There's only one streaming bundle that's actually worth paying for

Streaming services have slowly but surely crept up in price enough to the point where it doesn’t feel like there’s much of a difference between them and cable. The one thing working in favor of streaming services is you can cancel them whenever you want, versus being locked into a cable subscription. Even then, the content between the services is spread so far and wide that you often feel like you need several of them to keep up with your favorite shows and movies.

It’s situations like this where bundles come into play, and there’s one you shouldn’t pass up if you’re a fan of Hulu, Max, and Disney+. For $29.99 a month, you can get all three streaming services without any ads. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better deal than this, and for somebody who paid $20.99 a month for Max just by itself, it was too good for me to ignore any longer.

Related

How to cancel Disney+

You can only watch so much Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars.

The best streaming deal in town

Even I am impressed

As somebody who wants less streaming services instead of more, I actually thought this bundle was a good deal. You can drive the price even lower if you are okay with ads. Doing that shaves the price to $16.99 per month, but you’ll get frequent interruptions while watching your shows. For me, it was worth the splurge to get no ads, and even if I only keep the bundle for a month or two, I feel like I got my money’s worth.

The downside of subscribing to all three at once is content overload. For example, this gives me access to The House of the Dragon, The Bear, Agatha All Along, and Only Murders in the Building. For somebody interested in all of those shows, it’s quite a bit to take on at once, but it feels like time is of the essence if you want to keep up and watch it all before the subscription is up. There’s no need to feel rushed like that, but it makes sense if you’re not looking to keep the services for a long time.

For me, the big draw of this bundle is for people who are already paying for these three services separately from each other. The most expensive tier of Max costs $20.99 on its own, and then when you include ad-free Hulu at $18.99 per month, and Disney+ for $15.99, there’s a ton of value here. If you’re shocked by how much these services cost on their own, then, by all means, grab the bundle. If I had to give anything streaming bundle a recommendation, it would easily be this one.

Even if you’re not interested in what Hulu has to offer, for example, it’s a better deal to grab the bundle since it’ll keep the price lower than just paying for the two separately. Of course, that could be part of the plan, as streamers love to tout how high their numbers are, and getting a three-in-one package like this boosts numbers across the board even if you’re not watching a particular service.

Related

How to get Disney+ and Hulu for free with Google Play points

Eligible Google Play Points members can now redeem a special offer to get Disney+ and Hulu for free.

Save money where you can

Costs are rising all over the place

The year 2024 has been a rough one for people looking to keep their budgets in check. Netflix and Max, two of the most popular streaming services today, both had price increases this year, and that could very well be the case again next year. As streaming continues to grow, the cost of keeping a service running increases with it. What was once one of the greatest deals around, especially since it meant omitting a cable bill, has now become something that rivals what it swore to destroy.

A big part of this is content being spread all over the place. When Netflix was the only streamer in town and licensed everything, it was no big deal. Nowadays, if you want to watch the latest Marvel show, you have to get a subscription to Disney+ for it instead of Netflix being its home. The same goes for Friends, once a Netflix staple that has since gone on to Max, and the same goes for The Office being picked up by Peacock.

Unless a streaming service suddenly goes under, it doesn’t look like this issue is going anywhere. Max did break away from the trend a little bit by licensing its content to other platforms. 2022’s The Batman was even streaming on Tubi, a free service, for a little while.

Related

If you use someone else’s Max account, I have bad news

Max has announced it will soon begin its effort to crackdown on password-sharing.

Free services are proving their worth

Tubi and others are filling the void

Unsplash / Dario / Erol Ahmed / Erik Mclean / Pocket-lint

To be completely honest, this $30 bundle is more than enough for me, and I’m looking at other services like Tubi to help round out my viewing. Tubi has grown to become a very underrated service for me, and it’s packed with plenty of shows and movies I didn’t think I’d ever watch. Surprisingly enough, some high-quality content has appeared completely free of charge. On top of the previously mentioned The Batman, you can find Hulu’s recent White Men Can’t Jump remake, HBO’s Lovecraft Country, Gossip Girl, and Full Metal Jacket. These are wildly different shows and movies, but it’s a glimpse at the variety the service has to offer.

For me, bringing Tubi into the mix along with the aforementioned Hulu, Max, and Disney+ bundle is enough to get me through the holiday season without ever being bored. I’ll just keep my fingers crossed and hope this great value sticks around for a while because there’s no cheaper way to get these three services together. On top of that, Tubi also has ways to watch local channels, so it has a ton of added value.

Related

How I access my local TV channels on Tubi

Tubi is an excellent movie and TV show streamer, and the app’s free local channel catalog is the perfect cherry on top.