Good streaming news, but...

The Academy of Country Music awards program will be moving to streaming in 2022. That's kind of a big deal.

The ACM has aired since 1972, first on ABC, moving to NBC in 1979, then to CBS in 1998. This year, CBS has announced that it will carry the CMT Music Awards starting in 2022. CMT is owned by ViacomCBS.

Amazon Prime Video has picked up the show starting in 2022.

Amazon Prime Video [August 19, 2021] announced that they will be the home of the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards, which will livestream on the platform in 2022. The 2022 ACM Awards, produced by MRC’s dick clark productions, marks the first time a major awards show has livestreamed exclusively.

First held in 1966, the Academy of Country Music Awards has honored and showcased the biggest names and emerging talent in the industry, and is the longest-running country music awards show in history. The 2022 live show will bring together iconic artists for exciting collaborations, surprising moments, and an unprecedented number of world television-premiere performances, all of which will be announced in the coming months. The date and location will be confirmed at a later time.

This is kind of a big deal. But then again...

Ratings for awards shows are dropping. So, maybe that's not that good of a thing after all. It's a good thing, just maybe not that big after all.

Why are rating dropping? That's a loaded question. I think it's because people want to be entertained and not lectured, and you can't swing a dead cat in a room of celebrities without hitting someone lecturing you. I haven't watched award shows in years. I don't care if the politics leans my way or away from me, I don't want to listen to that in an awards show.

Will I watch it on Amazon? Nope. I didn't watch it on CBS, or on NBC. When it aired on ABC, I didn't always control the remote -- when I wasn't the remote -- so I didn't get a say in the matter. I haven't watched a lot of award shows over the years in fact.

If awards shows are your thing, though, then now you know where to find this one next year. These shows may be getting more entrenched in your Streaming Life.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K

I've not been a fan of Amazon's Fire TV devices almost since the devices first launched. To be clear, I have purchased many over the years, and have given them all away. Until now.

Here have been my complaints about the Amazon Fire TV devices:

• The devices are underpowered
• The interface is too In Your Face regarding Amazon

My complaints are now tempered ... somewhat.

The interface is not really any better. I suppose the fact that more and more devices do this makes it not stand out as much.

Roku is the least intrusive, although the ads on the menu screen do promote Roku devices and services. Chromecast with Google TV does promote Google a lot. Apple TV is not as obnoxious as Chromecast or Amazon, but that's because Apple is more subtle, but still promotes itself as much; they're just better at it.

So, having accepted that it's going to happen, I'm putting less emphasis on that aspect. But that still leaves the underpowered device as an issue, and that's a big deal.

I have to say, I've been very happy with the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K insofar as responsiveness is concerned. Had I purchased a lower end device, I might not feel this way, but with a sale on the top end Firestick, I got a good device.

This makes me wonder if someone has done nothing but purchased low-end Roku devices over the years, would they feel the same way about Roku? Maybe so. That makes me wonder if I've been unfair to Amazon.

Let me state that some years back I did purchase a Fire TV box. Of course, it was in 2014 -- I just looked that up and was surprised it was that long ago -- but comparing it against my, at the time, Roku 3, it was an inferior device. So, I stand by my complaint about the underpowered device. Well, until now.

I gotta admit that the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is a good device. There used to be a huge gap between my number 3 and number 4 device, with Amazon being number 4, far behind the others. That's no longer the case. Amazon, at least the Fire TV Stick 4K, has risen in my eyes.

I've used the Fire TV Stick 4K almost exclusively for a couple of weeks. I have no complaints over the device itself. It works well, and joins the other devices as a recommended device.

Will I convert to Fire TV? No. But it's now an option I'll have on at least one TV at all times, rather than something stuck in a box somewhere, like I've done with my TiVo Stream and Onn devices. While it won't be my top device or go-to device, at least not yet, it's now a part of my Streaming Life. If you choose to make it part of yours, it's a good decision.

Sling TV update

It finally happened yesterday. My current primary Roku device received the latest Sling TV update.

I may have some Roku somewhere that hasn't received the update, but I'm not going to pull everything out of their boxes and check. My Ultra, my Stick+, but not my Roku TV, which is an older device. I have a Stick+ on that Roku TV, so I normally wouldn't know that unless I checked. I checked.

So, since I don't use the Roku portion of my Roku TV, but rather the Stick+ attached to it, that means that all of the Roku devices I normally use now have the updated Sling TV app.

What do I think of the new app? Well, I've seen it before. Remember, it has been on the Stick+ for several days. And, it's on other devices, such as Fire TV Stick 4K and on Chromecast with Google TV.

Here are a couple of screenshots from the new app.

That's the front page. Next is the grid.

I do like the new appearance. Many don't. I'm not sure why. The old interface worked okay, and I'm not a fan of change for the sake of change. This isn't that. It's an improvement on the front page. I don't normally use the front page of the Sling TV app, but always go to the grid. But, this front page is better. The change to the grid isn't wonderful, since it loses some ground overall, but it does match the new theme, so it is a change that makes sense.

While it's currently only used for local channels, I'll be adding Sling Orange to the mix as I get ready for football season. I'm going to be happy with the new Sling TV app as I use it more and more. My Streaming Life just got better.

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.