| Not long ago, I thought of smart TV software—especially from the likes of Samsung and LG—as something to ignore. Dedicated streaming devices such as Roku’s Streaming Stick and Amazon’s Fire TV Stick offered slicker interfaces and better app selections, which made me wonder why TV makers even bothered making subpar software.
A funny thing’s happened in recent years, though: Smart TV software from LG and Samsung has actually gotten pretty good. Now, I’m wondering why those companies don’t take a page from Roku and Amazon, and put their software on external streaming players.
To be clear, I don’t own any Samsung or LG TVs, so I haven’t lived with their software like I have with all the major streaming devices. I did, however, check out both companies’ smart TVs during CES earlier this month, and I came away impressed with what they offer. Read the full column on TechHive. |
| Hulu price changes: Hulu will soon get either more or less expensive, depending on which plan you have. For Hulu’s ad-supported, on-demand service, the price is decreasing from $8 to $6 per month. The price of Hulu’s live TV service, however, is increasing from $40 to $45 per month. Both changes will kick in on February 26 for new subscribers, and on the following billing cycle for current subscribers. (Other plans, such as Hulu’s $12 per month ad-free on-demand service, will remain unchanged.)
By lowering its on-demand pricing, Hulu is bracing itself for a wave of competition from the likes of AT&T’s WarnerMedia, Disney, and Apple, all of which plan to launch their own on-demand services this year. Hulu is also competing on some level with free ad-supported services such as Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, and Amazon’s new Freedive service. It turns out that a common attack against cord-cutting–that these services just keep getting more expensive–isn’t always true.
That said, Hulu is in less control of its pricing on the live TV side, where it has to pay a half-dozen media conglomerates for a growing number of increasingly-expensive channels. The addition of Discovery channels late last year probably set the stage for the price hikes we’re seeing now.
YouTube TV goes nationwide: Not all of you have appreciated my choice of YouTube TV as the best live TV streaming service for most people, on the grounds that it’s not available throughout the United States. This week, YouTube TV arrived in 95 more markets, increasing its coverage to 98 percent of the country, and the remainder will soon follow.
Why the holdup? Unlike other live TV services, YouTube TV insisted on staying out of areas where it couldn’t offer local broadcasts from at least three out of the four major networks. YouTube says it can now achieve that goal nationwide, and it has all four local networks in 90 percent of markets. It’s also employing a shrewd tactic to fill in the remaining gaps: If a local affiliate feed isn’t available, YouTube TV will simply pull in the nearest station that’s owned by the network itself. For instance, Mankato, Minn., will get NBC’s Chicago station, and Presque Isle, Penn., will get coverage from NBC in Boston.
YouTube TV’s channel lineup is less robust than some other services, but with Hulu’s forthcoming price hike, it’s now the cheapest path to local channels, cable news, regional sports, and a mix of entertainment channels at $40 per month. It also provides excellent video quality, has an easy-to-understand interface, and offers a generous DVR that saves unlimited programs for up to nine months.
TiVo’s next moves: As promised last week, here’s my interview with TiVo’s Ted Malone, in which we talked about the company’s streaming TV apps, Android TV hardware, and a potential streaming TV bundle that would integrate with TiVo’s DVR.
Those streaming apps–coming next quarter to Roku and Fire TV, and in Q3 for Apple TV and Android TV–will let you access live or recorded TV on additional televisions at home or on the road. They’ll require either a TiVo that supports transcoding (including the Roamio Pro, Roamio Plus, Bolt, Bolt Vox, and Bolt OTA) or a TiVo Stream box connected to a non-transcoding TiVo DVR (such as the basic Roamio or Roamio OTA). The big downside is that the streaming apps will be limited to 720p video at 30 frames per second, though Malone didn’t rule out adding 60 frames per second support in the future.
As for live TV bundle, Malone didn’t offer any specifics on what TiVo is contemplating. I’ll just leave the quote here for you to interpret: “I think if we were to do something there, we would want it to be seamlessly integrated into the tuner experience,” he said. “We don’t have any plans to announce right now, but… I would like to have something to announce in the area.” |
