Why I avoid subscriptions through Roku and Amazon

Just sign up for streaming services on the web instead.

Jared Newman   |   June 3, 2026

There are too many ways to pay for TV, and some are better than others.

Roku, Amazon, and YouTube increasingly want you to sign up for streaming through their respective subscription marketplaces, rather than the streaming services’ own websites or mobile apps. The pitch is that they’ll consolidate more of your subscriptions in one place, so you’ll have fewer streaming menus and billing systems to deal with.