THE SCOOP ONSTREAMING

A closer look at all the ways you can watch TV today

- Caroline Fanning

THESE DAYS, IF YOU DON'T STREAM, it feels an awful lot as if you're swimming against the stream. When friends buzz about a must-watch show on streaming, you're left out of the conversation. Or, suddenly, big games are increasingly difficult to locate on familiar channels (or have entirely disappeared).

This January, NBCUniversal aired an NFL playoff game exclusively on streaming for the first time in history. In most of the United States (other than the two home cities), if you wanted to watch the Kansas City Chiefs duke it out with the Miami Dolphins in the AFC wild-card game, you forked over the $5.99 Peacock monthly subscription fee. (Peacock doesn't offer a free trial, and neither does Netflix, Max or Disney+, while Hulu, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+ and YouTube TV do.) The gamble paid off: Peacock gained 2.8 million subscribers.

These days, streaming is more straightforward than ever. If you have a newer TV, all you have to do is select one of the built-in apps and sign up to start watching. You have more options with devices such as an Apple TV, Chromecast or Roku, and you don't have to be a tech whiz to operate them.

In addition to giving you more to watch, cutting the cable cord could save you money. If you sign up for all the big services listed below (sans YouTube TV) at the basic tiers with ads, you'll pay $63.92/month. With an average cable bill of $143 per month, you'd save about $230 in the first year alone-even after adding in a stand-alone broadband service for around $60 per month.
Here's the rundown on the major services and the big shows and movies they offer.

Netflix