unless you're a diehard Star Wars fan, Disney
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  Plus alone is pretty pricey for what you get.
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  Their bundle with Hulu is the workaround, especially
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  since Hulu will only exist through Disney Plus
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  soon. Talk about a twist! Hulu was famous for
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  stability, no price changes, just two clear options.
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  But since Disney took over, premium prices have
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  been quietly creeping up. Feels like Disney's
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  nudging people to ditch Hulu standalone and jump
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  to their bundle. The slow trickle of increases
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  is classic behavioral nudging. And now, Hulu's
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  merging with Disney Plus. The standalone app
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  won't survive past 2026, but Hulu as a service
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  lives on inside Disney+. Most people will probably
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  just go with the bundle, even if it costs more.
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  That's the whole strategy. Make the bundle too
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  convenient to resist. The Disney bundle is a
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  circus duo, trio, legacy, all sorts of combos.
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  If you're okay with ads, it's a decent deal compared
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  to subscribing separately. But premium is steep.
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  Paying $30 a month for Hulu Disney Plus and ESPN
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  ad -free makes Netflix's premium look tame. The
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  gap between basic and premium is almost punitive.
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  Once Hulu content is fully baked into Disney
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  Plus, expect even bigger changes by late 2026.
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  Disney's betting everything on bundles. Makes
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  me wonder if bundles will get so confusing most
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  people just pick the cheapest option even if
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  it means watching with ads. HBO Max is drama
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  incarnate. It launched expensive, never competed
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  on price, then rebranded to Max, lost its HBO
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  identity, then switched back. That rebrand was
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  a mess. Dropping HBO was supposed to attract
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  families, but they stripped out Cartoon Network
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  and alienated kids. Then they started selling
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  major titles to Netflix and Hulu confusion everywhere.
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  Meanwhile, prices kept rising. Premium is now
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  nearly $23 for four streams, almost as high as
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  Netflix, but with less family content. Shows
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  how important branding is. If you lose your core
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  audience, even prestige TV can feel overpriced.
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  Amazon Prime Video used to be simple, one price,
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  ad -free, bundled with Prime. But in 2024, they
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  slapped ads on everything and started charging
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  to remove them. Classic bait and switch. hook
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  everyone on ad -free, then yank it away and hide
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  it behind a paywall. Plus, as Prime itself gets
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  pricier, streaming feels like an afterthought.
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  Apple TV is the oddball. One plan, no ads, six
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  streams, and just three price increases refreshingly
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  simple compared to the madness elsewhere. But
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  I'm almost afraid to praise them. Every time
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  a service gets called consumer -friendly, they
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  turn around and add a new fee. Their mostly original
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  content helps keep costs down. No expensive licensing
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  means fewer excuses for price hikes, or at least
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  that's the hope. Still, Apple's rebrand from
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  Apple TV Plus to Apple TV proves nothing is sacred.
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  Simplicity can disappear overnight. Paramount
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  Plus is a rare bird. It actually dropped prices
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  for its Showtime bundle when rebranding to premium,
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  the opposite of everyone else. Showtime is basically
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  gone, folded in to Paramount Plus. Now you get
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  both for less than the old bundle. It's almost
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  shockingly reasonable. Though the constant renaming
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  is confusing. Premium isn't what it was in 2022,
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  and Shawtime is just a memory. Makes me wonder
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  if Paramount will stick to this path or ramp
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  prices up again once people get used to the deal.
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  Peacock's naming scheme is bananas. Select is
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  the cheapest but has ads and restricted content.
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  Only Premium Plus is ad -free, which isn't how
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  most services define premium. Losing the free
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  tier in 2023 was a real blow. Now, even Select
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  misses out on originals, sports, and movies.
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  Peacock's biggest straws. If you're nostalgic
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  for classic sitcoms, Select is fine, but anyone
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  wanting new releases has to pay up. It's a nudge
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  toward higher tiers. Honestly, the confusion
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  probably helps them. If you can't tell the difference,
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  you might just grab the most expensive option
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  and call it a day. ESPN's rebrand from ESPN Plus
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  to ESPN Select and Unlimited is a double -edged
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  sword. Unlimited at $29 .99 includes all cable
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  channels, but only with ads. For superfans, it's
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  tempting, but if you want everything live or
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  follow multiple sports, costs rack up fast. With
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  standalone streaming, diehards pay more than
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  ever. The shift made watching sports just as
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  expensive as cable may be even worse. Casual
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  fans get plenty with Select, but the real action
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  and real costs are locked behind unlimited. Crunchyroll's
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  transformation is wild. Now, every tier costs
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  money. No more free streaming as of 2026. It's
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  bittersweet. The lowest plan is $9 .99, but none
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  of the tiers have ads and you get a solid anime
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  experience. Their subscriber count is booming,
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  but nostalgia for the free days lingers. Sometimes
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  I miss just hopping on for free, but the paid
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  tiers feel like a fair trade for quality and
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  no ads. Still, that shift shows how even the
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  most generous platforms can change their tune
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  as streaming evolved. So, three big takeaways.
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  Price hikes are inevitable. Bundles can sometimes
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  soften the blow, and branding changes often signal
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  even bigger shifts coming. The action step? Review
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  your subscriptions. Look for overlap, wasted
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  tiers, and check if a bundle actually saves you
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  money. Don't just accept every increase. Streaming
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  isn't getting any cheaper, but making smart choices
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  can help keep your bills under control. Thanks
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  for tuning in. Next episode, we'll dig into student
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  discounts and annual billing secrets. Until then,
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  happy streaming and keep those price alerts set.