More Streamers (again)

A report out recently shows that more people are streaming, even as COVID-19 restrictions relaxed. True, more restrictions are going in place in many places, but overall, there are fewer restrictions than a year ago, so not as much forced home time as a year ago. Still, overall, streaming is up:

Streaming grew by 13% in Q2 2021 versus the same time last year. June enjoyed the biggest increases of the quarter...

The report from Conviva covers the world, not just the U.S. Most of the increases worldwide was from South America, which showed a 192% increase. North America's increase was the smallest at 2%. However, every region showed increases worldwide over the same quarter a year ago.

There was actually a drop of 7% in North America in April, but an overall increase for the quarter. Apart from that one month in North America, every month every region was an increase over same month a year earlier.

Folks are streaming. I am, and have been for a while. But more and more are streaming. And that's good, right?

Well, there are drawbacks. When there were fewer streamers, our voice carried more weight. But, as the number of streamers increase, there are more and more voices. My voice, and the voices of all long-time streamers, are watered down. However, more streamers mean more and more companies are focusing on streamers. So, while there are more voices, there are more ears listening too. Still, overall, my voice is just one on millions. But, I'm still a voice, as are you.

Companies will listen, and maybe pay more attention to what we say overall, just not so much individually. I think overall it is a good thing, and our Streaming Life will continue to improve.

Starz on The Roku Channel

Recently, I've been watching The Roku Channel, not just on Roku but also on other platforms, too. I've been looking at the features and trying to decide what I've been missing out on.

The Roku Channel is one of the most popular apps on Roku, and is fairly popular on other platforms as well. While I'm a fan of Roku, I haven't bought in to the hype about The Roku Channel. Still, I'm willing to give it a try. So, I'm trying it out.

The feature I'm looking at now is Starz, a premium movie channel that can be added to The Roku Channel. Subscribing to Stars on The Roku Channel adds a separate app, "Starz on The Roku Channel," to the menu. If I want to watch Starz content, it's all right there, as well as being available within The Roku Channel.

The two problem I had with Starz on The Roku Channel were the lack of a search feature and the limited content.

The search is a big deal, because browsing doesn't offer easy ways to find stuff. There is a workaround: you can still search within The Roku Channel, just not within the Starz on The Roku Channel app.

The limited content is the other thing, and the major thing, since there's no workaround. You see, not everything that's available from Starz is available through Starz on The Roku Channel. Starz/TRC did not have everything. If you go to the various categories of content, for example comedies, you'll see up to 40 titles in the category on Starz/TRC.

The thing that I really don't like is that with Starz/TRC you are limited to watching it on a Roku device. You can't watch the content through The Roku Channel on a Fire stick or Chromecast, because premium content to which you subscribe via The Roku Channel is not available on a non-Roku platforms.

I do like that if you sign up for a free trial, you'll be notified ahead of the expiration of the free trial in case you want to cancel and not get billed for the first month. That is a good feature and not every service does this. I commend Roku for taking this approach. More services should.

To summarize, if you're all in with Roku, it's a good way to subscribe to Starz, but not as good as subscribing to Stars standalone service. Still, there's enough good quality content to consider including premium services such as Starz on The Roku Channel in your Streaming Life.

The Roku Channel on Fire TV

I mentioned in the last few weeks that I was doing a more serious testing of The Roku Channel and, separately, Amazon Fire TV, specifically a Fire TV Stick 4K. And while those are totally separate things, at least when I decided to check them out in greater detail, they also co-exist.

There is an app for The Roku Channel that is available for Fire TV. And, when I set up my Fire TV Stick 4K for use, I installed my most-used apps on the device. That included The Roku Channel, since that was a focus.

So, what's the difference between The Roku Channel on Fire TV and on Roku? The only big difference I've seen relates to premium or add-on channels.

On a Roku device, you can subscribe to services through The Roku Channel. There is a row for Premium Subscriptions on Roku.

This is not the case on Fire TV, or any non-Roku platform. If you want Roku Premium Channels, you must be on a Roku device. Being in The Roku Channel isn't enough.

There is one thing that I like though -- I think -- and that's that it appears to do a better job of keeping up with the "Continue Watching" section. Checking two separate Roku devices -- a Streambar and a Streaming Stick+ -- I find that it keeps up with movies or TV shows I watch, but not content in the Live TV section.

However, for the Fire TV device, it kept up with content played through Live TV on the Continue Watching section.

It does seem to be device related, and I'll talk more about that another time. For now, the Fire TV seems to include Live TV in the Continue Watching section, while the native Roku device doesn't. So, score that for Fire TV.

All of the non-premium content of The Roku Channel is included in the Fire TV app. Well, at least that I could tell. I didn't find any other missing content.

The apps work pretty much the same, apart from that. If you're a fan of The Roku Channel, and have a Fire TV device, adding the app gives you the content.

If you haven't tried out The Roku Channel, but do use Fire TV devices, you might want to give it a try. The Roku Channel for Fire TV is, apart from the Premium Channels, the full Roku Channel experience. You might want to add it to your Streaming Life.

Fewer streamers

I wrote the other day about a couple of streaming services that increased their user base. But not all services are increasing. Hulu+Live TV lost 100,000 subscribers.

While Hulu added subscribers and reached a total of 39.1 million subscribers by the end of the quarter, Hulu with Live TV dropped 100,00 subscribers and ended the quarter with 3.7 million, down from 3.8 million in the previous quarter.

According to the report, Hulu added subscribers overall, but lost on the live streaming service end of things. So, yes, there are more streamers, but fewer streamers when it comes to Hulu+Live TV.

While this is bad news for that particular segment of streaming, Hulu overall is doing well. And, sister company Disney+ did increase subscribers. Overall, it was a good report for Disney.

I don't understand why Hulu+Live TV lost subscribers, though. It's a good live streaming service. I wonder if enough Hulu subscribers came to think like I do that a live streaming service isn't necessary. Or, maybe they found Sling TV or another cheaper service more to their liking. I don't know what the reason might be. It doesn't really make sense.

Regardless, overall streaming is up, as more and more people enjoy a Streaming Life.

Watching NFL Football

I stopped watching professional football a few years ago. There are more and more players that think they're God's gift to mankind. They're not. They're grown men playing ball. There have always been players like that ever since the National Football League was founded. But, and I really don't remember the year, but the tipping point -- the place where it became too much for me -- arrived a few years ago, and I haven't watched an NFL game since. Well, I take that back. I did watch the Giants win the Super Bowl over the previously undefeated New England Patriots, as I recall fondly the undefeated 1971 Miami Dolphins team. The Giants-Patriots game was after the 2007 season, so my tipping point was reached before then.

Still, just because I don't watch NFL football doesn't mean that everyone is like me. In fact, most people are not like me. It's the most popular sport in the U.S., even without me watching. My failure to watch doesn't make a dent in the ratings.

So, as a streamer, I've never really cared about how to watch NFL football online, but with the pre-season now underway, I got to thinking about it. How would an NFL fan watch their teams play? Well, I checked. It seems that the major live streaming services that carry local affiliates -- Hulu+Live TV, YouTube TV, Fubo TV, and AT&T TV -- all carry the local affiliates for the 32 NFL teams. That means, when the local station carries the game, you're good to go.

Note that Sling TV isn't listed. That's because Sling TV doesn't carry local channels. You need an antenna to watch local channels if you use Sling TV. You can get Air TV to integrate it into the Sling TV app. Tablo is also an option for putting local channels from your TV antenna onto your streaming device. Amazon Fire TV users can use Fire TV Recast to accomplish the same thing. There are other methods, but those are the most popular ones.

Oh, just to be complete, there are certain markets where Sling TV does carry local channels, but those are limited. If you're in Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York (Giants), Philadelpha, or Washington, you can get the local affiliate for those respective teams.

What if your team isn't carried on your local TV station? Well, the NFL Game Pass on NFL Network will carry out of market games. And NFL Network if available on Hulu+Live TV, Sling TV, YouTube TV, and Fubo TV, but not on AT&T TV.

Additionally, if you're in an area serviced by Locast, you may find your local affiliate carries the games you want.

If your favorite team is carried by CBS affiliates, you may be able to watch with a Paramount+ subscription.

If you're want to watch NFL games, you have ways to have them in your Streaming Life.