Streaming Guide December 2024: You’re Gonna Need Disney Plus, Netflix and These Other Services

We know December means festive celebrations and holiday-themed TV and movies, but this year, the standard cliché content is balanced with exciting new arrivals. That doesn’t mean you should throw away plans to watch Hallmark movies and NFL games all month; instead, load your watchlist platter with more. 

I realize some of you may disappointed in Netflix after the Tyson vs. Paul fight, but the moment you’ve been waiting for will be streaming on the platform this month and whether that’s Beyoncé’s halftime gig or Squid Game 2 is totally your call. Football, Christmas movies, Beetlejuice and good ol’ drama are must-see streaming TV this month, along with Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and the new Inside Out spinoff landing on Disney Plus. And for the first time, you’ll be able to watch a Christmas Day NBA game there, too.

In November, we acknowledged that your gifting priorities could affect how much you spend on streaming, so it’s a good thing you can grab Black Friday deals for Peacock, Max, Hulu and other streaming services. But, I’d also like to share my strategy for keeping streaming TV costs down: Churn like ice cream, aka rotate.  

It’s fairly straightforward. You subscribe for a time, cancel, switch to another service and then resubscribe, keeping your favorites in a rotation. Rotating streaming services can mix things up and 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 auto-renewal for your monthly subscriptions. This method may not fly if you’re sharing your streaming accounts, but if you can work it out, try it. 

Here are my suggestions for which services to cancel or keep in December, based on new shows, live events 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. Doing it is easier than you might think. 

Read more: ESPN Hub on Disney Plus Has a Firm Launch Date

Streaming services to keep in December

Max: The biggest things here are Beetlejuice 2 on Dec. 6 and James Gunn’s new animated DC release, Creature Commandos, which debuts on Dec. 5. Besides these titles and live sports, you may also want to stream Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Dec. 7), season 2 of Bookie (Dec. 12) and the original film Juror #2 (Dec. 20).

Disney Plus: Fans should keep Disney Plus for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew on Dec. 2, The Simpsons Funday Football (Dec. 9) and Dream Productions — the Inside Out spinoff — on Dec. 11. Marvel’s What If… season 3 premieres on Dec. 22, and Dunk the Halls, the first real-time animated NBA game streams on Dec. 25 along with an actual NBA matchup. 

Netflix: Have you seen the trailer for Subservience with Megan Fox as an AI robot? The movie arrives on Netflix, and you can make room on your schedule for it along with Carry-On, NFL games on Christmas, It Ends With Us, Angelina Jolie’s new flick, Maria, and all these titles:

• Beastars, final season, part 1 (Dec. 5)
• Black Doves, starring Kiera Knightley as a spy (Dec. 5)
• Subservience (Dec. 5)
• A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter (Dec. 6)
• The Great British Baking Show: Holidays (Dec. 7)
• It Ends With Us (Dec. 9)
• Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was… (Dec. 10)
• Maria, a film starring Angelina Jolie (Dec. 11)
• One Hundred Years of Solitude, part 1 (Dec. 11)
• No Good Deed (Dec. 12)
• Carry-On (Dec. 13)
• Virgin River, season 6 (Dec. 19)
• The Dragon Prince, season 7 (Dec. 19)
• The Six Triple Eight (Dec. 20)
• NFL Christmas Day Games: Kansas City Chiefs vs. Pittsburgh Steelers; Houston Texans vs. Baltimore Ravens with Beyoncé
• Squid Game 2 (Dec. 26) 

Hulu: Not many new releases here. The Dandadan anime drops its finale on Dec. 16. Abbott Elementary is back from its hiatus and will stream on Dec. 5, and the series finale for What We Do in the Shadows will stream on Dec. 17. A Sudden Case of Christmas — starring Danny DeVito — streams Dec. 13. Otherwise, there are a bunch of new and old horror movies hitting Hulu this month. Only keep it if you’re watching network shows like Abbott or if you scored that $1 Black Friday deal.

Peacock: Peacock has a slate of Hallmark movies like Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story (Dec.1), and you can stream sports, Bravo favorites and shows like St. Denis Medical and The Voice. Major drops this month are the Girls Gone Wild documentary (Dec. 3), Speak No Evil (Dec. 6) and The Day of the Jackal finale on Dec. 12. You may want to skip Peacock if you’re not watching these titles, but don’t cancel if you just snagged the Black Friday offer.

Prime Video: Assuming you have Prime Video with your Prime account, you may want to stream these new releases to get your money’s worth: 

• The Sticky, season 1 (Dec. 6), a new series about a grand maple syrup heist in Canada
• Jack in Time for Christmas (Dec. 3)
• Pop Culture Jeopardy! (Dec. 4)
• Lisa Frank documentary (Dec. 5)
• Secret Level (Dec. 10)
• Beast Games (Dec. 19)

Paramount Plus: Dexter: Original Sin premieres on Dec. 13, but you’ll need a premium subscription for Paramount Plus with Showtime to watch. Make sure you grab the Black Friday deal to get a discount. You can also watch Landman, SpongeBob’s holiday special and the Lioness season finale on Dec. 8. Cancel Paramount Plus if you’re not interested in any of this or its sports lineup.

Starz: Outlander fans should keep Starz in December, but if you’re not watching this or its slate of movies, cancel Starz.

Skip and wait to binge

Apple TV Plus: Apple TV Plus is offering free access to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas from Dec. 14-15. Bad Sisters and Silo season 2 can be streamed now or binged later if you want to pay for the service.

Being patient saves money on streaming

Rotating to wait things out is a smart move when it comes to streaming your favorite shows. If you’re not one to get FOMO, hold off until most or all episodes are up on a streaming service. Instead of shelling out for a subscription for several months just to catch a show that runs for six or 10 weeks, you can binge-watch everything in one month and then rinse and repeat. This strategy is perfect if you enjoy binge-watching.

For example, if you wait until January, Landman, Outlander and Silo will have all episodes available to stream, letting you pay for one month of a platform instead of several months. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew has eight episodes that will air into next month, and Dexter: Original Sin will have 10 episodes that stream through the winter of 2025. Catch a series a month or so later in the season, or wait to binge it all in later months. 

Think about how much you’re paying per month for every streaming service you have, and do the math. Netflix is $7 to $23 (plus extra member fees), and Paramount Plus starts at $8. Apple TV Plus is $10. Disney Plus is anywhere from $10 to $27, depending on bundles. Max costs $10 to $21, Hulu is $10 a month, Starz runs $11 now and Peacock has a base rate of $8 monthly. Should you decide to rotate, set a calendar reminder to alert you when it’s time to resubscribe or cancel. 

See you next year for another streaming service rundown.