The Ultimate Cord Cutting Guide (merged)

#279
#279
Roku just unveiled new streaming TV changes that sound a lot like what Apple is planning

"Roku just unveiled new streaming TV changes that sound a lot like what Apple is planning
  • The Roku Channel will soon offer premium content from Showtime, Epix and Starz.
  • HBO, Netflix and Hulu are noticeably absent, but Roku might be able to use the content to draw more eyeballs to The Roku Channel, where it can sell ads.
  • Users will only have a single bill, instead of bills for each premium service.

    Roku on Wednesday announced new changes that are coming to how its users watch premium TV shows and movies. It may help it boost ad revenue — hugely important for the company's success — and it's a move Apple is said to be planning, too.
    The Roku Channel, a separate section of the Roku user interface on TVs with Roku software and Roku products, will soon let users subscribe to paid content from Showtime, Epix, Starz and a handful of other, lesser-known networks. Customers will be able to see all the shows and movies available on those platforms before they subscribe and can access the movies and TV shows from other devices, such as phones and tablets. They'll also be able to pay for all the services through one bill paid to Roku, instead of a separate bill for each service.
    The change gives Roku's media partners a chance to include ad content inside of the Roku app instead of leaving it inside separate apps where fewer viewers can see the ads.

    But there's a lot of missing content in Roku's new offering. HBO, Hulu and Netflix aren't available. Those apps are still available outside of The Roku Channel, but users will need to navigate to the home screen and away from The Roku Channel, which is clearly where Roku is going to try to keep its users' eyeballs.
    The move also sounds similar to what Apple is planning. CNBC reported in October that Apple will mix its free original content with subscription channels inside of the TV app, which is available on iPhones and iPads. Apple may introduce its service as soon as this year.

    Other companies may be planning similar offerings. Facebook is in talks with HBO, Showtime and Starz to offer TV shows and movies for its Facebook Watch users, according to Recode."

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#280
#280
Another article:

Roku Channel Adds Subscriptions For Showtime, Starz, EPIX And More

"The Roku Channel, which offers thousands of free free, ad-supported movies and television shows, will soon offer premium subscriptions.

The company said its millions of viewers will have the opportunity later this month to subscribe to Showtime, Starz, EPIX and 22 other premium channels through The Roku Channel. Consumers can subscribe with one click and pay for everything on one bill, and there are no prerequisites other than setting up an account.

“By making it easy for users to discover, subscribe to and watch premium subscriptions, we believe this offering will result in increased subscriptions and user engagement for our subscription partners and an even better user experience,” Rob Holmes, Roku’s vice president of programming and engagement, said in a statement.

The Roku Channel provides yet another way for programmers to reach consumers who’ve cut the cable cord or never connected in the first place. And the Los Gatos device-maker offers reach that’s comparable to pay TV providers, with a base of 23.8 million active users.

Viewers access the programming in a variety of ways, through a Roku player, an internet-connected TV powered by Roku’s software, online and through a forthcoming mobile app that will be available to viewers in the U.S.

Though there are certain limitations, though. The premium channels are only available through The Roku Channel, and not separately, through a network app. And consumers won’t find HBO in the channel lineup.Z"
 
#281
#281
Found another downside to streaming. Monday night I was watching the countdown to the new year when at about 30 seconds I heard a Hale of fireworks erupt outside. I looked at my phone and realized streaming a countdown on a 30 second delay was a really crappy way to ring in the New Year.
 
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#282
#282
GAVol said:
Found another downside to streaming. Monday night I was watching the countdown to the new year when at about 30 seconds I heard a Hale of fireworks erupt outside. I looked at my phone and realized streaming a countdown on a 30 second delay was a really crappy way to ring in the New Year.
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Mine are sometimes a full minute behind. It's like that when watching sports unfortunately.
 
#283
#283
Rishvol said:
Mine are sometimes a full minute behind. It's like that when watching sports unfortunately.
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Believe me, I know. Can't believe I was dumb enough to watch something dependent on the exact time via DirectvNow lol.
 
#284
#284
GAVol said:
Found another downside to streaming. Monday night I was watching the countdown to the new year when at about 30 seconds I heard a Hale of fireworks erupt outside. I looked at my phone and realized streaming a countdown on a 30 second delay was a really crappy way to ring in the New Year.
Click to expand...
I mean you still get a good bit of delay with cable as far as I can remember.
 
#285
#285
BearCat204 said:
I mean you still get a good bit of delay with cable as far as I can remember.
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A few seconds maybe. I know this because I may or may not have turned on the UGA broadcast last night in the 4th quarter to experience the schadenfreude.
 
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#286
#286
GAVol said:
Found another downside to streaming. Monday night I was watching the countdown to the new year when at about 30 seconds I heard a Hale of fireworks erupt outside. I looked at my phone and realized streaming a countdown on a 30 second delay was a really crappy way to ring in the New Year.
Click to expand...
I also experienced this, except I was a full minute behind.
 
#287
#287
I usually have a 30 second delay. During games I usually mute my phone so I don’t get texts from friends. It’s not the best solution but it’s way cheaper than any cable I ever had
 
#288
#288
GAVol said:
Found another downside to streaming. Monday night I was watching the countdown to the new year when at about 30 seconds I heard a Hale of fireworks erupt outside. I looked at my phone and realized streaming a countdown on a 30 second delay was a really crappy way to ring in the New Year.
Click to expand...

I stream psvue and my dad will text me a bout a score well before the play happens. I have to wait u til commercial to check the phone. Ha
 
#289
#289
tumscalcium said:
I stream psvue and my dad will text me a bout a score well before the play happens. I have to wait u til commercial to check the phone. Ha
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The phone becomes your enemy when streaming football or baseball. Can't tell you the number of times I accidentally glance at an alert about a HR while I'm watching the guy standing in the batters box.
 
#291
#291
Just as I was thinking about subscribing!

Article Link: Netflix increase is the biggest in the company’s history

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Netflix raises prices to pay for original content
The price increase is the biggest in the company’s history


Netflix is raising monthly subscription prices by as much as 18 percent in the United States, the largest rate hike in its history, as company executives look for more money to pay escalating content bills.

Although Netflix has hiked prices in the past, this is the first increase that will be applied to all U.S. subscribers, as well as subscribers in Latin American and the Caribbean, where Netflix bills in U.S. dollars. The most popular subscription plan will now cost $13 a month, up from $11. The cheapest subscription will run $8.99, up from $7.99.

The move is an attempt by Netflix to increase its revenue as its subscription growth in the United States slows. The company has 58 million domestic subscribers.

“We change pricing from time to time as we continue investing in great entertainment and improving the overall Netflix experience for the benefit of our members,” a Netflix spokesman said in a statement. Customers will be notified of the increase by email and through the Netflix app at least 30 days before the price hike takes effect; timing will vary depending on the customer’s billing cycle.

The price increase will help subsidize Netflix’s high content costs for both licensed and original shows, which the company last year pegged at $8 billion. An assessment from Goldman Sachs has put the number as high as $12 billion.

Netflix has sought to keep the subscriber wheel turning by offering a slew of new content, paying hundreds of millions of dollars to top-tier creators, such as Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy, to move their production companies in-house and often outbidding rivals on individual projects. Licensed content can be pricey, too — the company just paid $100 million to keep reruns of the ’90s sitcom “Friends” on the service.

Finding the balance between low prices and high content investment has been a key challenge for Netflix executives. The company has also had to ensure price increases don’t put a damper on new and existing subscriptions. Executives have talked in recent quarters about carefully managing content spending as subscription growth — the company’s only revenue stream — has slowed in the United States. What has regularly been annual increases of more than 15 percent has hovered at just about 10 percent the past two years.

Netflix has seen more upside with international subscriptions, which have climbed four or five times as much in many quarters. Those subscribers now approach 80 million. To fuel that growth, Netflix has heavily invested in content in foreign countries, such as India, where the subscriber numbers are skyrocketing.

These issues will be high on the Netflix agenda for the executives who run point on the issue. Chief financial officer David Wells left the company in October. Former Activision Blizzard CFO Spencer Neumann has been named as his replacement.

The firm also must also protect itself from the more aggressive entry of Disney into the streaming business. The company’s Disney+ service is expected to launch later this year and will cost less than Netflix. The Netflix price hike could be a way to accustom subscribers to the price now rather than imposing an increase when Disney+ is available.

This is the fourth time Netflix has raised subscription prices since it launched a streaming-only plan nearly a decade ago; the most recent one came last year. But in the past the price of the basic streaming plan stayed the same. Past price increases have drawn backlash.

Still, Netflix remains the one of the cheapest streaming options, with a basic plan that is less expensive than Hulu, Amazon Prime or HBO.

In addition to its hit shows, such as “Stranger Things” and “The Crown,” the company has generated major awards attention for Alfonso Cuarón’s coming-of-age drama “Roma” in recent months. It also has sparked strong word-of-mouth for a select group of feature films, including romantic comedy “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before,” fertility dramedy “Private Life” and the Sandra Bullock horror film “Bird Box.”
Netflix is already facing tough competition from other streaming services such as Amazon, Hulu and HBO. (Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.) The streaming service landscape is about to become even more crowded with the entry of Disney and a Warner Media service projected to be not far behind. In its quest for dominance in both streaming and production, Netflix has had to borrow billions to finance its initiatives. It had already racked up $12 billion in debt when it announced it would be borrowing an additional $2 billion in October.

The company’s shares soared six percent in response to news of the price hike, as analysts looked favorably upon the revenue implications and said they saw little downside.

“We don’t believe that it will slow subscriber growth, as the new price points remain competitive relative to Netflix’s volume of original and licensed content,” Moody’s senior vice president Neil Begley said in a note.

The company will release earnings for the fourth-quarter on Thursday."



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#293
#293
Disagree about Netflix's value. I find a lot of their original content to be low quality and undesirable, with occasional exceptions, and the mainstream content is not what it used to be. As more and more media companies that own movies go with their own streaming services, Netflix's mainstream content will continue to erode. While they jack up prices.
 
#294
#294
I had Sling but switched to Hulu Live. Also have Netflix and Amazon Prime. Plenty of very good content for half the price of the cable I was paying for.
 
#295
#295
Biggest thing that’s keeping us from cutting the cord permanently is the lack of solid internet out in the sticks where we live. Our only provider choice is Frontier and they’re awful!
 
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#296
#296
YoutubeTV is now nationwide. Great price and has local channels and all the sports channels you need minus the NFL network.
 
#297
#297
GBO18 said:
YoutubeTV is now nationwide. Great price and has local channels and all the sports channels you need minus the NFL network.
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I haven’t had any issues with it besides missing the NFL Network and the SEC alt channel, which I assume you can get using the ESPN app?
 
#298
#298
Freak said:
I haven’t had any issues with it besides missing the NFL Network and the SEC alt channel, which I assume you can get using the ESPN app?
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Yep it is on the ESPN app. And no issues for me either.
 
#300
#300
BearCat204 said:
But is not available on firestick or fire tv which I think hurts its popularity.
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Right. I made the hardware 'investment' early since we had A-Prime into fire tv 'sets' (not sticks) and have gone through PSVue and am now with DirectTV Now. It's easy enough to switch from the top tier plan back down to the lower tier once football season is over and I don't need the SEC Network etc... With these price hikes, however, I'm starting to consider reinvesting in Roku's. The interface is much better and none of the BS Amazon vs Google nonsense.
 
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