My Streaming Life

Back in September 2023, I decided to run a short experiment: I wanted to try using Google TV exclusively for 30 days to get a feel for the platform's recent changes. As a long-time devoted Roku user, I felt it was necessary to give Google’s content-forward interface a proper test. That 30-day trial ended up lasting 26 months. Sticking with Google TV for that long speaks volumes about how compelling its interface is -- it actually pulled me away from my original, preferred streaming platform for over two years. However, I recently realized that this singular focus, while comfortable, has meant I have been remiss in keeping up with the industry. For a cord-cutting blogger who advises others on all the "Big Four" platforms, getting left behind is not an option. It was time for a necessary shift. The 26-Month Google TV Experience My commitment to Google TV was entirely driven by its interface. Unlike the Roku home screen, which is essentially just a grid of apps, Google T...

College football enters Week 12 with eight early-week games ahead of the full slate this weekend. Five games are in the books, including two played Tuesday and three last night. The remaining schedule, which features three matchups, features one tonight and two games tomorrow night, each featuring a ranked team. There are no matchups where both teams are ranked. How to Watch Most of the games are available for viewing live by streaming, or with an antenna. Here are the networks carrying the games this season: ESPN ESPN Unlimited ($30/month) ESPN Unlimited/Fox One Bundle ($40/month) Sling TV Orange ($46/month) DirecTV Stream MySports ($70/month) YouTube TV ($83/month)* Fubo ($85/month) Hulu+Live TV ($90/month) FOX Antenna (Free over-the-air, where available) Fox One ($20/month) ESPN Unlimited/Fox One Bundle ($40/month) Sling TV Blue ($46/month) DirecTV Stream MySports (in select markets) ($70/month) YouTube TV ($83/month) Fubo ($85/month) Hulu+Live TV ($90/month) ...

The media consolidation war has reached its most critical stage yet, and the outcome will directly determine the cost and complexity of our streaming lives. The company at the center of the fight is Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) , and every potential buyer is forcing cord-cutters to choose the "best of a bad lot" when it comes to the future of our monthly bills. In the last few days, WBD has rejected a third offer from Paramount Global and Skydance Media to buy the entire company, reportedly holding out for a price closer to $30 per share (Paramount's rejected offers were near $24 per share). Meanwhile, Comcast has officially hired major investment banks and gained access to WBD's financial data, confirming its serious interest in a partial purchase. WBD is now stuck between a rock and a hard place: sell the entire company for less than they want, or sell off the best parts and watch the rest collapse. The Core Conflict: Full Sale vs. Partial Sale The bidding...

Today is Veterans Day. We have observed it since the end of the first World War, and it became a U.S. holiday in 1954. The president issued a proclamation that year . Proclamation 3071—Veteran's Day, 1954 October 08, 1954 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Whereas it has long been our custom to commemorate November 11, the anniversary of the ending of World War I, by paying tribute to the heroes of that tragic struggle and by rededicating ourselves to the cause of peace; and Whereas in the intervening years the United States has been involved in two other great military conflicts, which have added millions of veterans living and dead to the honor rolls of this Nation; and Whereas the Congress passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926 (44 Stat. 1982), calling for the observance of November 11 with appropriate ceremonies, and later provided in an act approved May 13, 1938 (52 Stat. 351), that the eleventh of November should be a legal holiday...

I saw a helpful video from Michael Timmermann on his Michael Saves YouTube channel that clearly explains the steps YouTube TV subscribers must take to claim their $20 credit following the recent Disney content blackout. While I do not typically subscribe to vMVPDs ("streaming cable" services), this information is critical because YouTube TV is one of the largest television providers in the country, rivaling traditional giants like Comcast and Spectrum, meaning the blackout affects millions of cord-cutters. [ YouTube ] The key takeaway from Michael Timmermann's video is that the $20 credit is not automatically applied to most accounts and must be manually claimed by the user. He provides a simple, four-step process: you must sign in from a web browser (not the mobile app), click your profile icon, go to Settings, look for the Updates section at the bottom of the page, and select the option to claim the credit. Once claimed, the credit will be applied to your next bill,...

In this video, Lon Seidman, from the YouTube channel Lon.TV, breaks down the escalating carriage dispute between YouTube TV and Disney, explaining how the conflict has expanded from blacking out live channels to impacting digital movie purchases and ownership. [ YouTube ] Video Summary The contract dispute between YouTube TV and Disney (owner of ABC, ESPN, and more) expired on October 30, 2025, leading to the immediate removal of over 20 channels from the vMVPD. Lon Seidman explains that the impact goes beyond the loss of live TV, as users also lost access to their recorded shows on YouTube TV's DVR. The situation worsened when Disney pulled all its movies from Google TV and YouTube for purchase or rental, and Google retaliated by pulling its platforms out of Movies Anywhere. This move is a blow to consumer-friendly services, as it threatens the ability of users to sync new Disney movie purchases across different platforms like Apple TV and Prime Video. The Unending Cycle of...

Streaming College Football: 2025 Week 11 Weekend Games The season is quickly accelerating as we head toward Selection Day, and Week 11 is packed with significant matchups that will shape the College Football Playoff picture. This weekend features a total of 32 Division 1-A/FBS games, with 14 of those contests involving at least one team from the CFP Top 25. Crucially, the slate includes three games where both participants are currently ranked. Ranked Team Matchups #7 BYU at #8 Texas Tech (12:00 PM, ABC) #3 Texas A&M at #22 Missouri (3:30 PM, ABC) #9 Oregon at #20 Iowa (3:30 PM, CBS) How to Watch Most of the games are available for viewing live by streaming, or with an antenna. Here are the networks carrying the games this season ABC Antenna: Free ESPN Unlimited ($30/month) ESPN Unlimited/Fox One Bundle ($40/month) Sling TV Orange ($46/month) DirecTV Stream MySports (in select markets) ($70/month) YouTube TV ($83/month) DirecTV Stream ($85/month) Fubo ($85/month)...

I'm the first to admit it: as a long-time cord-cutter, I'm guilty of slipping into a stream of confusing acronyms. It's tricky sometimes. For those of us who have been in the streaming world for years, terms like vMVPDs and FAST channels roll right off the tongue, but I realize that for someone just thinking about cutting cable, it can sound like I'm speaking Latin. I never want to talk down to my experienced readers, but I especially don't want to lose the newcomers who need this information most. This post is for the curious, the newcomers, and anyone who wants to understand the essential terms that matter most to your wallet and your TV experience. We are going to demystify the key terms, making sure you know the difference between a TVOD and an SVOD , and what a Connected TV actually is. If you are wondering that the words mean, keep reading. Cost and Content Models: How You Pay This category contains the essential terminology that defines the pricing st...

The week's college football action is now fully underway, setting the stage for a massive weekend. Following the four midweek games already played on Tuesday and Wednesday, we are looking ahead at five Division 1-A/FBS contests tonight and tomorrow night. The first College Football Playoff rankings of 2025 were just released, adding serious stakes to this Week 11 slate. Of the remaining early games, only one features a ranked team. There are no early matchups between ranked teams. How to Watch Most of the games are available for viewing live by streaming, or with an antenna. Here are the networks carrying the games this season ESPN ESPN Unlimited ($30/month) Sling TV Orange ($46/month) DirecTV Stream MySports ($70/month) YouTube TV ($83/month) Fubo ($85/month) DirecTV Stream ($85/month) Hulu+Live TV ($90/month) ESPN2 ESPN Unlimited ($30/month) Sling TV Orange ($46/month) DirecTV Stream MySports ($70/month) YouTube TV ($83/month) Fubo ($85/month) DirecTV Stream ...

My journey into cord-cutting is centered around finding cost-effective solutions for entertainment. For years, Movies Anywhere has been the single greatest tool in my digital movie arsenal, primarily because it enables me to be a savvy bargain hunter . By linking my accounts, I ensured that every MA-eligible movie I bought was instantly portable to all my devices (Roku, Google TV, etc.) and was purchased at the lowest possible sale price from whatever retailer was offering the best deal. This method has saved me a small fortune on my extensive digital collection. The Abrupt Exit of Two Retail Partners The foundation of this system recently took two significant hits that underscore the fragility of digital ownership and the shifting priorities of major tech companies. Google Play/YouTube: A Loss of Price Competition Google's abrupt exit from new Movies Anywhere purchases , effective October 31, 2025, means they are no longer a viable option for purchasing MA-eligible titles. Th...

The media landscape is facing another massive shake-up, one that could fundamentally alter the cost and availability of premium TV. Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is leading a committed, multi-bid campaign to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Should he succeed, his vision involves a dramatic act: shutting down HBO Max to merge its content into Paramount Plus. A New Mega-Streamer Emerges The core strategy being pushed by David Ellison is to simplify the chaotic streaming environment by creating a single, formidable platform. The acquisition would see the entire library of HBO originals, DC Comics, and the Warner Bros. film vault funneled into the existing Paramount Plus service. Ellison's team believes that unifying these content libraries will result in an "irresistible destination" for subscribers weary of juggling multiple apps. However, the WBD board is not making this easy, having already rejected at least three offers. WBD believes the company is underv...

The recent third-quarter earnings reports from Comcast and Charter Communications (Spectrum) confirm that the era of cable dominance is collapsing. We cord-cutters always knew the video losses were coming, but the real story is that the internet service they relied on is now under siege. According to analysis from Cord Cutters News , the combined hemorrhaging translates to a staggering loss of over 3,500 TV customers and 2,300 internet customers every single day . This shift signals a massive change in consumer leverage and finally offers real hope that internet prices might actually stabilize, or even drop. The Cord-Cutter's Double Punch: We Created This Crisis For more than a decade, customers have been hitting cable companies with two powerful punches. The first punch was the Video Exodus. We, the cord-cutters, ditched cable TV and moved to streaming platforms. In Q3 2025 alone, Comcast lost 257,000 video subscribers and Spectrum lost 70,000. These losses meant cable compan...

I wanted to share a fascinating -- and frankly, frightening -- video that cuts right to the heart of privacy issues for cord-cutters. Lon Seidman from the Lon.TV YouTube channel breaks down how your smart TV is actually spying on everything you watch, even content coming from your separate streaming stick. [ YouTube ] The video explains that the core problem is a feature called Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), which is built directly into the TV's operating system. ACR takes snapshots of the audio and video on your screen -- whether from a streaming app, a gaming console, or a connected media player -- and sends that data back to the manufacturer and, often, to data brokers for targeted advertising. While major streaming device makers like Roku, Samsung, and Sony have different names for their systems (like Samba TV), the effect is the same: the TV is watching you. The video warns that if you deny mandatory new Terms of Service (TOS) related to data and arbitration on some s...

The Saturday slate for Week 10 features 43 total Division I FBS games. The full day of football includes 16 matchups involving at least one AP Top 25 team, with three games featuring a matchup between two ranked opponents. Ranked Team Matchups #9 Vanderbilt at #20 Texas (12:00 PM, ABC) #18 Oklahoma at #14 Tennessee (7:30 PM, ABC) #17 Cincinnati at #24 Utah (10:15 PM, ESPN) How to Watch Most of the games are available for viewing live by streaming, or with an antenna. Here are the networks carrying the games this season. ABC Antenna: Free ESPN Unlimited: ($30/month) Sling TV Orange: ($46/month) DirecTV Stream MySports (in select markets): ($70/month) Hulu+Live TV: ($83/month) YouTube TV: ($83/month) DirecTV Stream: ($85/month) Fubo: ($85/month) ACC Network ESPN Unlimited: ($30/month) Sling TV Orange + Sports Extra: ($57/month) DirecTV Stream MySports: ($70/month) Hulu+Live TV: ($83/month) YouTube TV: ($83/month) Fubo: ($85/month) Big Ten Network Fox One: ...