My Streaming Life

I saw online that the NBC show Manifest is being picked up by Netflix for a fourth and final season . The show ended its first season in the top ten , with over 12 million viewers on average. Manifest has steadily dropped in the rating since then, finishing the most recent season in 54th place, averaging 5.34 million viewers. It was canceled by NBC in June 2021 after the conclusion of season three, but now it has new life. This is simply the latest of a large number of TV shows that have switched networks over the years. The first one I remember doing this was Get Smart , which began on NBC, but switched to CBS for its fifth and what turned out to be final season. I don't remember The Joey Bishop Show changing networks in the early 1960s, but it did. I never watched the show, so it didn't register. Leave it to Beaver had switched from CBS to ABC, but I only ever saw the CBS episodes first run. My Three Sons went from ABC to CBS when it went from black and white to colo...

credit: panbo.com I've used a few different DVR systems over the years. I've used TiVo (cable and OTA), Simple.TV (cable), Tablo (OTA), and Air TV (OTA). I can now add Fire TV Recast to the list. I've talked about all of these before, and my DVR of choice lately has been Tablo, followed by Air TV. But what about Fire TV Recast? Well, it's a good system, too. It has one drawback. First, the cost of the Fire TV Recast system is not bad. It costs about the same as the high end Tablo or Air TV devices. And it's comparable to them. Setup of Fire TV Recast is similar to that of Tablo or Air TV. You use the mobile app to set it up and scan your antenna channels, and then it just kinda works. But here's where the limitation kicks in. Fire TV Recast is only for Fire TV devices. It won't work with Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, or any other smart TV system that isn't Fire TV. If you're all in with Amazon, and intend to stay that way, it works rat...

I've seen many sing the praises of The Roku Channel since the service first launched in 2017. I've not really bought into it, because nothing stood out to cause me to want to give it a try. Well, recently, I decided I would give it a try . Well, I've given it a try. And I'll use it some, certainly more than I did, but I won't use it a lot. The Roku Channel offers live streaming TV, which I can get from other sources. It also offers on-demand movies and TV shows for free (ad supported), which I can get from other sources. It also allows me to subscribe to premium services, which I do directly, because I hate Roku Pay . So, the three big features are all features I can get elsewhere. Is that a reason to not use the service? No, actually. There are many different apps and services that offer similar content and features as other apps and services. Bringing nothing new to the table isn't a disqualifier in and of itself.  No, what does it for me is how it works; ...

The 2021 college football season starts this afternoon. I've already planned my streaming service to use for the teams I follow, but not everyone follows the same teams I follow. And, I may decide I want to watch other games. Saving money was the primary reason I dropped cable and started streaming, but I've also come to appreciate the flexibility I get from streaming. So, if I decide I want to watch something else, I want to be able to do that. My teams aren't playing this weekend, but maybe your team is. Or maybe you just want to watch a game that's interesting. So, what do you do? Looking at the schedule for today's games, there are a few things that I'd need to do if I wanted to watch everything -- or be able to watch everything. There are four major divisions of college football: FBS (Division 1-A), FCS (Division 1-AA), Division II, Division III. Division II/III Let's get Division II and Division III out of the way first. This weekend, no games ar...

As a fan of college football, every year at this time I'm excited about the upcoming season. Now, I've not had my team win a national championship in several years. Either team. Yes, I've got a couple of teams I follow. About an hour away is a Division 1-A/FBS school that used to be a Division 1-AA/FCS powerhouse, winning six national championships. They made the jump to FBS/1-A several years ago, but I've remained a follower of the team. Then, of course, there's the other team that I follow that has been a 1-A/FBS power for many many years, but while they've won their conference several times, they haven't won a national championship but once in my lifetime. So, despite the odds that I won't be one of those strutting around bragging about how "my team" -- either one of them -- won the national championship, I'm still excited to watch the teams play. And that's something that was hard to do in the early days of cord cutting. Sling T...

Okay, what does cell phone service have to do with cutting the cord? Well, maybe nothing. Unless it relates to why you cut (or are thinking about cutting) the cord. If it's to save money, why stop at dropping cable and moving to streaming? Why not save money in other ways, too? Here's my answer: I do. I've tried a few different cell phone services and am paying less than I used to pay for cell phone service. My cell phone bill got way up there for a while. Of course, it included financing new cell phones, which will run up a bill, but even without that, the service was pretty expensive. I have used T-Mobile and Verizon as my primary services. Actually, I think I used what's now AT&T, but it wasn't back then. It was Cingular, I think. Now, sure, that was a long time ago, so maybe my experience with that company isn't the same as it would be today. I don't know, but it really doesn't matter. The service was fine then, and I know lots of people that...

From time to time I go over my viewing habits and look at what apps I actually use. Part of the reason for that is that on my  Roku device, I have 47 apps installed. I don't use 47 apps with any regularity at all. I doubt there are a dozen that I use more than once a week. Heck, once a month, if that often. Why do I have these apps installed? Just in case. Costs nothing to have them, and many of them cost nothing to use. I like free. But, looking over my apps, I see that I have Peacock TV near the top of my Roku menu. I'm not really sure why it's so high on the list, since I don't use it that much. So, why don't I use Peacock TV? Is it that I don't like the service? No, that's not it. I think the service is a good bargain at $5. But, I still don't use it. I'm not paying for Peacock TV, so I'm not losing any money by having the app or the subscription. I'm an Xfinity Internet customer, and have an Xfinity Flex box (in the box) which give ...

I've been a big fan of Plex lately. Well, for a few years, actually. When I started streaming, many of my digital movies were purchased via iTunes, and I used iTunes to stream them locally. But, I decided to expand beyond that functionality and rip out all my digital movies and DVDs and stream them via Plex. I looked at a couple of different ways to do this, but I bought in to Plex as the way to go, and I'm glad I did. I've liked the updates they've made to Plex, including adding live streaming and on demand, but to me, the bread and butter has been the local streaming -- and remote streaming. I normally only use Plex when I want to watch my local content, which is sometimes a lot, sometimes not. The other day, I launched Plex and it looked different. And a little more so than I expected, but not enough to make me wonder if I had launched the wrong app. So, what was going on? Turns out Plex has introduced something they call " Modern Layout ." First, we ex...

As you may be aware, I have several Roku devices on several TVs across multiple locations that I manage. One device I've only mentioned a time or two is the Roku Streambar. It's currently on the TV I use the most. I made that change a little while back and have left in in place. But maybe not why you think. I am currently using a TV with non-Roku smarts as my main TV. Of course, I have a Roku and other devices attached to it: Fire TV Stick 4K and Chromecast with Google TV. The Roku attached to this TV is the Streambar, model 9210. The TV sound is okay, but I wanted to improve the sound, so I was looking at a sound bar. I decided to consider the Roku Soundbar but waited to make a decision. Until it went on sale. So, when I found it on sale, I bought one, and installed it, replacing the Roku Streaming Stick+ that was on the TV. The Streambar works about as well as the Streaming Stick+, which is pretty good, but it's not quite as good as a Roku Ultra. The difference isn...

I've been streaming for over 10 years. I mean exclusively. Even before I cut cable, I streamed content, Netflix mostly, Amazon a little. My TiVo had limited capability and worked better for downloading non-Netflix content. Still, I was a little familiar with streaming. When I cut cable in early 2011, I streamed content when I watched TV, and loved it. I didn't have to find time to stream. When I watched TV, instead of firing up the TiVo, I fired up the Roku. I just watched stuff through a different device. And that's the thing, why do I suddenly think that the situation of "finding the time to stream" even exists? It shouldn't. Where did I even come up with the concept? Is it the same thing as "finding time to watch TV?" If so, then that really doesn't make sense either. Why on earth would anyone need to find the time to watch TV? If TV is that bog of a deal, it's too big in my life. Or yours, if the case apples to you too. TV is nothing...

The Academy of Country Music awards program will be moving to streaming in 2022. That's kind of a big deal. The ACM has aired since 1972, first on ABC, moving to NBC in 1979, then to CBS in 1998. This year, CBS has announced that it will carry the CMT Music Awards starting in 2022. CMT is owned by ViacomCBS. Amazon Prime Video has picked up the show starting in 2022 . Amazon Prime Video [August 19, 2021] announced that they will be the home of the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards, which will livestream on the platform in 2022. The 2022 ACM Awards, produced by MRC’s dick clark productions, marks the first time a major awards show has livestreamed exclusively. First held in 1966, the Academy of Country Music Awards has honored and showcased the biggest names and emerging talent in the industry, and is the longest-running country music awards show in history. The 2022 live show will bring together iconic artists for exciting collaborations, surprising moments, and an unprece...

I've not been a fan of Amazon's Fire TV devices almost since the devices first launched. To be clear, I have purchased many over the years, and have given them all away. Until now. Here have been my complaints about the Amazon Fire TV devices: The devices are underpowered The interface is too In Your Face regarding Amazon My complaints are now tempered ... somewhat. The interface is not really any better. I suppose the fact that more and more devices do this makes it not stand out as much. Roku is the least intrusive, although the ads on the menu screen do promote Roku devices and services. Chromecast with Google TV does promote Google a lot. Apple TV is not as obnoxious as Chromecast or Amazon, but that's because Apple is more subtle, but still promotes itself as much; they're just better at it. So, having accepted that it's going to happen, I'm putting less emphasis on that aspect. But that still leaves the underpowered device as an issue, and that's a big...

It finally happened yesterday. My current primary Roku device received the latest Sling TV update. I may have some Roku somewhere that hasn't received the update, but I'm not going to pull everything out of their boxes and check. My Ultra, my Stick+, but not my Roku TV, which is an older device. I have a Stick+ on that Roku TV, so I normally wouldn't know that unless I checked. I checked. So, since I don't use the Roku portion of my Roku TV, but rather the Stick+ attached to it, that means that all of the Roku devices I normally use now have the updated Sling TV app. What do I think of the new app? Well, I've seen it before . Remember, it has been on the Stick+ for several days. And, it's on other devices, such as Fire TV Stick 4K and on Chromecast with Google TV. Here are a couple of screenshots from the new app. That's the front page. Next is the grid. I do like the new appearance. Many don't. I'm not sure why. The old interface worked oka...

A report out recently shows that more people are streaming, even as COVID-19 restrictions relaxed. True, more restrictions are going in place in many places, but overall, there are fewer restrictions than a year ago, so not as much forced home time as a year ago. Still, overall, streaming is up : Streaming grew by 13% in Q2 2021 versus the same time last year. June enjoyed the biggest increases of the quarter... The report from Conviva covers the world, not just the U.S. Most of the increases worldwide was from South America, which showed a 192% increase. North America's increase was the smallest at 2%. However, every region showed increases worldwide over the same quarter a year ago. There was actually a drop of 7% in North America in April, but an overall increase for the quarter. Apart from that one month in North America, every month every region was an increase over same month a year earlier. Folks are streaming. I am, and have been for a while. But more and more are streami...

Recently, I've been watching The Roku Channel, not just on Roku but also on other platforms, too . I've been looking at the features and trying to decide what I've been missing out on. The Roku Channel is one of the most popular apps on Roku, and is fairly popular on other platforms as well. While I'm a fan of Roku, I haven't bought in to the hype about The Roku Channel. Still, I'm willing to give it a try. So, I'm trying it out. The feature I'm looking at now is Starz, a premium movie channel that can be added to The Roku Channel. Subscribing to Stars on The Roku Channel adds a separate app, "Starz on The Roku Channel," to the menu. If I want to watch Starz content, it's all right there, as well as being available within The Roku Channel. The two problem I had with Starz on The Roku Channel were the lack of a search feature and the limited content. The search is a big deal, because browsing doesn't offer easy ways to find stuff. There...

I mentioned in the last few weeks that I was doing a more serious testing of The Roku Channel and, separately, Amazon Fire TV, specifically a Fire TV Stick 4K . And while those are totally separate things, at least when I decided to check them out in greater detail, they also co-exist. There is an app for The Roku Channel that is available for Fire TV. And, when I set up my Fire TV Stick 4K for use, I installed my most-used apps on the device. That included The Roku Channel, since that was a focus. So, what's the difference between The Roku Channel on Fire TV and on Roku? The only big difference I've seen relates to premium or add-on channels. On a Roku device, you can subscribe to services through The Roku Channel. There is a row for Premium Subscriptions on Roku. This is not the case on Fire TV, or any non-Roku platform. If you want Roku Premium Channels, you must be on a Roku device. Being in The Roku Channel isn't enough. There is one thing that I like though -- I thin...

I wrote the other day about a couple of streaming services that increased their user base . But not all services are increasing. Hulu+Live TV lost 100,000 subscribers . While Hulu added subscribers and reached a total of 39.1 million subscribers by the end of the quarter, Hulu with Live TV dropped 100,00 subscribers and ended the quarter with 3.7 million, down from 3.8 million in the previous quarter. According to the report, Hulu added subscribers overall, but lost on the live streaming service end of things. So, yes, there are more streamers, but fewer streamers when it comes to Hulu+Live TV. While this is bad news for that particular segment of streaming, Hulu overall is doing well. And, sister company Disney+ did increase subscribers. Overall, it was a good report for Disney. I don't understand why Hulu+Live TV lost subscribers, though. It's a good live streaming service. I wonder if enough Hulu subscribers came to think like I do that a live streaming service isn...

I stopped watching professional football a few years ago. There are more and more players that think they're God's gift to mankind. They're not. They're grown men playing ball. There have always been players like that ever since the National Football League was founded. But, and I really don't remember the year, but the tipping point -- the place where it became too much for me -- arrived a few years ago, and I haven't watched an NFL game since. Well, I take that back. I did watch the Giants win the Super Bowl over the previously undefeated New England Patriots, as I recall fondly the undefeated 1971 Miami Dolphins team. The Giants-Patriots game was after the 2007 season, so my tipping point was reached before then. Still, just because I don't watch NFL football doesn't mean that everyone is like me. In fact, most people are not like me. It's the most popular sport in the U.S., even without me watching. My failure to watch doesn't make a dent in ...

A couple of news articles this week reported that two streaming services are continuing to increase subscribers. That's not a surprise to me, but it is evidence of what I knew. Fubo TV had a larger increase than expected in the last quarter : FuboTV added 91,000 subscribers in the June quarter, ending the period with 682,000 total subscribers. Analysts expected the New York City-based company to add 12,000 new subscribers in the second quarter for a total of 602,000 subscribers. That's a few days after Sling TV reported an increase of 65,000 subscribers, bringing the total to 2.44 million. That helped parent company Dish top their earning expectations despite losing 67,000 pay-TV subscribers overall : Dish's revenue for the quarter rose to $4.49 billion from $3.19 billion, while analysts had been modeling $4.43 billion. The company's net pay-TV subscribers declined by about 67,000 in the second quarter, compared with a net decrease of roughly 96,000 a year e...

As a sports fan -- mostly college football -- I've been through the difficulties of finding sports I'm wanting to watch online. In the early days of streaming, there was nothing when it came to live sports. Today, there are a lot of options. You can watch ESPN and Fox Sports on many live streaming services: Sling TV, Vidgo, Hulu+Live TV, YouTube TV, Fubo, and AT&T TV. Bally Sports is on AT&T TV. There are other sports networks available through streaming services. Oh, and there are some that are not available on any streaming service. Those that are available streaming have something in common: they're a part of a streaming package, a cable replacement service, if you will. You can't get ESPN standalone. You can't get Bally Sports networks standalone. If I want ESPN, I have to pony up at least $35 for the cheapest streaming service that carries it. Now, what about ESPN+ you say? Well, it's a standalone service, but it doesn't include ESPN. You can...

The most watched news network is Fox News. I don't care if you are a lover of Fox News, or a hater of Fox News, the fact is that it is the most watched network. That means there are a lot of streamers that want to watch Fox News. And there's the problem. Fox News is available as part of six live streaming packages: Sling TV (Blue) $35/month Vidgo $55/month Hulu+Live TV $65/month YouTube TV $65/month Fubo $65/month AT&T TV $76/month If you subscribe to one of those services, you get Fox News in the streaming package. To watch it, just go to that channel, like you would any other channel. Fox News also has an app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Android/Google TV, and other platforms. However, the app requires authentication against a TV provider. That means a cable service, a satellite service, or a streaming service. There are 582 different services that can be used to subscribe: 575 cable services, too many to list here. Two satellite services DirecTV Dish Five streaming servi...

It's nearly college football season, and that's when I expand my streaming lineup. But it's not college football season yet. I've been a cord cutter since January 2011 when I dropped cable. In those early days, we didn't have as many options as we have today. In a way, that was a good thing. Let me explain. I learned the hard way how to handle, adapt, and overcome with the limited options we had. I learned how to look at options I hadn't previously considered, and think outside the box (if you'll pardon the buzzwords). I found out that I really had more options that I hadn't considered, if I was willing to work for it. I was, and I saved money. I figured out what I could do without, and decide what things were worth it to me. When live streaming services came along, I didn't go all in year round. I already knew I had plenty of options to watch what I wanted apart from sports. And I didn't want to pay for sports year-round, only during college f...

Sling TV has released an update to their app. It's rolled out on Fire TV devices, and some Roku devices. I have it on my Ultra, but no on other Roku devices. So, I'm waiting on the Sling TV update to come to the rest of my Roku devices. I have a Firestick -- remember, I got a new one recently that I'm trying out -- on the same TV as a Roku that doesn't have the update. That means I can actually compare the interfaces on the same TV. I need three remotes to do that properly, but I am able to use the old and the new Sling TV interfaces from the same chair. The interfaces are very different. Well, the home page is different. I may actually like it better than the old one. Here's the new one: And here's the old one: I do like the new one better. The grid is pretty much the same. It's a grid. You can't do much with a grid. But they did make a change. Here's the old grid: Here's the new grid: The smaller text means fewer channels can displa...

I cut the cord to save money. However, I realize others cut the cord for other reasons. I'm not about to think everyone cut the cord for the same reason I did. But it is the reason I cut. And that colors how I look at others when it comes to how they stream. There's a study that says a lot of people who cut the cord spend a lot of money on streaming services. Now, I don't know if it's a true reflection, or a manipulation of the data, but spending $85 on average ? Many consumers who dropped their traditional pay TV services are finding that they can still face some hefty monthly bills for OTT services, with new research from Parks Associates reporting that cord-cutters are spending $85 a month on average for OTT services.  That is roughly $30 less than what they were paying for pay TV services, according to Park’s "Cutters, Nevers, and the Rebundling of Video" research report. That's a lot of money.I don't understand it. Keep in mind that during most of...

I said recently that I would be checking out The Roku Channel to see why everyone was so high on it. The Roku Channel gets a lot of love from cord cutter Websites and articles, but it's something I've not done much with. So, I'm trying it out. Shortly after starting that, I found out this was going to take a lot longer than I thought. It turns out there's a lot to The Roku Channel. The free streaming content is what I have always focused on, and that's understandable. After all, that's one of the features that Roku most often emphasizes. But it's not the only thing they have. Roku is really big on buying stuff. Most companies are. And Roku wants you to buy subscriptions using Roku Pay. I've already said I'm not a fan of Roku Pay , but I do understand it's a revenue stream for Roku, and that there may be valid reasons for it to be the way for you to go. The Roku Channel offers subscriptions to premium services. I subscribed ...