Frndly gets friendlier

I've posted before about how much I like the Frndly.TV service. It's the only live streaming service I keep year round. It's not expensive -- as cheap as $6/month; $5/month if you pay by the year -- and there's always something to watch. While I constantly question others' "need" for a live streaming service, I actually do use this one year round. Yes, I'm a bit of a hypocrite and no I don't care.

Frndly.TV had 19 channels at the time. Now they have 20:

• Hallmark Channel
• Hallmark Drama
• Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
• BabyFirst TV
• BYU TV
• CuriosityStream
• Dove Channel
• FETV
• Game Show Network
• getTV
• INSP
• Local Now
• Outdoor Channel
• PixL
• QVC
• Recipe TV
• Sportsman Channel
• The Weather Channel
• UPtv
• World Fishing Network

The newest is FETV. I wasn't familiar with Family Entertainment TV, but now I am. Well, a little. Their shows include:

• The Addams Family
• Barney Miller
• Bat Masterson
• Bewitched
• Designing Women
• Father Knows Best
• Hart to Hart
• Hazel
• I Dream of Jeannie
• Lassie
• The Lone Ranger
• Matlock
• Maude
• The Monkees
• One Day at a Time
• The Partridge Family
• The Patty Duke Show
• Perry Mason
• The Saint
• Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
• T.J. Hooker
• Tombstone Territory

Sure, you can find many of those on other channels, particularly over the air channels such as Antenna TV, MeTV, RetroTV, and the like. So, if it doesn't bring much value to you, then this isn't much use. However, it is nice to see more channels and more shows available to watch.

Frndly.TV is a part of my Streaming Life that I do enjoy. Maybe it will be a part of yours, too.

Testing The Roku Channel

When I posted recently that I would be testing The Roku Channel, I thought my next post about it would be several days later where I told you about the experience. Allen Saunders said "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans." Here's what happened.

Part of the reason for this is my testing of The Roku Channel is going to be a little more involved than I originally thought. Here's what's complicating things.

You may recall that I don't like subscribing through Roku Pay for anything. Or you may not. I have mentioned it a time or two, but I haven't dedicated a post to just talking about that. I'll do that soon. But, briefly, here's my issue with Roku Pay.

If you subscribe to something using Roku Pay, you are limited to using it on devices tied to your Roku account. That may not seem like a problem, until you want to watch something on a device that's not your Roku streamer. You know, like your phone or tablet? Yes, Roku has some workarounds for that, but I don't care for them. I'll tell more in a detailed post in the future, but keep in mind for now that I don't like using Roku Pay.

Why did I bring that up? You'll see in a minute.

When I began testing of The Roku Channel, I decided I'd do some lengthy in-depth testing. That's not to say I haven't been doing serious in-depth testing of other things; I have. But The Roku Channel is different. Those other things I've tested have been first-use tests. That is, things I hadn't used before. Or, if I had and was revisiting, I had an open mind about. Being honest with myself -- and with you -- I don't have an open mind about The Roku Channel.

The Roku Channel has been on my Roku devices for quite some time. I've used it every now and then, but I've always thought, "Meh. I can get all of this through other apps I already use and like." It brought nothing to the table.

So, when I actually sat and began my deep focus on The Roku Channel (which I'm occasionally gonna call "TRC"), I glanced through it and realized that if I were to truly test The Roku Channel, I would need to look at all aspects of the experience, including subscribing to services and watching them through TRC.

This is going to be more complicated than I thought. I was making other plans, then this hit me. So, this will take a while. And, I think this is going to be a lot bigger than I thought. I may end up posting more about this as I test TRC.

"Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans." This was true when Saunders wrote that in 1957, it was true when John Lennon paraphrased it in a song in 1980, and it is true of my Streaming Life today as well.

Watching The Roku Channel

As much of a Roku fan as I am -- I'm certain you can tell by my writing -- you may be surprised to learn that I don't use The Roku Channel. Well, not much.

My streaming habits may not be the same as yours. When I sit down to watch TV, I'll check Hulu for current season content, and watch it if there is something available.

Then, if I'm playing catchup on older TV series, I'll launch whatever app carries what I'm catching up on. For me, right now, it's Paramount+ and Blue Bloods. I never watched the show, but have seen that it's been on for over a decade, so I thought I'd give it a try. I like it and am working my way though the seasons.

Then, after catching up on current or older shows, I'll often switch to YouTube and watch shorter videos about whatever piques my interest at the time. Perhaps a history video, something about the space program, the two British chaps on Cracking The Cryptic solving Sudoku puzzles, a Dark Corners review of a really bad movie, or something that catches my eye.

Where would The Roku Channel fit in this? Well, that's kinda the point. There are some aspects of The Roku Channel that just don't appeal to me.

Sure, I get that I can subscribe to premium services such as Showtime, Starz, BET+, Acorn TV, and a whole lot more. Only, I won't. Not that I wouldn't subscribe to those services, but that I won't subscribe through The Roku Channel.

You see, a Roku subscription is only good on Roku. For instance, if I subscribed to Showtime on Roku, I could only watch it on Roku, or via The Roku Channel. If I had the Showtime app on my phone, I couldn't watch it with that subscription.

Now, to be fair to Roku, the same is true for Amazon, or any other service that offers subscriptions. When you subscribe that way, you can't use it on other platforms or services.

The other thing about The Roku Channel is that the live and on-demand content is similar to what I'll find on Pluto TV, on Tubi, or on Xumo. It's just another one of those type of services. 

At least, that's the impression I get. Maybe I'm wrong. So, I'll find out if I'm wrong.

I'm going to spend the next week or two focusing on watching The Roku Channel. I won't be doing subscriptions, but I will try the other content and see how it goes.

Maybe my Streaming Life has been missing something that would make it so much better. Maybe I'm missing a real gem. If so, I'll be sure to let you know.

It's hip to trash cord cutting

Now it's a thing to trash cord cutting.

Okay, this isn't a new thing. I've seen videos from cord cutting enthusiasts telling about articles they've seen that call into question many things that cord cutters cite as reasons for cutting the cord. I hadn't noticed a lot of that. Until recently.

Each day, I take a look at news about cord cutting. I have a variety of places I check, but it always involves a Web search for "cord cutting" and checking the "news" category.

Recently, I saw a few articles similar to what others had mentioned. Why I hadn't seen them before, I don't know. For whatever reason, there they were. One reason may be that I don't usually scroll several pages in. I only hit the first couple of pages or so of my initial search results. The articles could have been there the whole time, but not shown up as high on my search. Well, they're showing up now.

I found many, including the following:

• Does Cord-Cutting Really Save You Money over Cable? Not Always.
• Time to rethink cutting the cord? You may be paying more now for streaming than for cable
• Watching the Olympics has doubled in price for cord-cutters
• I cut the cord, but it's so difficult to watch the Tokyo Olympics without cable

Most of these and other posts calculate things in ways that aren't actual real comparisons. For example, if you already have Netflix, and many cable subscribers do have Netflix, you don't count it as part of your streaming cost unless you also count it as part of your pre-streaming (cable) costs. For example, if you pay $200 for cable and Internet, and another $15 for Netflix, you're paying $215. If you cut the cord and wind up paying $75 for cable and $15 for Netflix, you're paying $90.

What many of those cost comparison articles will do is not county Netflix as an existing cost. But it is an existing cost for many. So, yeah, you count it on both sides. And while Netflix isn't a huge cost, that little bit here, and a little bit there, will add up.

They'll also compare a discount cable price. For example, if you only pay $100 for cable and Internet for the first year, they'll use that comparison rather than the regular price you pay if you stay loyal to your cable company.

Another thing they'll do is insist that you subscribe to enough services to ensure you have the same channels available. While I can see the logic in that -- I have to twist my head sideways, but yeah, if I do that I can see it -- that's not a real world thing. Well, it doesn't need to be.

How often do you watch all the channels you have with your big cable package? Never? Sounds about right. You watch a few channels and that's it. With streaming, you still have to deal with bundles that include channels you don't want, but not nearly as many. Perhaps a $25 Philo package will do rather than a $75 AT&T TV package.

And even then, that assumes you want a live streaming service. Do you? I mean, really do you? Maybe, like me, you'll find that most of the year, a $6 Hulu service will do the job.

Bottom line is, if you're looking to cut the cord, be careful of what agenda might be behind whoever is writing news articles. This is true for news about anything: cord cutting, the economy, the president, any news topic. Agenda drives reporting, and it shouldn't. Be skeptical. That includes being skeptical of what I write, as well as of what anyone else writes. Do your research, figure out what you really want to do.

Your Streaming Life can be enjoyable and cost effective. Don't let anyone manipulate the data to tell you otherwise.