| Hey everyone, it’s great to be back after a two-week break from this newsletter. I would say that I’m feeling rested and recharged, except that my relaxing vacation was immediately followed by a trip to Las Vegas for the CES tech industry trade show. More on that shortly.
If you didn’t venture over to TechHive over Christmas week, you might’ve missed my annual cord cutter awards. Read the full column on TechHive for my favorite streaming devices, services, and innovations in 2019.
As for 2020, I’ve identified what I think will be the biggest trend in the coming year: With new streaming services like Disney+, HBO Max, and NBC’s Peacock joining mainstays like Netflix and Hulu, the race is now on to build a unified guide for navigating all your streaming services in a single menu. Read the full column on TechHive for more on why streaming could get simpler this year despite a wave of new services. |
| TiVo’s new streaming box: Speaking of unified guides, the best example I saw at CES was the TiVo Stream 4K, an Android TV-based streaming player that’s launching in April for an introductory price of $50. What separates the Stream 4K from other Android TV players is its TiVo-specific menu (pictured atop this newsletter), which suggests movies and shows to watch, then takes you to the appropriate app after you’ve made a selection. That way, you don’t have to constantly jump in and out of different apps just to see what’s on.
To be clear, this is not a DVR product. Instead, it’s the start of a new direction for TiVo, which is trying to reach a new audience of folks who’ve already cut cable or never had it to begin with. I think it’s the first exciting TiVo product in years.
TiVo’s DVR app delays: In other TiVo news, I asked the company at CES what happened to the streaming DVR apps it announced at last year’s show. At the time, the plan was to let DVR users stream live or recorded TV onto Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, or Android TV devices around the house, obviating the need for expensive TiVo Mini receivers.
Sadly, TiVo now says those apps are on hold as the company prioritizes its streaming plans. We may still see an Android TV app, as it would make for a nice tie-in with the aforementioned Stream 4K, and Fire TV support could follow since the platform is also based on Android. Apple TV and Roku support, however, are “in limbo” according to one of the TiVo execs I spoke to. As always, the Tablo Quad, Fire TV Recast, Plex DVR, and Channels DVR are fine alternatives for recording from an antenna and streaming the video throughout the home.
Sling TV price hikes and changes: At the end of last year, Sling TV became the latest live streaming service to raise prices. Both the Sling Orange and Sling Blue base packages now start at $30 per month (up from $25 per month previously) and the two packages combined cost $45 per month (up from $40 per month).
Sling has made some upgrades to make the price hikes more palatable. The Sling Blue package now includes Fox News, MSNBC, HLN, and Fox Business, and all plans now include 10 hours of cloud DVR service at no extra charge. (Sling’s 50-hour storage plan is still a $5 per month add-on.) Sling also recently lifted its DVR restrictions on Disney and ESPN channels, so you can finally record them and skip through ads. Price hikes are never great news, but Sling is still a better deal than most other live TV streaming services if you can get by with its smaller lineup of channels.
The end of hidden fees: Earlier this week, Verizon announced a shake-up of its Fios TV plans, with no annual contracts and–more importantly–no hidden fees for things like broadcast TV and regional sports. Set-top boxes and DVR still cost extra, but even the prices for those are listed up front.
Don’t give Verizon too much credit, though, as the company is just getting out in front of a new law that requires more TV bill transparency. The law, which passed at the end of last month, goes into effect on June 20, so it won’t be long before other TV providers suddenly discover the virtues of honest pricing. With the average pay TV customer paying $450 per year in hidden fees, cable and satellite companies will soon have to advertise much higher prices than they used to.
Also worth noting: The law prohibits cable companies from charging a rental fee when you bring your own equipment, as Frontier was caught doing with Wi-Fi routers earlier this year. |
