My Streaming Life

I have a decision to make soon. I'm an Xfinity Internet subscriber, and Xfinity Internet subscribers get Peacock Premium free. That's changing next month. According to Comcast, NBCUniversal will stop offering the service for free to Xfinity Internet customers : Why is this changing? NBCUniversal included Peacock Premium at no extra cost to customers with Xfinity services, and that offering is concluding. This is a classic example of blaming others when it's yourself. Comcast owns NBCUniversal, so if they say Xfinity gets Peacock for free, Xfinity gets Peacock for free. That's like a parent blaming one kid for not sharing with another kid something the parent owns. If it stands, it's the parents who let it happen. Anyway, on June 26, 2023, I love my free Peacock service. I'll have to decide by then if I want to pay for Peacock. There are two tiers. One, Peacock Premium, is $5/month while the other, Peacock Premium Plus, is $10/month. The difference i...

I read an article on Cord Cutters News this week that surprised me. I did a little digging and found more about it. The numbers in my research are a little different, but the point of Luke Bouma's article is still valid. The story was that Local Now had topped 450 live streaming channels. That's a big number. And, it is true, but there's a catch. First, a little of what they said : Recently Local Now topped 450 free live TV channels making it one of the largest free streaming services for cord cutters when looking at the number of free live channels. Local Now also provides localized news, weather, sports, traffic, and entertainment, produced by various leading news organizations in more than 225 markets across the U.S. Local Now is not done expanding as it recently announced a deal to add all local PBS stations later this year. No dates have been announced yet for when all of the local PBS stations will be added other than it should happen in 2023. Already though, in a han...

I am oppressed with a sense of the impropriety of uttering works on this occasion. If silence is ever golden, it must be here beside the graves of fifteen thousand men, whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem, the music of which can never be sung. With words we make promises, plight faith, praise virtue. Promises may not be kept; plighted faith may be broken; and vaunted virtue be only the cunning mask of vice. We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue. For the noblest man that lives, there still remains a conflict. He must still withstand the assaults of time and fortune, must still be assailed with temptations, before which lofty natures have fallen; but with these the conflict end...

There are reports out that viewership of the traditional TV networks -- ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC -- has continued to drop year over year. In fact, according to the study, CBS has lost nearly half its viewers in ten years. The conclusion that Cord Cutters News reached is that cord cutting is the reason. The headline is " ABC, CBS, FOX, & NBC Primetime Viewership is Falling Fast as Cord Cutting Speeds Up " which I think is a little off the mark. The article cites the increase in cord cutting over the last decade, along with lower broadcast network viewership as the result. Only, what about antennae? Isn't putting up an antenna (or using an existing antenna) often a part of cord cutting? You drop cable, put up an antenna (indoor if close enough), and you still get the broadcast networks. I mean, they broadcast their signal over the air, right? I don't see cord cutting itself as a reason for drop in viewership. I look at it more as a drop in cable. With cable, it's easi...

I got my Netflix email this week. Yes, I know. I talk about how I don't watch Netflix. And I don't. So, why did I get an email from Netflix? Well, having a Netflix account doesn't mean I watch Netflix. But I am paying for Netflix for someone else. For the time being, anyway. At this writing, the subscription ends in June. I may extend it with the ad-supported plan. Back on topic: I got my Netflix email this week. You know the one. The one where Netflix is letting people know that you can't share passwords with people who live outside your household: Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with — your household. You can easily watch Netflix on the go and when you travel — either on your personal devices or a TV at a hotel or vacation home. To control how your account is used, you can: Check who’s using your Netflix. Review which devices are signed in to your account. Sign out of devices that shouldn’t have access and consider changing...

Comcast is launching a low prices live streaming service. NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast, has the Peacock streaming service already. However, according to reports, they're looking to launch a service that would compete with Frndly TV or Philo. According to TV Answer Man, the new service will cost $20/month and include Peacock Premium. The service, which does not include any local or sports channels, will be offered to Xfinity Broadband customers in the coming weeks, the company said. Now TV, which will not require any equipment or contracts, will include a 20-hour DVR and three concurrent streams. "With content and connectivity at the core of our company, we are uniquely positioned to build and deliver streaming entertainment offerings unlike anything else out there today," Dave Watson, Comcast Cable’s CEO, said in a press release. "NOW TV is a great example of how our company brings together its collective video experiences, innovative technology, and super...

Max rolled out a couple of days ago. It was a fairly smooth change from HBO Max to just plain Max, but it wasn't completely seamless. First, when I fired up the Roku to check it out, I saw the HBO Max app still on the device. "Okay," I said to myself, "the app needs to update." Roku checks for updates every day (or more likely, every night), and I figured the last check was before the change was official. So, I checked for updates. There were none. So, I launched the HBO Max app to see what would happen. What happened was the app called itself "Max" when the app launched, although the icon on the Roku menu still said "HBO Max." I had to log in, as it had forgotten my password. Or, maybe it never had it. This may have been more than a cosmetic change, but a full change of the app itself. Whatever reason, I had to log in. So, I logged in. My profiles were still there once I logged in, but the avatars for the profiles were missing. It was easy e...

There's a new report out that's gaining traction, and it's not good news for Android users. Trend Micro has reported that nearly nine million Android devices have been "preinfected" with malware. That is, the devices, mostly smartphones, have the malware on them when you open the box. The malware is installed as part of the operating system : We identified over 50 different images from a variety of vendors carrying initial loaders. The more recent versions of the loaders use fileless techniques when downloading and injecting other payloads. With this latest development, public repositories for threat intelligence do not list these updated loaders and the forensic analysis of such devices and images have become significantly harder. However, we can still spot the download attempts through telemetry monitoring, and once the main component is identified we would have the decryption keys to decode the payload. Comparing our analyzed number of devices with Lemon G...

It was announced recently that Showtime and Paramount+ apps would be merged into a single app. Now, the price increase -- you knew there would be a price increase, right? -- is known. There was speculation that prices would go up $1 to $2 per month, and that turns out to be right on target. Cord Cutters News published the details recently : Paramount+ will be raising the price of its service by $1 to $2 a month account for the new Showtime content. The ad-supported plan will go up to $5.99 a month, and the ad-free version will go up to $11.99 a month. When this merger happens, the Showtime app will be shut down later this year, and you will need to access Showtime content through the Paramount+ app. In the last couple of years, Paramount+ has offered a Showtime add-on for only $1 or $2 more per month. Now that will be the regular price and regular service. My Streaming Life has the $5 (soon to be $6) per month version because it's included with Walmart+. I don't know if Walma...

You ever have your TV just turn on for no identifiable reason? Or has your TV just turned off for no particular reason? Some people run into this from time to time, and if they don't know why the TV is turning on or off, it can be quite frustrating. So, why does this happen? There can be lots of reasons. TV Answer Man's Melanie Mayberry has a couple of articles about these topics. One included a common reason for a TV turning on : One possible explanation for a television turning on by itself is an issue with the remote control. In some cases, the remote control may be malfunctioning and sending signals to the television without the user’s input. This can cause the television to turn on unexpectedly. It is also possible that the remote control has been accidentally pressed, such as when it is misplaced or sat upon, leading to unintentional activation of the television. The article lists several other things to look at as possible causes. Give it a read. Give the other article ...

Although I’m firmly in Team Roku, I have many friends and family who prefer Amazon’s Fire TV, particularly the Fire TV Stick, which is commonly referred to as the Firestick. Cord Cutters News recently covered the ins and outs of the Fire TV Stick, and it’s an information video. [ YouTube ] My Streaming Life doesn’t include a Fire TV Stick, but it is a worthy option for cutting the cord.

For a long time, when mentioning free ad supported television (FAST) services, the first ones always mentioned were Pluto TV, Xumo, and Tubi. Those were never the only ones, but those were the biggest ones, the ones with the most free streaming channels. Today, that's not so much the case anymore. There are more services that have hundreds of live channels, including Plex and Sling TV. Plex is newer to the FAST game, but Sling TV has been doing it for a bit. They were just a smaller player insofar as free streaming was concerned. Not any more. I read a news article recently that said that Freestream (what Sling TV calls their free tier) offers 370 such channels. That surprised me somewhat, even though I knew that Freestream already had over 300. It's from an older way of thinking. Sling TV's free offerings were always less than the other, larger players in the FAST market. But when they branded the free tier as Freestream, they had expanded their number to over 300. Today...

Recent reports are saying that ESPN plans to move from cable TV, and that the move could kill cable TV. I read the reports, most notable from the Wall Street Journal [subscription, but covered well in Cord Cutters News ] that discusses the plans by Disney to move ESPN to a direct-to-consumer streaming service: ESPN has begun securing flexibility in its deals with cable providers to offer the channel directly to consumers, the people said. The financial terms of those deals couldn’t be learned. The company is having similar discussions with pro sports leagues as those rights deals come up and has secured the same flexibility from at least two major leagues, the people said. The sports-media giant took its first step into streaming in 2018 with the launch of ESPN+, a monthly streaming service whose live programming includes golf events, certain Major League Baseball and professional hockey games, as well as a variety of scripted and unscripted programming. It has 25.3 million subscriber...

It was announced some time back that Showtime and Paramount+ would merge. Now we know the date: June 27. Here's what I don't know, and wonder about: I have Parmount+ through Walmart+. It's the cheaper plan, with commercials, and no live local CBS. Is that plan going to remain? Or is it impacted as well? And does this mean that Walmart+ users will get a Showtime bonus of some kind? Will it remain as is? Will the perk of getting Paramount+ go away? I'm curious about this, and so far have not been able to find out. I like the Paramount+ plan that's included with Walmart+. The commercials aren't too intrusive, and quite honestly, with an antenna, the live local CBS isn't needed. But if this merger means the Walmart+ perk of the service goes away, I'll be disappointed. Maybe I'm worrying over nothing. Maybe I'm worrying with good reason. My Streaming Life is good right now, so I'd hate to lose a service. But, if I do lose it, I'll add Paramoun...

Around 10 years ago or so, I lived in the Columbus area of west Georgia and moved into a neighborhood that was served by a cable & Internet company I had not dealt with previously. The ISP was WOW! They actually had a different name, but within a few months of my moving to their service area in Columbus, they were bought out by WOW! and I became a customer of theirs. I was an Internet only customer, as I had dropped cable from another provider a couple of years before, and was only interested in Internet at the time. So I was never a cable TV customer of WOW! but I did like the Internet service and service techs that installed it. Though I never had WOW! cable, I did read with interest a news article that said that WOW! was dropping cable TV as a service and offering YouTube TV instead. "We are thrilled to begin offering YouTube TV and give our customers access to this best-in-class pay TV service. We are very pleased to deliver a seamless TV experience to our customers with t...

Prime time cable viewing is down. Way down. How far? According to an analysis on Cord Cutters News, the numbers, while in the millions, are relatively small considering how many people there are in the USA : So far in May, the top ten networks are showing dwindling primetime viewership reports with only the top four networks reaching audiences in the millions, which is staggeringly low in a country with a population of well over 334 million citizens. TNT totaled 3.2 million viewers, followed by ESPN with 2.4 million, Fox News with 1.4 million, and MSNBC with 1.1 million.  The remaining six networks didn’t even break 1 million viewers. HGTV reported 773,000 viewers, INSP had 727,000, TBS averaged 722,000, History had 690,000, TLC’s total was 617,000, and USA Network barely got over half a million viewers at 583,000. I haven't watch prime time TV in years. Well, that's not exactly true, but it is sort of true. I got a TiVo device back in 2006, and rarely watched anything live fro...

One of the most aggravating things about cable TV -- remember having cable? -- is the collection of fees that are tacked on to the end of your bill. Now, to be sure, cable TV services aren't the only ones to add extra fees to up your bill. Phone services do that. Well, most do. But, to be sure, cable TV services do that as well. There are local broadcast fees, regional sports fees, and other administrative fees where it looks like they charge you a fee for charging you a fee. Administrative fees are part of the basic service, right? In reality, yes. But many of those services will add that to your bill, simply because they can. So how much are these fees? Well, if you count all the fees -- not just from cable, but from everything else as well -- it adds up to a lot. According to one study, the average is nearly $600/year : With the increase in inflation, many households are tracking their expenses more closely and are more aware of the cost of junk fees than ever. According to our ...

My sisters and I lost our mother in 2020. Mothers Day isn't the same without her. I won't spend a lot of time talking about things, but I will mention this. During the last few years of her life, she enjoyed much of the benefits of cord cutting. She was a fan of technology up to a point. She loved her iPhone but never used it to its fullest extent. However, she used it to do things she had never done before: texting, video chats, Web surfing, and the like. She was fascinated by that, and enjoyed being able to stay in touch with family with greater ease. She enjoyed her M*A*S*H videos, her Murder She Wrote videos, and the like. I ripped all of her DVDs, both movies and TV shows, to place on a Plex server for her to watch. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll explain it like I did to her. Launch this app called Plex, and there are all your movies and TV shows you can watch on any of your TVs, any time you want. She loved that. Watching her excitement a...

While there hasn't been an announcement, the news from Disney indicates that may be coming in the future. A report in Variety said that Disney is adding Hulu content to the Disney+ app, and that prices for Disney+ will happen later this year . On Disney's earnings call Wednesday, CEO Bob Iger said the company will soon launch a "one-app experience" in the U.S. that incorporates Hulu content into Disney+. The new combined offering will launch by the end of 2023, available to customers who subscribe to both streaming services, he said. "While we will continue to offer Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ as standalone options, this is a logical progression of our [direct-to-consumer] offerings that will provide greater opportunities for advertisers while giving bundle subscribers access to more robust and streamlined content, resulting in greater audience engagement and ultimately leading to a more unified streaming experience," Iger said. This doesn't combine the serv...

Another report is out indicating that streamers in the USA have not only cut back on cable (no surprise there) but are also cutting back on streaming services. That may be a surprise to some. Not to me, but that's because I already do things a little differently. But it does indicate that more people are seeing streaming as something more than just a replacement for cable. The study indicates that prior to 2020, the average US streamer averaged about four streaming services. In the next two years, that number went up to over seven services. Now it's back down to a little over six. Why are people cutting back? Cost is one reason, but I think people are becoming more savvy streamers. Luke Bouma at Cord Cutters News calls it a maturity of streaming : We are also seeing recent price hikes pushing 56% of cord cutters to cut back on the number of streaming services they are paying for. This is not a sign of cord cutting slowing down but instead of the maturity of cord cutting. Increa...

Some YouTube users have been getting notices about ad blockers, according to an online report. This appears to be a big deal. I'm a little out of the loop on this for a couple of reasons. Let's start with the report, then I'll get to why I wasn't aware of this. A report on 9to5Google says it picked up word that YouTube had begun checking for ad blockers, and was preventing viewership of its content as a result . A Redditor first spotted earlier this week that, on trying to use YouTube.com, a pop-up appeared saying that ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube. Videos were blocked from streaming unless the user then allowed YouTube ads or signed up for YouTube Premium, the subscription service that allows users to watch content on YouTube without ads. It's a surprising message to see, given that YouTube hasn't addressed ad blockers for years and years now. The message adds that "ads allow YouTube to stay free for billions of users worldwide." A YouTube em...

Back in March, Roku announced that they were discontinuing support for the Roku 4 (model 4400). That came as no surprise to me. In fact, the surprise -- and there was one -- was that they supported the Roku 4 for as long as they did. From launch, the Roku 4 had all kinds of problems. The idea of the Roku 4 was, in its day, a good idea. The execution of that idea was a huge misstep by Roku. The fan (yes, it had a fan) was noisy at times, and all kinds of glitches happened. I was watching reports from owners carefully at the time, since I was thinking of getting one. I had always owned at least one of the top of the line Roku devices. I owned a Roku 3, and when the Roku 4 came out, I considered getting one. The only draw was 4K, but as I didn't own a 4K TV at the time, I decided to wait and see what else it offered to determine if upgrading was the way for me to go. All the reports of issues with the device convinced me to not get one. It was the first top-of-the-line Roku that I did...

I read an article several days ago that mentioned that Fox had launched a new streaming service for local news. The app is Fox Local, and is rolling out nationwide. "Nationwide" doesn't mean everywhere, at least not just yet : At launch, only Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St.Paul, Milwaukee, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington DC are live on the service, but more locals will reportedly be added soon. "FOX Local is the crucial next step in our overall streaming strategy, which is focused on providing viewers the easiest and fastest ways to watch their most trusted local news and programming," said Jeff Zellmer, Senior Vice President of Digital Operations for Fox Television Stations. While this sounds like a good idea, it doesn't help a lot of people. You see, there are a lot of people outside of those listed cities. I'm in southeast Georgia, and a local Atla...

For a long time, I've used Sling TV's free service. A lot of people didn't know that you could watch free content on Sling TV, but it's been a thing for a while. The number of offerings has grown over the years, from a handful to over 300. Back in February, Sling TV rebranded their free offering. Actually, they branded it, since it really wasn't promoted or given a proper name. I called it Sling TV free because I didn't know what else to call it. Freestream is the name, and now the service has over 335 channels, according to a recent news release: Sling Freestream now offers more than 35 sports, 100 entertainment and 45 news channels with no payment or credit card required. SLING plans to continue its FAST growth by introducing more domestic sports, entertainment and news channels, plus dozens of foreign language international channels and On Demand content throughout 2023. Adding to its complete entertainment experience, Sling Freestream users have the abilit...

It appears Google is taking a lesson from Roku. Not exactly, but they are making an improvement that puts them second to Roku in one regard. One of the biggest problems with all the streaming devices, except Roku, is storage space. Most of them have small storage on the device, except for Apple TV. Even Roku has small on-board storage. But Roku handles it well. How? Well, it seems that Roku will manage storage space by removing apps from your device if you run out of space, and get them back when you need it. Here's an example: Say you have 20 apps on your streaming device. Let's suppose those 20 apps take up all the storage on your streaming device. Now suppose you want to add another app. What happens? Well, if it's Google TV, Apple TV, or Fire TV, you get a message that you're out of space and need to remove something. And it won't let you add the new app until you do. Roku does it differently. If your Roku is full, and you try to download a new app, Roku will lo...

The Kentucky Derby is this afternoon. And yeah, it's kind of a big deal. It's been a big deal for a while now. I do have a passing interest in the race, and if I'm able, there's a better than even chance I'll watch it. And I realize I'm not sounding like I'm drumming up excitement about the race. That's because I'm not. Some people are interested in it a lot, some a little, and some not at all. If you are interested, and if you are a streamer, you will probably want to know how you can watch it. Or even if you can watch it if  you're a streamer. Well, you can. NBC is, again, carrying the race. While USA carried the Kentucky Oaks yesterday, the Derby is on NBC and Peacock. Coverage begins at 2:30 pm, with the actual race a few minutes before 7:00 pm. The fastest time in the Kentucky Derby was set by Secretariat in 1973, at 1:59.4. The second fasted time in the Derby was Sham, at an estimated 1:59.8. Why was Sham's time an estimate? Because...

More and more streaming platforms have discovered that many would rather watch free content than pay for it. That sounds like a no-brainer, right? Well, it's not. You see, it's not quite as simple as that. Nothing ever is. TANSTAAFL: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. If something is free, there's a reason. Sometimes, it's because there are advertisements. Sometimes it's because they want your data, which they'll then sell or use to target advertising. Nothing is really free, it seems. So back to where I started. More and more streaming platforms have discovered that many would rather watch free content than pay for it. And they've discovered that they can sell advertising within the free content, and if it's not too much or too intrusive, people will stay with it. People get free content and they get advertising dollars. Win-win. Well, that's the idea, anyway. And it seems to work a lot. In fact, a recent news release from Amazon Fire ...

There are multiple of different ways to pick streaming services. My way isn't the way most people do it, because there is some work involved, and many people would rather pay more and work less. And if the money saved by the extra work isn't worth it to them, then my way isn't for them. First, let's clarify what I'm talking about. I'm referring to streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Peacock, Starz, AMC+, and the like. I'm not talking about the cable-like services such as YouTube TV, Fubo, Sling TV, and so forth. I'm talking about the (mostly) on-demand services, not the (mostly) live/linear services. So, what I do is pick one, subscribe to it for a month, then at the end of the 30-day subscription cancel the service. During the 30 days of the subscription, I'll binge the service. At the beginning of the next month, I pick a different one and focus on that one. The next month, a different one...

Generally, I don't suggest buying a TV based on its built in streaming platform. What I mean is that while I'm a fan of Roku, I don't generally suggest buying a Roku TV. I also think the Fire TV interface is good, but I don't generally suggest buying a TV with built in Fire TV interface. Same for Google TV. There are TVs with built in Google TV, which is a good interface, but I don't generally suggest buying a TV because it has Google TV interface. You see, over the years, the updates and new requirements for certain apps and services have crippled the built in streaming platform. For example, I used a family member's Roku TV for a period of time, and found it eventually became a frustrating experience because the device became outdated. I resolved it by adding a Roku Stick to the Roku TV. I simply ignored the Roku interface that was built in, and used the one in the Stick. That showed me that platforms built in to TVs may not be up to speed over time. And that...

A recent study shows that over half of streamers in the USA are considering cutting a streaming service as a way to save money. I am not in that group. Don't get me wrong. I'm not sitting on a pile of money, not needing to save pennies here and there. I do want to save money, and I do. But I won't be cutting off a streaming service to do it. No, streaming isn't that important to me. Rather, I don't have the problem because I don't subscribe to a bunch of services. Yesterday, I wrote (again) about how I will rotate streaming services . This month, I'll subscribe to one service, and the next month, I'll drop that one and subscribe to a different one. And still a different one the following month. HBO Max this month, for example. Disney+ next month. Paramount+ the following month. Peacock one month. And so on. Coincidentally, a Cord Cutters News published an article highlighting a recent study that said that 56% of US streamers are looking to save money by...

There are a lot of options when it comes to streaming services. There are a lot of streaming services. Some are free ad-supported television (FAST) services, but some have subscription fees. Everyone is familiar with Netflix of course, but there are many others, and you probably know about all of the major ones: Netflix Hulu Prime Video Disney+ HBO Max Apple TV+ Paramount+ Peacock Starz AMC+ There are more of course. These run from $5/month to $20/month. Then there are services that are pretty much are replacements for cable. Those include: Frndly TV Philo Sling TV Vidgo DirecTV Stream Fubo Hulu+Live TV YouTube TV They run from $7/month to over $70/month, depending on what services they include. You may have noticed that cable companies and their lackeys in the media have promoted the idea that streaming is more expensive than cable. They point to the cost of all these streaming services. And if you turn your brain off, you might fall for their propaganda. There are a few things wrong...