Streaming in July Is Kind of Hot. Keep Hulu and These Other Services

Get pumped for July. Ready to see Sweet Tooth in Twisted Metal? How about bidding farewell to Henry Cavill in The Witcher and welcoming Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War back to TV? Peacock, Netflix and Hulu may have you willing to pay whatever it takes — like extra fees — to keep your streaming services flowing this month.

I’ll note that there’s a lot of anime arriving this summer along with the return of popular hits like Good Omens, Foundation and new films like They Cloned Tyrone. But every title on every platform may not be enough to justify paying all that money.  

Each month you may want to weigh whether to cancel a streaming service because of the content that’s currently available and how much you’re paying for each service. I want to offer one strategy: Churn like butter.

What does that mean? Subscribe, cancel, roll with a different platform, then resubscribe. Rotating services as needed helps save money 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. Churning may not be an option if you’re sharing your accounts with people outside your household, of course. But if you can work out an arrangement with your streaming partners, go for it. 

Here are my recommendations for which streamers to keep or cancel for July, based on new shows and movies (I didn’t consider sports and live TV streaming services) arriving on 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.

Read more: Best Streaming Services of 2023

July Streaming Service Rotation

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

Netflix and Hulu are keepers in July

Hulu: If you haven’t watched The Bear on Hulu yet, what are you waiting for? Also, one of July’s biggest anime releases in the US is Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 2 on July 8. Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead hits on July 9, and you can also watch the premiere of Justified: City Primeval (July 19), What We Do in the Shadows season 5 (July 14) and This Fool season 2 (July 28). Cruel Summer is still streaming too.

Netflix: No matter how much you’re paying for your subscription, these shows and movies may have you on the hook for July. 

• Wham! documentary (July 5)
• The Lincoln Lawyer, season 2, part 1 (July 6)
• The Out-Laws — film with Adam Devine, Nina Dobrev, Pierce Brosnan (July 7)
• Hack My Home (July 7)
• Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (July 9)
• Record of Ragnarök, season 2, part 2 (July 12)
• Sonic Prime, season 2 (July 13)
• Survival of the Thickest (July 13)
• Bird Box Barcelona (July 14)
• Too Hot to Handle, season 5 (July 14)
• Sweet Magnolias, season 3 (July 20)
• They Cloned Tyrone (July 21)
• The Great British Baking Show: The Professionals, season 7 (July 26)
• The Witcher, season 3, volume 2 (July 27)
• The Dragon Prince, season 5 (July 27)   

Prime Video: Last month, I told you July is the time to watch Prime Video. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan continues to stream, but you can also watch The Horror of Dolores Roach (July 7), The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 (July 14) and all six episodes of Good Omens season 2 (July 28).

Disney Plus: Secret Invasion fans will want to keep the service, and parents may want to if there are Bluey fans in the house. Bluey season 3 — a full 10 episodes — arrive on July 12, and there are two new TV show premieres on July 5: Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire and Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes. If none of these titles interest you, cancel Disney Plus for now.

Max: If you love HBO and Discovery’s Shark Week, this is your month. In addition to Warrior and The Righteous Gemstones, you can stream the new limited series Full Circle on July 13. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, it features a star-studded cast that includes Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Jim Gaffigan, Jharrel Jerome, Timothy Olyphant and Dennis Quaid. If it’s reality TV you’re into, HGTV’s Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge debuts on July 16 and Shark Week starts on July 23.

Peacock: Twisted Metal arrives July 27 with all 10 episodes, so if you loved the video game, you should keep your subscription. Other than that, it’s all about reality shows: Love Island USA (July 18), Real Housewives of New York (July 17) and Below Deck Down Under (July 18).

Starz: I recommend keeping Starz if you love Outlander. Other notables include Minx season 2 (July 21) and Heels season 2 (July 28). Lock in a deal for Starz if you want to watch this summer or cancel and wait until September for Power Book IV: Force.

You can take a break from these services

Paramount Plus: The price of the service increased on June 27, so you may not want to keep it unless you’re watching iCarly season 3, sports, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds or Zoey 102. There is one hot TV show release coming in July from the creator of Yellowstone, though; it’s Special Ops: Lioness, starring Zoe Saldaña.

Apple TV Plus: Idris Elba’s new series, Hijack, arrived on June 28, and you can watch it weekly throughout the month. The Afterparty season 2 arrives July 12 and Foundation season 2 also drops on July 14, but if you’re not a fan, you can skip Apple TV Plus this month.

Save money if you wait a bit

If you’re not someone who routinely gets FOMO, then a smart method is to wait until the bulk or all episodes of your favorite series land on a platform. That way, rather than pay for a service for two or three 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.

For example, there will be eight episodes of Secret Invasion on Disney Plus. The finale drops in August, so all episodes of Marvel’s show will be available to stream at that time. Though it premieres on June 21 and runs through August, save yourself three months of fees by waiting to stream it in full anytime in August or September. Likewise, Foundation has 10 episodes this season that stream into September. Hold off and binge it, and save some money, too. You can do the same thing with the nine-episode run for The Righteous Gemstones on Max or Starz’s Outlander.

Note how much you’re paying per month for each streaming service, and do the math. Paramount Plus starts at $6. Apple TV Plus is $7. Netflix is $7 to $20 (plus fees for extra members), Disney Plus is anywhere from $2 to $11 depending on bundles, Max costs $10 to $20, Hulu starts at $8 and Starz runs $9. Peacock has a base rate of $5 a month (for now). Should you decide to churn, set yourself a calendar reminder to alert you when it’s time to resubscribe or cancel. We’ll see you in August for another streaming breakdown.