This week on TechHive: The 2021 cord-cutter awards

Jared Newman
|
December 10, 2021
Apple TV 4K

Ever December since 2015, I’ve wrapped up a year of TechHive columns with an awards post.

The annual cord-cutter awards are fun to put together, because I try not to take the endeavor too seriously. These are just one man’s opinions, after all, so you’ll find some silly categories scattered among the more predictable praise for the best streaming devices and services.

Anyway, TechHive asked me to put the awards together a bit earlier than usual this year, so while I’ve still got a couple more columns in the tank for 2021, this year’s awards are live right now. Read my best of 2021 picks over at TechHive.

Weekly rewind

Roku and YouTube make up: Crisis averted. On Wednesday, Roku and Google announced a multi-year agreement that keeps YouTube on Roku’s platform and restores the separate YouTube TV app as well. Google had previously threated to pull the YouTube app on December 9 if the two companies couldn’t reach a distribution deal, though existing users would likely have retained access either way.

Both companies hailed the deal as positive news for users, but neither disclosed any details. Roku had previously accused Google of demanding favorable treatment in users’ searches and requiring the use of specific hardware (likely to support better video compression). While the company’s claims didn’t entirely hold up to scrutiny, they did underscore the outsized power Google holds in the streaming wars.

Barring any drastic changes to the Roku platform, we can now consider all that to be inside baseball and a source of unnecessary stress. And if you snagged a cheap Roku player on Black Friday, you can rest easy knowing the YouTube app isn’t going anywhere.

Paramount+’s new channels: Paramount+ is jumping aboard the channel-surfing trend with 18 new linear streams to watch. The new offerings include marathon-style channels for “Star Trek” and “Paw Patrol,” a “Crime & Justice” channel with various CBS procedurals, and a classic TV channel with shows like “The Twilight Zone,” among others.

Unlike Pluto TV, which is also owned by ViacomCBS, Paramount+’s linear channels don’t have ads, though Variety reports that the service’s ad-supported tier may eventually introduce commercial breaks. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to jump back to the start of any given program with these channels, but they’re still nice starting point if you’re unsure what to watch.

Google TV’s Pluto integration: Speaking of Pluto TV, its entire lineup will soon be available through the “Live” tab on Google TV devices, including the latest Chromecast. The live section can also display channels from YouTube TV, Sling TV, and Philo, so you can see what’s on without having to jump into each individual app first.

Just one problem: Google TV lacks any way to filter the guide or mark channels as favorites, so the arrival of Pluto TV channels could make things really unwieldly. Google needs to take a page from Amazon’s Fire TV devices and make its live guide more customizable, and quickly.

Fire TV feature upgrades: Amazon is launching a slew of new Fire TV features, most of which it announced earlier in the fall. Let’s just run through them quickly:

  • Tap the Alexa button to see a panel of shortcuts, such as smart home controls, weather, news, and your video library. The smart home control panel will also show a row of any cameras you’ve connected to Alexa.
  • If your TV has an HDMI eARC port, you can plug in a Fire TV Stick 4K Max and play TV audio through nearby Echo speakers, even for other TV inputs. Amazon’s Omni and 4-Series TVs can use Echo external speakers for audio as well. Amazon has setup instructions here.
  • The aforementioned Omni and 4-Series TVs now support Apple AirPlay 2 and HomeKit, so you can send audio or video from iOS devices, mirror your iPhone screen, control the TV with Siri, and more. No such luck for Fire TV streaming players.
  • Those TVs will also support Zoom calls if you plug in an external webcam. (Amazon’s Fire TV Cube already supports this if you plug in a Micro USB to USB adapter.)

Amazon says these features are rolling out “over the coming weeks,” so don’t fret if you don’t see them right away.

More catch-up

Save more money

Apple TV 4K

Over at Amazon, the latest Apple TV 4K has dropped to $150, which is $30 off the regular price and a record low. If you read my TechHive column, this was my pick for best new streaming device of the year. (Costco has it for the same price.)

Meanwhile, the previous-gen Apple TV 4K with the older Siri remote is on sale for just $90 if you’re blessed with a Micro Center in your area. It’s also available online for $97.50 from OWC.

Other notable deals:

  • Verizon’s selling the Fire TV Cube for $80, same as Black Friday.
  • Paramount+ is still offering a free month for new or returning subscribers with the code PEAKSALE.
  • You can still get the Fire TV Stick 4K Max for $35. Select customers can save $10 more by choosing an Amazon pickup location.

Thanks for reading!

While my year-end awards are out, I’m not quite done with the newsletter for 2021. I’ll have a couple more issues over the next two weeks before wrapping up the year with a week off. In the meantime, let me know if I can answer any cord cutting questions for you!

Until next week,

Jared

Cord Cutter Weekly is a labor of love by tech journalist Jared Newman. Say hi on Twitter, and spread the word that there’s a better kind of TV out there.