In November, You Should Drop at Least 4 Streaming Services — but Not Netflix

As we get ready to kick off the holiday season, streaming services are serving up drama, sports and festive content. But only a handful of platforms are worth the price in November. If you’re a hardcore Hallmark movie fan, Peacock will keep you satisfied. With Attack on Titan and Loki wrapping, you may want to shed your subscriptions to Disney Plus and Crunchyroll midmonth. And Netflix is where you’ll find the most interesting titles this month, as The Crown and All the Light We Cannot See are part of the lineup. 

Every month, you may need to weigh whether to cancel a streaming service because of cost and the content that’s currently available. I’d like to offer one strategy during a time of tight budgets: Churn like ice cream. 

How do you churn? Subscribe, cancel, roll with a different service, then resubscribe, keeping your favorites in a rotation. Rotating streaming services can be a money-saver when Netflix, Disney Plus, Max and others don’t have the content you want to watch at a given time. Just remember to shut off autorenewal for your monthly subscriptions. This method may not fly if you’re sharing your streaming accounts, but if you can work out an arrangement with your crew, go for it. 

Here are my suggestions for which streamers to keep or cancel in November, based on new shows and movies (I didn’t consider live TV streaming services) coming to each platform. Your tastes may be different, but if nothing else, I urge you to at least consider the concept of rotating for savings. It’s easier than you might think. And remember, a VPN can also be a useful tool when you’re streaming. 

Read more: Disney Plus Price Hike: What It Means for Your Next Bill and Ways to Save

November Streaming Service Rotation

	Keep	Cancel
Netflix	X
Peacock	X
Max		X
Starz		X
Disney Plus		X
Paramount Plus	X
Apple TV Plus		X
Prime Video	X
Hulu	X

Streaming services you need in November

Netflix: In addition to the miniseries All the Light You Cannot See and part one of The Crown’s final season, there is anime, a live sports event, the Squid Game reality show and more. Here’s a look at what to watch on Netflix:

• All the Light We Cannot See (Nov. 2)
• Onimusha (Nov. 2) 
• Blue Eye Samurai (Nov. 3) 
• Selling Sunset, season 7 (Nov. 3)
• Escaping Twin Flames (Nov. 8)
• The Killer, starring Michael Fassbender (Nov. 10)
• Netflix Cup live golf event (Nov. 14)
• Matt Rife: Natural Selection (Nov. 15)
• The Crown, season 6 part 1 (Nov. 16)
• Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, new anime series (Nov. 17)
• Leo, an animated film starring Adam Sandler (Nov. 21) 
• Squid Game: The Challenge (Nov. 22)
• A Nearly Normal Family (Nov. 24)
• Obliterated (Nov. 30)

Peacock: You can keep streaming Big Ten and Sunday Night Football, and start your Hallmark holiday movie marathon with a batch of new releases through all of November. Viewers may also want to catch Love Island Games on Nov. 1 and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov. 23.

Hulu: Though not necessarily a must-have this month, Hulu has some things to offer. Originals will keep you busy along with some network titles, but here are some new releases to keep you entertained: 

• Black Cake, a TV series (Nov. 1)
• Magic Mike’s Last Dance (Nov. 2)
• Quiz Lady (Nov. 3)
• A Murder at the End of the World (Nov. 14) 
• Fargo: Year 5 (Nov. 22)
• Elf (Nov. 23)

Paramount Plus: Taylor Sheridan’s latest Western TV show, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, drops on Nov. 5. Along with that, fans can check out the premiere for NCIS: Sydney on Nov. 14 and Good Burger 2 on Nov. 22. NFL games are also streaming on Paramount Plus, including a matchup on Thanksgiving Day.

Prime Video: You may want to cancel if you have a standalone Prime Video subscription unless you’re watching football, or Invincible season 2 (Nov. 3) or BTS: Yet to Come (Nov. 9).

Cancel these if your shows are on break

Max: You can watch live NBA and NHL games for free through the end of February with Max’s new B/R sports tier. Cancel your subscription if you’re not a sports fan or if you want to skip these new releases for now: Rap Sh!t, season 2 (Nov. 9), Little Richard: I Am Everything (Nov. 23) and Bookie (Nov. 30). 

Apple TV Plus: With the price now sitting at $10 a month, think about whether you’d prefer to wait and binge Lessons in Chemistry, Invasion or For All Mankind, season 4, which debuts on Nov. 10.

Disney Plus: Loki, season 2 ends on Nov. 9, so you can cancel Disney Plus unless you’ve scored a great deal or bundle. I’ll note that The Santa Clauses, season 2 premieres on Nov. 8.

Starz: Power Book IV: Force will stream its finale on Nov. 10. Raising Kanan returns on Dec. 1, so you can drop Starz until a later date unless you’ve signed up for one of its discounts. 

The best way to save money on streaming is to wait

Waiting until most or all of the episodes of your favorite series land on a platform is a wise strategy if you don’t get FOMO. That way, rather than pay for a service for several months to cover the six- to 10-week run of a show, you can catch up on everything by subscribing for one month. And then repeat the cycle again. 

For example, the Frasier reboot premiered Oct. 12 and continues its 10-episode season with weekly episodes into December. Why pay for three months of Paramount Plus when you can wait to watch it in full anytime in December? If The Crown, season 6, is the only reason you want Netflix in November, you should wait until December when parts one and two are streaming. The same strategy works for Apple TV Plus’ For All Mankind, which will wrap season 4 in January. Wait to binge it. 

Think about how much you’re paying per month for each streaming service you have and do the math. Netflix is $7 to $23 (plus extra member fees), and Paramount Plus starts at $6. Apple TV Plus is $10. Disney Plus is anywhere from $2 to $25 depending on bundles, Max costs $10 to $20, Hulu starts at $8 and Starz runs $10. Peacock has a base rate of $6 a month. Should you decide to rotate, set yourself a calendar reminder to alert you when it’s time to re-subscribe or cancel. See you in December for another streaming service rundown.