This week on TechHive: Hulu with Live TV review and interview

I’ve got two related features on TechHive this week. The first is an early review of Hulu with Live TV, the $40 per month streaming bundle that recently launched in a public beta. Hulu’s bundle fashions itself as a departure from cable TV, with an interface that blurs the lines between live, on-demand, and recorded programming. While this can lead to discovering some great television, the sprawling menu system can be overwhelming, and the service suffers from some early glitches. Check out the full review on TechHive.

I also headed to New York for the Streaming Media East conference and spoke to Tian Lim, the chief technical officer at Hulu. In the interview and on stage for his keynote, Lim spoke candidly about the kinds of things he’d really like to do with Hulu–such as lightning the ad lad on live TV–but can’t because of rights issues and institutional reluctance. For now, streaming bundles like Hulu must compromise. You can read all about those issues in this week’s TechHive column.

Weekly Rewind

Android TV’s new look: I’ll likely have more to say about this in next week’s column, but Android TV users should definitely check out the interface overhaul coming to Google’s living room operating system. The unorganized, underutilized recommendations row is gone, and in its place are a series of “Channels” that highlight video from various apps. It’s similar to the approach Amazon is taking with the Fire TV, and looks a lot more useful, at least at first glance.

Fire TVs are nearly here: Speaking of Fire TV, the 4K television sets from Element with Amazon’s living room operating system built in are now up for pre-order, with shipping on June 14. Prices range from $450 for a 43-inch set to $900 for a 65-inch set, and pre-orders get a free 35-mile over-the-air antenna. I tried these TVs out during CES, and was impressed by how nicely they play with over-the-air broadcasts. The home screen provides a list of live channels, and users can pause, rewind, and fast-forward live TV using the television’s built-in storage or a USB thumb drive..

More Catch-Up

Save More Money

Roku says it’s spending the entire week celebrating National Streaming Day, a holiday that, to be honest, I didn’t realize existed. As such, the company is knocking $10 off the price of its latest streaming players, including the Roku Streaming Stick, still my pick for best budget streaming device. You’ve got until Saturday to get it for $40 instead of $50.

Thanks for reading!

Sorry for the late arrival of this week’s newsletter. Between running around New York, trying to hit other deadlines, and a delayed flight that got me back home late last night, things are a bit behind schedule. Things should be back on track next week, and I hope to have more stories to share from the Streaming Media East conference.

In the meantime, please hit me up with your feedback, and please consider a donation to support this newsletter.

Until next week,
Jared