How Untangled Streaming stays honest.
Most streaming-recommendation sites you've used are owned by call-center companies and private-equity-backed media holdcos whose revenue depends on the providers they recommend. We're not. Here's exactly who pays whom in this industry — and why our picks don't change when the affiliate check changes.
Why this matters
Picking the wrong TV setup is expensive. Picking the wrong one because somebody got paid to steer you toward it is worse. Walk into a Best Buy and the salesperson is paid spiffs to push specific products. Click a "best streaming service" article on Google and the same dynamic is happening — you just can't see the spiff. The site you're reading right now exists because Rick spent 22 years installing AV systems in real client homes and watching what those households actually pick, actually keep, and actually call complaining about. What households actually use over time is more valuable than any survey, any review, and any algorithm. That's the data we build on.
Who pays whom in the streaming-recommendation industry
This is the part nobody else publishes. Here's the ownership structure of every major site that ranks streaming services — and the affiliate program of every major streaming/TV provider. When you see a "Best Streaming Services 2026" ranking online, this table is the context you need to evaluate it.
The recommendation sites
| Site | Parent company | Revenue model | Affiliate disclosure |
|---|---|---|---|
| CableTV.com | Clearlink (subsidiary of Foundever, formerly Sykes Enterprises — global outsourcing/call-center business) | Performance-marketing — paid per provider signup | States in their own disclosure: "we make money from affiliate relationships with TV providers... Sometimes this affects which providers we write about and where you see them on the site." |
| Reviews.org | Same parent — Clearlink | Same model | Same disclosure language |
| HighSpeedInternet.com | Same parent — Clearlink | Same model | Same |
| WhistleOut | Same parent — Clearlink (acquired) | Same model | Same |
| Allconnect | Red Ventures (PE-backed media holdco) | Performance-marketing — paid per signup | Same model |
| CNET (sold Aug 2024) | Owned by Red Ventures 2020-2024; sold to Ziff Davis for $100M after paying $500M | Affiliate | The Verge documented former CNET employees being "pressured to change stories and reviews due to Red Ventures' business dealings with advertisers" |
| Tom's Guide / TechRadar | Future plc (UK media holdco) | Affiliate + ads | Standard affiliate disclosure |
| PCMag | Ziff Davis (same holdco that just bought CNET) | Affiliate + ads | Standard affiliate disclosure |
| Wirecutter | The New York Times Company | Affiliate, with strong editorial firewall by NYT standards | Disclosed; most rigorous editorial process of the affiliate sites |
| Consumer Reports | Independent non-profit, member-funded | Subscriptions only — no ads, no affiliate | Explicit anti-conflict policy |
| J.D. Power | Independent market research firm | Providers PAY J.D. Power to license award use AFTER results | Methodology and panel are independent |
| Untangled Streaming (this site) | Independent — Rick + Bear (father-son AV install team) | Affiliate commissions where they exist + install revenue from SWAT A/V (DC metro only, see disclosure) | Full list below. |
Which streaming/TV providers actually pay commissions
| Provider | Affiliate program for small publishers? |
|---|---|
| YouTube TV (Google) | ❌ No public affiliate program |
| Apple TV+ (Apple) | ❌ Apple closed its affiliate program in 2018 for TV/movies/apps |
| Netflix | ❌ No affiliate program |
| Disney+ / Hulu / ESPN+ (Disney Bundle) | ⚠ Limited — only via large publisher networks |
| DIRECTV / DIRECTV Stream | ✅ Aggressive affiliate program, high commissions per signup |
| Spectrum / Charter | ✅ Aggressive affiliate program, high commissions |
| Xfinity / Comcast | ✅ Affiliate program available |
| Verizon Fios | ✅ Affiliate program available |
| Fubo, Sling, Hulu+Live | ✅ Variable affiliate programs |
| Peacock, Paramount+, Max | ⚠ Limited — large publishers only |
| Roku, Fire TV (devices, via Amazon) | ✅ Amazon Associates — standard commission |
Our editorial standards
- Picks don't change for commissions. If Apple TV 4K is the right streaming device for an iPhone household, we recommend Apple TV 4K. Apple's affiliate program has been closed to small publishers since 2018 — we make $0 from those recommendations. That doesn't change the recommendation.
- YouTube TV is our default first-time-cord-cutter pick. Google does not have a YouTube TV affiliate program. We don't get paid when you sign up. J.D. Power has ranked it #1 in streaming customer satisfaction for three consecutive years (649 vs DIRECTV Stream's 578). Rick has installed thousands of cord-cut systems over 22 years and YouTube TV is the overwhelming pick — that's the recommendation, regardless of what it costs us.
- We name competitor bias. When a CableTV.com survey claims DIRECTV is the best streaming service while J.D. Power's larger independent study puts it last, we tell you about both — and we cite the documented conflict of interest (their own disclosure). We don't pretend an obvious bias is invisible.
- We cite primary sources. Every claim about a provider's churn rate, subscriber count, satisfaction score, or pricing on this site links to a primary source (SEC filing, J.D. Power study, ACSI report, Antenna data). We don't summarize what affiliate-driven sites wrote about the data — we link to the data.
- We disclose Rick's other business publicly. Rick owns SWAT A/V, a DC-metro AV install company. On a small number of DC-area persona pages we mention SWAT A/V as one option for high-touch installs. This is disclosed inline. Outside the DC metro, no SWAT mention appears — and even in the DC metro, the SWAT block is presented as one of several install options, never the only one.
- We re-verify quarterly. Subscriber counts, churn rates, pricing, and provider rankings change every earnings cycle. Our research doc lists every primary source with a verification date so we can refresh on a schedule, not when an affiliate calls asking us to update.
- We say "we don't know" when we don't know. Where the data is contradictory or thin (regional sports network coverage in tertiary markets, for example), we say so — and we tell you what we'd ask the provider directly before signing up.
What we actually make money on
For transparency, here's our complete revenue picture in 2026:
- Amazon Associates — when you click a "Buy on Amazon" link for a Roku, Apple TV, eero, antenna, or Ooma we earn a small commission (usually 1-3%). Cost to you: $0.
- Live TV streaming affiliate programs — Fubo, Sling, Hulu+Live, DirecTV Stream pay us per signup when we drive one. YouTube TV does not. When the right answer is YouTube TV, we recommend it anyway and lose the commission.
- ISP affiliate programs — Verizon Fios, Xfinity, Spectrum, T-Mobile 5G Home pay us per signup. We recommend whichever is the cheapest viable option for the household based on independent benchmark data, not based on which one pays the most.
- SWAT A/V install revenue — Rick's separate residential AV install business. DC metro only. Disclosed inline on the small number of pages where it's mentioned.
- Newsletter — free to you, no monetization yet beyond list growth.
- No display ads. No sponsored content. No paid placement.
Important: our affiliate income from DIRECTV Stream and Spectrum is competitive with anyone else's. We could maximize revenue by following the same playbook as CableTV.com and Allconnect — rank the high-commission providers at the top. We don't. That's the choice.
How to evaluate any streaming recommendation site (including ours)
If you read a "Best Streaming Service 2026" article anywhere — including here — ask these questions before trusting the rankings:
- Who owns this site? Search "[site name] parent company." If the answer is a PE-backed media holdco, a call-center company, or a performance-marketing operation, weight their rankings accordingly.
- What's in their affiliate disclosure? Read the actual disclosure page. If it says "commercial relationships affect which providers we cover" — that's a flag.
- Do independent benchmarks agree? Check J.D. Power and ACSI. If the site's #1 is dead last on J.D. Power's 28,561-respondent study, ask why.
- Are the no-affiliate-program providers conspicuously absent or demoted? If YouTube TV and Apple TV+ are missing or ranked last, that's a structural skew.
- How big is the sample? A 4,000-respondent survey by a site that picks who to cover is not the same as a 28,000-respondent random-panel study by an independent firm.
Why we're publishing this
Rick has watched real households get burned by bad recommendations for two decades. Grandma gets sold the $115/mo DirecTV Stream package because the affiliate-driven blog she Googled put it at #1, when YouTube TV at $83/mo would have done the job better. The young family pays for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ as three separate subscriptions because nobody told them about the Bundle. The empty-nester pays for gigabit internet they don't need because the rankings site that recommended their fiber tier gets paid more on the higher SKU.
The streaming-recommendation industry is broken. We're betting our entire business on the idea that telling the truth — even when the truth costs us a commission — is a better long-term strategy than gaming the affiliate funnel.
— Rick Baron
22 years residential AV install · Owner, Untangled Streaming + SWAT A/VIf you spot something we got wrong
This page is our standing commitment. If you see a recommendation on this site that contradicts the editorial standards above — or if you find a primary source that disputes a number we published — email Rick directly at [email protected]. We respond. We fix.