Remember “Watchable?” Yeah, nobody else does either. And so it is not at all surprising that sources now report Comcast is pulling resources away from the two-year-old venture, scrapping its original content dreams and looking elsewhere for eyeballs. [More]
over-the-top
Facebook Finally Launching Long-Rumored “Facebook Watch” TV-Like Feature
By 8.10.17
“TV” doesn’t mean what it used to. We’re as likely to watch a premium drama from Netflix or Amazon as from any traditional broadcast or cable channel, and we can watch it on a laptop, phone, or tablet as easily as we can watch it from the big screen in our living rooms. And so it’s unsurprising that Facebook — the all-encompassing worldwide digital platform that once was merely a social network — is finally ready to launch its own programming channel, Facebook Watch. [More]
Today In Streaming TV: PlayStation Vue Comes To Cable, Facebook TV Coming Soon, DirecTV Now Grows
By 7.26.17
It hasn’t been that long since the idea of being able to get all of your TV through the internet was still some far-off future. But by now, we get streaming TV news from the oldest of old-school companies, AT&T, and the new giants, like Facebook, all at once. So here’s what’s shaking in the world of streaming TV this week. [More]
Today In Streaming TV: Charter Tests Skinny Bundle, CenturyLink Launches $45 Package
By 6.30.17
The trend continues: As consumers increasingly cut the cord and back away from traditional pay-TV, they still want to watch content. And rather than let all the money go to Hulu, PlayStation Vue, and YouTube, cable and satellite companies are cautiously wading into the all-online world. This week, CenturyLink and possibly Charter are joining the fray. [More]
Verizon Could Launch New Streaming Video This Summer
By 5.22.17
Verizon’s rumored over-the-top streaming TV service — not to be confused with its nearly universally panned two-year-old Go90 product — could be available as soon as next month, executives for the company reportedly revealed Monday. [More]
Hulu Launches $40/Month Live TV Service
By 5.3.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
After months of rumors and the slow trickle of details, the day has finally come: Hulu launched its live-TV streaming service, aptly named “Hulu with Live TV.” [More]
Cable Nets May Sell $20 Streaming Bundle; Hulu To Charge $40 For Live TV
By 4.14.17
The TV rumor mill is whirring with news that some of the biggest cable networks may follow Hulu’s lead, joining together to sell streaming content directly to viewers. And speaking of Hulu, we’re finally getting some vague idea of what its entry into live-TV streaming will cost. [More]
Report: Verizon Planning To Jump Into The Streaming-TV Fray While Go90 Flails
By 3.31.17
It’s been two years since Verizon launched its Go90 streaming video service, and it often feels like the only people who talk about it are tech journalists who occasionally mention that it’s not doing well. Yet Verizon apparently believes that the work it put into Go90 can soon be used to build the latest entry into the streaming TV market. [More]
Cable Companies May Be Headed For “Street Fight” Over Streaming Services
By 3.30.17
Cable TV operators like Comcast and Charter have rarely, if ever, had to compete directly with each other. But that truce — kept in place thanks to local franchise agreements that limit competition — may soon end if the pay-TV companies decide to start offering service outside of their footprint. [More]
Comcast May Launch Streaming Service For Cord-Cutters
By 3.28.17
Even Comcast, the biggest cable company in the country, is starting to acknowledge a key reality: It’s 2017, and consumers, especially younger adults, don’t want to pay for cable television anymore. To that end, the rumor mill now says, Comcast is going to join the competition and launch a $15 streaming service — but you’ll have to have their internet service, first. [More]
AT&T: It’s Fine For Us To Buy Time Warner Because We’re Too Small To Hurt Competition
By 2.22.17
AT&T’s plan to buy Time Warner — the parent company of several cable networks, not the cable company that Charter snapped up last year — was greeted with a surprising amount of skepticism right from the start. Even though AT&T is sidestepping a lot of regulatory scrutiny by not seeking FCC approval of the merger, lawmakers have continued to ask why this merger would benefit anyone other than the shareholders of these companies. AT&T’s response: Competition or prices won’t be affected because we’re such a small-time player in the pay-TV business, and Time Warner’s viewership numbers are low. [More]
People Waste A Lot Of Time Picking What Videos To Stream; Still Prefer It To Live TV
By 11.3.16
Once upon a time, we wandered the aisles of the local video, unable to make up our mind about which movie to rent. It was a waste of time, but it was usually better than whatever was airing on TV that night. Now the technology has changed, but we still spend an awful lot of time trying to find something that isn’t live TV.
[More]
ESPN, ABC, Fox News, Fox Sports All Joining Hulu’s Eventual Live Streaming Service
By 11.2.16
Once upon a time (two whole years ago!) the idea of successfully getting an internet-based cable alternative up, running, and profitable seemed, perhaps, like a pipe dream. These days, even though we don’t know if the ventures are exactly profitable, the online competition to get your monthly TV dollars is fierce. And now Hulu is latest player to grab some big headliners for itsplan to start zapping linear TV channels to your online eyeballs. [More]
Final FCC Set-Top Box Proposal: Free Apps And Integrated Search For All
By 9.8.16
Remember how earlier this week the rumor mill had it that the FCC’s long-awaited final set-top box proposal was due out this week? The gossips were right; chairman Tom Wheeler’s office circulated it today. [More]
Time Warner Joining The Hulu Crowd, Buying 10% Of The Streaming Service
By 8.3.16
In an era when everybody and their grandmother seems to be launching their own proprietary subscription streaming service, something about Hulu seems almost quaint. The platform is jointly owned by three giant media companies, and therefore is almost a pre-bundled service that actually carries programming from all of them. And eventually — but not quite yet — you can make that four. [More]
Comcast’s Still Not Sure There’s Any Money In This Whole “Streaming” Thing
By 7.28.16
You might have heard that it’s 2016, and streaming your TV via the internet is all the rage. And yet despite being just as susceptible to cord-cutters as anyone (everyone) else, Comcast is still not thinking the whole streaming-TV thing is a moneymaker. [More]
Does Cord-Cutting Always Automatically Save You Money?
By 4.29.16
For the past several months we’ve been working our way through real customers’ pay TV bills one by one, and one piece of reader feedback keeps bubbling up again and again: Why pay for TV at all? This is the age of the cord-cutter, right? Just ditch cable already! [More]
A Message From The Year 2026 About The Future Of Your TV
By 1.4.16
Thirty years ago, in 1996, you actually used your TV to watch broadcast or cable signals — live, as things aired. Twenty years ago, in 2006, you probably still had cable, but you probably also had a DVR, freeing you to watch programming at your leisure (much to the chagrin of advertisers). Ten years ago, in 2016, you may or may not have decided to cut the coaxial cord — but even if you had cable, odds were high you complemented it with some kind of streaming service. But by today, Jan. 4, 2026, if you even remember what “cable” was, that’s probably because you only see it at your grandparents’ house. [More]
