Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) 2017 - 2020

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explanade said:
The only streaming services which stream 5.1 are HBO and Showtime. Not all their shows but most of them.
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Actually, Netflix and AMZN Prime Video also feature 5.1 surround sound for most of their content. I'd guess some other VOD streaming services do, too. Where it seems to be mostly lacking is with the "live TV" streaming services like Hulu, Sling, YouTube TV, etc.
 
explanade said:
The only streaming services which stream 5.1 are HBO and Showtime. Not all their shows but most of them.
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I expect this is outdated info.

We watch both Netflix and Amazon Prime Video on our AppleTV and they both support 5.1 audio. Not all contents has this, but much of it does. There's a little 5.1 icon showing on shows and movies that do.
 
Rolu has been my favorite streaming platform. I recently got rid of fire tv and replaced it with another Roku. YouTube TV gets you local channels and many commonly used cable channels for 50 per month and has been rock solid for me so far. They have unlimited DVR as well. I went to all streaming about a year ago. I recommend it highly but you might have to try a few options, like I did, before finding what’s right for you. The good news is it’s easy to switch and platforms like Roku support mist of the available options
 
When we get back north we'll have a couple months left with Dish TV on seasonal hold, so we're going to try YTTV for a couple months and then make a decision whether or not to replace DISH TV with YTTV.
 
How long until there is streaming aggregator. Here is the idea. Charge say $15 bucks a month. Then every two or three months they switch service they provide. Ie. Jan-mar Disney, the 3 month’s Netflix, then HBO. The streaming Chanel’s would adjust there new stuff to not come out during those months. You would get shows a year late in most cases. I know you can do this by dropping and adding service, but I see this coming to an end at some point.
 
Are the stations obligated to keep their towers up? Or is whether a tower is up or not just up to the stations?

Reason I'm asking is after lots or rain last night I noticed that my PBS and CBS stations disappeared. I'm guessing the towers went down as usually, I can temporarily place the antenna outside the balcony and rescan as the reception is better outside. This time around, no good as after trying the stations are still missing.
 
easysurfer said:
Are the stations obligated to keep their towers up? Or is whether a tower is up or not just up to the stations?

Reason I'm asking is after lots or rain last night I noticed that my PBS and CBS stations disappeared. I'm guessing the towers went down as usually, I can temporarily place the antenna outside the balcony and rescan as the reception is better outside. This time around, no good as after trying the stations are still missing.
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IF you're in Chicago they lost power to Willis Tower which might be causing your problem.
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/05/18/willis-tower-power-outage-cbs2/
 
Thanks for the info. I didn't even think about going the streaming route for news. Old fashioned I guess with OTA for tv.
 
One of our PBS channels had a fire after they upgraded and were offline for over a month. They had info on their website.
 
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My local PBS has been out for over a year and half, the excuse being they were making improvements to better serve us, the original ETA was 2 months. We only have a few digital OTA stations where I live due to surrounding mountains and PBS was my favorite. I thinks it's time to forward them another e-mail reminding them how long it's been. Strangely the requests for donations never stopped when the transmission did.
 
RetiredAndLovingIt said:
My local PBS has been out for over a year and half, the excuse being they were making improvements to better serve us, the original ETA was 2 months. We only have a few digital OTA stations where I live due to surrounding mountains and PBS was my favorite. I thinks it's time to forward them another e-mail reminding them how long it's been. Strangely the requests for donations never stopped when the transmission did.
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YouTube TV has PBS now but we were missing the cooking shows that came over the air.

And, no, the fundraising mailings never stopped. :)
 
We really enjoy having PBS live on YouTube TV. We record many of the cooking, travel, and DIY shows that air on Saturday and catch-up when we have time. We also watch NewsHour live every night.

One thing I've noticed is there's very limited on-demand programming available for PBS on YouTube TV. Really just a handful of PBS-produced shows and none of the really good syndicated content like the cooking and travel shows that we like so much. Those same shows are unavailable on the PBS app as well, even with Passport ($5/mo).

Most other channels, we don't even bother to record on the cloud DVR because practically everything is available on-demand. Hopefully PBS will allow more on-demand content at some point. Until then, we record a lot, but it's a little more difficult for binge-watching.
 
Cobra9777 said:
....Most other channels, we don't even bother to record on the cloud DVR because practically everything is available on-demand. ...
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I record so I can scroll through the commercials, which you can't do with on-demand.

We've only had YouTube TV for a week but so far so good. We've got another 5 weeks or so before out seasonal hold on Dish runs out... so it will be a competition between Dish with centralized DVR and a skinny programming package for two TVs for $55/month or YouTube TV for 3 of our 4 tvs at any point in time for $50/month.
 
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https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2...orst-quarter-ever-cable-tv-cord-cutting.shtml

"Traditional Pay TV subscriptions fell by a record 1.8M in Q1, the worst quarterly result on record, bringing the annual rate of decline to 7.6%, also a record. Things were particularly bad for satellite TV, where subscriptions plunged by over 1.0M for the third quarter in a row, bringing the annual rate of decline to a worst-ever 14.3% "

There is more.
 
pb4uski said:
I record so I can scroll through the commercials, which you can't do with on-demand...
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That's true. But we both gravitate to on-demand when it's available because it's easier to binge watch, which seems to be how we watch many series these days. DW does use the cloud DVR for popular network shows that she watches every week, but not when they air. I use it for stuff that's not available on-demand like the PBS programs I mentioned earlier.

pb4uski said:
...We've only had YouTube TV for a week but so far so good. We've got another 5 weeks or so before out seasonal hold on Dish runs out... so it will be a competition between Dish with centralized DVR and a skinny programming package for two TVs for $55/month or YouTube TV for 3 of our 4 tvs at any point in time for $50/month.
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More channels and more TVs for less money, plus unlimited cloud DVR. We also think the interface is more useful than typical cable/satellite STBs, especially when it comes to searching, suggested content, and profiles, similar to Netflix. Just a better overall technology, once you're used to it.
 
Cobra9777 said:
One thing I've noticed is there's very limited on-demand programming available for PBS on YouTube TV. Really just a handful of PBS-produced shows and none of the really good syndicated content like the cooking and travel shows that we like so much. Those same shows are unavailable on the PBS app as well, even with Passport ($5/mo).
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I don't know about YTTV since I don't subscribe. I do, however, subscribe to PBS Passport. I use PlayOn to record and find no lack of VOD programming. (See image) The is a "What shows are available with PBS Passport?" page that indicates over 1,000 episode are available -- https://help.pbs.org/support/soluti...7-what-shows-are-available-with-pbs-passport-

PlayOn-1.JPG
 
<h2>Here's what I see about Passport on my local PBS page</h2>"Sustainers will automatically receive a WXXX Membercard. One-time payments of $70+ will also receive the Membercard."



"*As a donor at $5 monthly / $60 annually, you will receive the benefit of WXXX Passport, which provides access to more of the PBS streaming video you love. "


What I don't see is that $70 lifetime membership to Passport?
 
Time2 said:
<h2>Here's what I see about Passport on my local PBS page</h2>"Sustainers will automatically receive a WXXX Membercard. One-time payments of $70+ will also receive the Membercard."


"*As a donor at $5 monthly / $60 annually, you will receive the benefit of WXXX Passport, which provides access to more of the PBS streaming video you love. "

What I don't see is that $70 lifetime membership to Passport?
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There isn't a lifetime membership to Passport or PBS that I've heard of, and it wouldn't be $70 for Passport if there was one.

Passport requires a minimum donation of $60/year. The "one time payment of $70+..." is just to acknowledge the donor also gets a Passport subscription with any donation above $60. It doesn't say "lifetime" anywhere - and why would there be a "+" cost for any membership?

A $70 lifetime subscription wouldn't make any sense if an annual subscription was $60 - no org would offer that. That's unrealistic. Why would anyone pay $60 for a year if $70 bought them a lifetime subscription? Most lifetime memberships (not PBS) I've seen were about 20x the annual membership or more.
 
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RonBoyd said:
I don't know about YTTV since I don't subscribe. I do, however, subscribe to PBS Passport. I use PlayOn to record and find no lack of VOD programming. (See image) The is a "What shows are available with PBS Passport?" page that indicates over 1,000 episode are available -- https://help.pbs.org/support/soluti...7-what-shows-are-available-with-pbs-passport-...
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Thanks. We are Passport subscribers and I am keenly aware of what is and is not available on-demand via the PBS app. Our local affiliate airs several very good cooking, DIY, and travel shows, which are not available on the PBS app, with or without passport. As I said previously, they are also not available via YouTube TV on-demand. The PBS on-demand library on YouTube TV is extremely limited, currently. So we just record those shows on the cloud DVR and watch whenever we want. It would be nice to have a larger library with multiple seasons available, as compared to what I am able to record. But it is a workable system for us and I'm confident that more on-demand content will be available in the future via both sources.
 
RetiredAndLovingIt said:
Locast keeps growing in spite of the lawsuits, they are now available in Florida.Totally free if you want to deal with constant interruptions begging for a donation or set up a $5 monthly donation. I watched it for 2 days, that's all it took for me start donating.



https://www.tampabay.com/arts-entertainment/2020/06/03/free-streaming-tv-arrives-in-tampa-bay-today/
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The guy who started Locast is very knowledgeable. Interesting he is the person who ended local blackouts of sporting events. I'm guessing he's looking forward to litigating the current lawsuit. This case might drag on for awhile because the broadcasters might not actually want to meet him in court.
 
I signed up for Locast yesterday to see what they offered and how well it streamed. I did not donate at this time. I am in the Phoenix area and the channels available are essentially the same as I get on my amplified indoor antenna that cost about $30.

I do have cable TV for our sets in all but one room, which is where I experiment with alternative options. Unfortunately, and especially now when we are spending a lot of time at home, I don’t see them as a viable alternative to cable. Our TV time has increased by about 300% over the past 3 months, though I am hoping it will drop as it becomes safer to be out and with other people.
 
If you already get great free antenna TV signal then I agree you don't need Locast.
Their target customers live in the areas of the country where mountain or valleys block the free OTA signal. In my case the broadcast translator has never been updated to digital and I can only get 2 analog network channels with horrible picture.
 
Looking at their availability map, I don't see too many locations that would have obvious mountains or valleys to block an OTA signal. Virtually any location can have a problem -with a tall building, hill or other physical barrier that would make OTA reception impossible. With 3 exceptions, all their coverage areas are located in or near very high population urban or suburban zones. I assume that would be their business model. Rural areas don't have a lot of people, and less opportunity for revenue. Also, in rural areas that lack cable, satellite is the normal fallback. They don't have very many local broadcasters to begin with.
 
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