This week on TechHive: Picking the best DVR for cord-cutters
This took a while, but my roundup of over-the-air DVR solutions is now live. It includes head-to-head comparisons of Tablo, TiVo Roamio OTA, HDHomeRun with Plex, and Channel Master DVR+, along with individual in-depth reviews for each product.

My conclusion? Tablo is the currently best way for most people to record local broadcast channels with an antenna, but like every other product I evaluated, it has some significant flaws. This space should get much more interesting as the year progresses, and I expect to update the roundup over time. For now, dive into the full report on TechHive.

Weekly Rewind

Progress in streaming local channels: If you’re unwilling or unable to use an antenna for local channels, this week’s TechHive column is for you. It’s all about why, in most markets, live local feeds aren’t part of streaming TV bundles such as Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, and DirecTV Now. Basically, the process for negotiating with these bundlers is different from traditional TV, and national networks and their local broadcast affiliates haven’t always seen eye-to-eye how the deals should work.

There’s hope, though. This week, ABC announced that 160 of its 200 local affiliates are on board with the blanket deals the network has arranged. NBC also announced progress on a similar initiative, while CBS and Fox are reportedly pursuing similar plans. I suspect that by the end of this year, your ablity to get local channels without cable or antenna will be greatly improved.

Amazon’s secret sports advantage: Over at What You Pay For Sports, Dave Warner has a thought-provoking analysis on how Amazon could rival ESPN in carrying live sporting events. Warner notes that Amazon’s $6.4 billion in subscription revenue last year isn’t too far behind ESPN’s $8.5 billion in carriage fees, but with one crucial difference: Amazon Prime subscribers are happy to pay even if they’re not using all its benefits. That’s not the case with cable subscribers, who are increasingly jumping ship and contributing to ESPN’s ongoing misery. As more sports rights deals become available, Amazon could enter the bidding, using Prime as leverage. It’s already done so this year with Thursday Night Football.

What’s remarkable to me is that Amazon Prime is a bundle, but one whose services consist of many other things besides movies and TV shows. And while it’s been a huge success for Amazon, no other company–not Google, Walmart, Apple, Target, or anyone else that might count as a competitor–is doing anything remotely similar.

More Catch-Up

Save More Money
If you have a Roku player or Amazon Fire TV device, eventually the remote’s going to need new batteries. Now’s the time to stock up, with Best Buy selling 48-packs of AA and AAA batteries for $6.99 apiece. That’s an $8 discount. The only catch is that you’ll have to drag yourself over to a Best Buy store or order enough other stuff to trigger free shipping.

Now you can support Cord Cutter Weekly (with cash)!

Last summer, I started writing this newsletter as an experiment. The plan was build upon my weekly TechHive column and reach out directly to readers with even more useful information. So far, the response has far exceeded my expectations, with nearly 6,000 active subscribers in less than a year.

Now, I want to experiment in turning Cord Cutter Weekly into something bigger, so I’ve launched a donation page on Patreon. For $1 per month–or more, if you want–you’ll get access to the Patreon feed, where I’ll keep a running list of links, commentary, and community discussion on the week’s cord cutting topics. Think of it as the newsletter coming together in real-time (or, as a Twitter feed without all my irrelevant ramblings).

Let me be clear: This newsletter is not going anywhere, it will always be free, and I am not even considering advertisements or sponsorships. (For that matter, I’ll politely ask that any tech PR folks refrain from donating for the sake of avoiding conflict-of-interest.) But if you enjoy what I’m doing with this newsletter, and would like to show your appreciation with cash, now you can.

Of course, your feedback is just as valuable to me, so please feel free to respond to this email with your ideas, concerns, and constructive criticism.

Until next week,
Jared