This week on TechHive: More sleazy antenna marketing
Did you know that with the right over-the-air antenna, you can watch free broadcast TV stations from across the Atlantic Ocean?
It’s true, at least if you believe the marketing from antenna makers on sites like Walmart and eBay, which prominently advertise indoor antennas that supposedly pick up broadcasts from thousands of miles away. The situation isn’t much better on Amazon, where unscrupulous vendors hawk “long-range” indoor antennas with ranges in the hundreds of miles.
Antenna experts say that in reality, even the best outdoor directional antennas are unlikely to pick up signals from more than 70 miles away. But don’t just blame the sleazy antenna vendors for their inflated claims. Misleading antenna marketing is a systemic issue made possible by today’s sprawling online marketplaces, in which strict oversight is nearly impossible.
I know this because I wrote about this exact issue in 2019, and little has changed since then. If anything, the problem is only getting worse. Read the full column on TechHive.
Weekly rewind
Roku’s upgraded Ultra: Roku is refreshing its $100 Ultra streaming box by bundling it with a better remote. The Voice Remote Pro has a rechargeable battery (via Micro-USB) and support for “Hey Roku” voice commands, which you can use to play videos and music hands-free. The box itself is unchanged from the 2020 model.
Roku launched the Voice Remote Pro as a $30 upgrade for other Roku players last year, and it’s also available as a $70 bundle with the Roku Streaming Stick 4K, so I never understood why it’s been unbundled from Roku’s flagship streaming box all this time. My best guess is that the company wanted to see how people felt about an always-listening remote before rolling it out more broadly. (If you’re skittish, you can easily turn the microphone off.)
In any case, this simplifies your buying options if you want Roku’s best available hardware. Just note that most retailers are still selling the Ultra with the old remote at the same price or with a modest discount. To know what you’re getting, look for “Voice Remote Pro” in the description or look for the green voice control toggle on the remote’s left side.
Free internet (for some): The Biden administration has made a deal with 20 internet providers to offer free high-speed home internet service for low-income Americans. It expands the government’s existing Affordable Connectivity Program, which offers a $30 per month subsidy toward internet service, and ensures download speeds of at least 100 Mbps. You can visit getinternet.gov to see if you qualify and learn how to sign up.
The program will certainly help a lot of people, but as FastCo’s Mark Sullivan points out, it does little to address the country’s underlying broadband problems (namely, a lack of competition) and even rewards anti-competitive internet providers with government subsidies. As we saw when Comcast delayed data caps in the Northeast due to political pressure, a more adversarial relationship between government and ISPs remains desperately needed.
The Weather Channel unbundled: As spotted by The Streamable, The Weather Channel has quietly launched a standalone subscription to its live cable feed. For $3 per month or $30 per year, you can watch the channel on Roku, Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung TVs, and Comcast Flex devices. (Strangely, the subscription does not include access on computers or mobile devices.)
Allen Media Group, The Weather Channel’s parent company, previously announced a $5 per month streaming service with a broader array of content. It’s unclear what became of that initiative.
But if you just want to watch The Weather Channel without paying for any other cable channels, this is the cheapest option. (Next in line is Frndly TV, which offers 35 channels starting at $7 per month.) This is also another example of how pay TV bundles are steadily becoming undone—something we’re sure to see more of as traditional TV subscriptions decline.
FuboTV’s 4K upcharge: FuboTV has pulled 4K video from its $70 per month base package for new subscribers. Watching live sports in 4K will instead require Fubo’s “Elite” tier, which also includes some additional channels for $80 per month. (Subscribers who already had 4K will get to keep it without paying extra.)
In charging extra for 4K, Fubo is taking a page from YouTube TV, whose 4K Plus add-on costs $20 per month after a half-price promo for the first year. It’s reminiscent of how cable companies used to charge extra for HD video, and it bums me out.
More catch-up
- By me: The case for replacing Netflix with HBO Max.
- Rumor mill: Netflix’s ad-supported plan may arrive this year, not next.
- A valid complaint: The Chromecast with Google TV needs more storage.
- Disney hints at plans to offer ESPN without a pay TV bundle.
- YouTube TV adds a Spanish-only plan for $35 per month.
- You can now subscribe to Discovery+ (with ads) straight from The Roku Channel.
Save more money
Amazon currently has a rare deal on the Apple TV 4K, which you can buy for $150 instead of the usual $180. While it’s much pricier than other streaming boxes, it’s also much faster and is packed with useful features. It’s also the only streaming player that doesn’t clutter up its interface with advertising. Here’s my review from last year if you need more details.
A couple other notable deals:
- Hulu is giving subscribers three months of Xbox PC Game Pass.
- DirecTV Stream is taking $15 off the first two months for new subscribers.
Thanks for reading!
It only took about six years, but I finally bought the cordcutterweekly.com domain and have a snazzy new landing page to match. You’ll also notice that the web version of this week’s issue links to the new site as well. Keep it in mind next time someone asks you how to sign up for your favorite newsletter, perhaps?
Got cord cutting questions? Just reply to this email to get in touch.
Until next week,
Jared