📽 /🎵 Cord cutting

[planomateo]

^^ What happens when you give people options. They've bundled their channel(s) for years with the most basic plans.

Not to mention, you have a bunch of ESPN personalities pushing their social messages.

 

[RollllTide!]

Do you think their politics might have a little bit to do with it? I stopped watching them unless a game is on.

 

[planomateo]

Do you think their politics might have a little bit to do with it? I stopped watching them unless a game is on.

It certainly plays a part. But then again, I'm not their target audience anymore.

Growing up my dad always watched sports, there was always a game on whether it was NBA, NFL, MLB, or college football game on tv depending on the season. As he got older, these were on the TV much less. I'd say the same thing has happened to me, watching professional sports lost its appeal years ago.

At this point, I only watch college athletics, mostly college football, basketball, and softball. The only way ESPN is turn on is due to a live college sporting event. SEC Network fills the programming gap that ESPN once did, but I'll admit I don't watch it that often either these days.

Now that I'm up in Montana, I'm sure this will change a bit more. Long summer days, getting out to explore, visiting family, and working the new property is much more important.

 

[TerryP]

An observation for those considering options related to video on demand.

I've a friend at work who is an avid fan of The Rookie, ABC TV. After work she came home with me this morning with plans to watch the spring premiere. Now, on her Xfinity account (TV Go, or whatever it's called) she didn't set her DVR to record so there wasn't access at my house (or hers for that matter.)

A quick jump to ABC.com to see if they'd posted the latest episode was a bust. They haven't updated their "latest episodes" queue.

Here's the thing I noticed. With YouTubeTV, even if you don't have your DVR set to record a program, they post the latest episode a few hours before ABC puts it on their own site. I've seen the same thing occur with other programs and other networks. It's as if they have their own DVR running in the background and if you don't select to record a show it's still there. A little digging (network>series>show>episode) but never the less grabbing a program you missed by a couple of hours is A LOT simpler with YouTube than any other streaming service I've found.

 

[rocknthefreeworld]

It's as if they have their own DVR running in the background and if you don't select to record a show it's still there.

As it was explained to me, they don't actually use any DVR functionality to record for you personally. If you add a show to your list they basically just give you access to their store of items already saved for that show and any in the future while you still have it in your list. So if I was to go add The Rookie right now I would have the same access to previous episodes as someone who has had it on their list for months. Live things are slightly different though

 

[TerryP]

As it was explained to me, they don't actually use any DVR functionality to record for you personally. If you add a show to your list they basically just give you access to their store of items already saved for that show and any in the future while you still have it in your list. So if I was to go add The Rookie right now I would have the same access to previous episodes as someone who has had it on their list for months. Live things are slightly different though

That's why I brought it up. Both YouTubeTV and Xfinity use a cloud based DVR system. I'd certainly think the other competitors are as well.

Once an episode is released/aired it is being stored to everyone's cloud. Immediately, as it were. Last night I noticed a delay in when one chose to release it versus the other. In this case, all three would have been different: YTTV, ABC, and Xfinity.

With ABC releasing on their site ... there has to be a time zone reason?

 

[rocknthefreeworld]

With ABC releasing on their site ... there has to be a time zone reason?

YouTube has 2 different things it does with DVR. Some are actual cloud based recordings of stations and some are VOD streams like the ABC site. All depends on the show and the contract. If the VOD version is available then you may not ever be able to use the DVR version. I wonder if your location at present makes any difference. For example, if you were in California would you have to wait until after it showed there to stream it but maybe using a VPN to show yourself as in NYC may let you watch it early.

 

[RTB X Bot]

YouTubeTV release:

To bring you 70+ channels, we have contracts with content owners that are periodically renegotiated. Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of FOX Regional Sports Networks and YES Network, is one of the largest owners of local TV stations in the US.

We purchase rights from Sinclair to distribute content to you. Despite our best efforts, we’ve been unable to reach an agreement with Sinclair. As a result, we will no longer offer FOX Regional Sports Networks, including YES Network, beginning February 29th.

We do not take this decision lightly. This is a reflection of the rising cost of sports content. You may have noticed several other TV services have also decided to remove FOX Regional Sports Networks from their lineups.

Thank you for your membership as we strive to build the best possible streaming experience for you. You will receive an email today if you’re impacted by this change.

 

[planomateo]

The Average Cable Bill Exceeds All Other Utility Bills Combined

We used a mixture of publicly available data from municipal utility providers, Energystar.gov, Consumer Reports, and data sourced through third party research.

decisiondata.org

 

[rocknthefreeworld]

YouTube TV finally got me deciding to trial cutting the cord. It appears to be simple enough that my Mother In Law can use it and it actually has our local channels, unlike Sling. Even if I do decide to also add HBO MAX later (not a given but a possible) I wind up cheaper than I was anyway.

EDIT: Scratch that. Found that YouTube TV has a limit of 3 total at a time even though they let you share with up to 5 other account (seems each would get at least 1 stream). Hulu + Live is a bit more for the option but has unlimited simultaneous streams.