Peacock TV is losing lots of money, as expected

Comcast lost a lot of money on Peacock TV last year. According to Variety, the streaming service lost over $1-billion in 2021, qnd is expected to lose even more in 2022.

Comcast, in reporting Q4 earnings Thursday, revealed that Peacock generated $778 million in revenue for the full-year 2021, with an adjusted loss of $1.7 billion. That’s compared with $118 million of revenue and an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) loss of $663 million in 2020.

For 2022, Comcast expects Peacock losses to total about $2.5 billion as its investment in content doubles, CFO Mike Cavanagh said on the earnings call.

So, why is this a good thing? I mean, losing billions of dollars doesn't sound good, does it? But, launching a large streaming service is expensive, and Comcast thinks that in the long run, they can withstand these losses and end up making money overall. They're looking at it as a long-term investment.

In fact, for the 4th quarter of 2021, Comcast performed better than expected.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 5.48%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this cable provider would post earnings of $0.75 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.87, delivering a surprise of 16%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times.

So, it looks like Comcast won't be cutting their losses. They expected them, and overall, business is better than expected.

What does this mean for the streamer? It means that Peacock TV will be hanging around for a while yet. It won't be going the way of PlayStation Vue, at least nor for a few years. And, if the better than expected performance continues, Peacock TV subscribers can expect to have that as a part of their Streaming Life for some time to come.

A good look at HBO Max

After a couple of earlier musings on HBO Max, and an abbreviated test run, I finally was able to spend some time actually using the service. I like it. I won't keep it, but I like it.

First, I'll tell you why I like it, then I'll tell you why I won't keep it.

Why do I like HBO Max? Quite simply, it has good content. That's really the only reason to subscribe to any service, and HBO Max is definitely one to consider. While not all of the movies are my taste -- I'm not in the target audience for most theatrical releases -- the service has a lot of hit movies available. And TV shows. Don't forget the HBO shows.

There are Academy Award winning films from the early years (Grand Hotel, The Great Ziegfeld, Casablanca) to 21st century Best Picture winners (Argo, No Country for Old Men). There are plenty of movies from the history of cinema, from the 1902 Georges Méliès classic Le Voyage dans la Lune/A Trip to the Moon to this week's theatrical release The Fallout.

HBO Max has popular and award winning TV series such as South Park, Sesame Street, Westworld, Game of Thrones. and Lovecraft Country, among many many others.

A feature of HBO Max I really like is the Hubs. There are hubs for HBO content, HBO Max original content, DC comics content, TCM (Turner Classic Movies), [adult swim], Cartoon Network, Sesame Street, and Looney Tunes. Some of those really appeal to me, and being able to find them in one place is a nice feature.

What I don't like about HBO Max is the fact that I can't turn auto-play off. When an episode of a TV show is done, I may not want to watch the next episode. I may not even want it to start playing. I want auto-play to be off. To be fair, on some devices, it can be turned off.

Autoplay can be turned off on Cox devices, LG TV, VIZIO TV, XClass TV, Samsung TV, and Xfinity devices. 

Other devices: Autoplay can't be turned off. If you don't want to watch the next episode, pause or stop playback before the next episode begins. Stay tuned as we add this functionality to more devices.

I'll be happier when they roll it out to devices that I use.

If you were to decide to have only a single streaming service, HBO Max is a great choice. Could it replace Netflix? Sure. Keep in mind that most of the content on HBO Max can only be seen on HBO Max. You won't find the content on Netflix, or at least, not for long. It's owned by Warner Media, and the Warner Bros. catalog of movies and TV is huge. They'll be keeping their content in-house for the most part, and you'll only be able to see the content on HBO Max. So yes, it certainly can replace Netflix, if you so choose.

And that gets me to why I won't be keeping the service. Oh, it's a good service. It's a great service. But, no service has everything. Yes, you can get everything, but you have to subscribe to everything to get it. Here's the secret: you can, and you can affordably.

If you're a Netflix subscriber, you can drop your subscription any time you like. You can replace it with HBO Max. And, when you want to go back to Netlfix after a month or more, you can. Drop HBO Max and resubscribe to Netflix. Or a different service.

Look at it this way. You can subscribe to Netflix for two months, and it will cost you $31. You can subscribe to HBO Max for two months, and it will cost you $30. That's $61 for two months. Or, you can subscribe to Netflix for one month, then HBO Max the next, and that's $30.50. Half the cost for two months. Watch one service one month and the other service another month. Over the two months, you have plenty to watch, the same amount of content actually, over the 60 days. You get one service at a time, and pay for once service at a time. You can watch the same content during those 60 days for half the cost.

So, I'm not going to keep HBO Max when the subscription ends. Not because I don't like it, but because I'm going to use another service for a month. I've done Netflix recently, and now HBO Max, but I'm not sure what next month will bring. I'll use something, though. I don't like the idea of subscribing to multiple services at the same time, because I can't watch them all to make it worthwhile. But, I can watch one this month and another next month, and so on. That would be cost effective. And entertaining. I'll have HBO Max back in my Streaming Life again.

Streaming Beijing Olympics

The 24th Winter Olympic Games begin February 4th in Beijing. If you're a streamer and interested in the games, you'll be happy to know you can stream them.

In 1901, Sweden hosted the Nordic Games. At the time, there were no winter games in the Olympics. Norway hosted the Nordic games in 1903, then Sweden hosted the games in 1905, 1909, 1913, 1917, 1922, and 1926.

In 1924, the first Winter Olympics were held, and the Nordic Games ceased running after the 1926 events. The Winter Olympics were held every four years from 1924 to 1992, excepting 1940 and 1944 when Axis Powers countries Japan and Italy were scheduled to host. World War II took priority.

The Winter Games shifted two years following the 1992 games, being held in 1994, and every four years after. That puts the Summer Olympics in even years divisible by four, and the Winter Olympics during the intervening even years.

This year, they're in Beijing. And, as usual, NBC has broadcast rights in the USA. You'll be able to watch many events on your local NBC station, using an antenna or a live streaming service. If you want to watch more events, there's Peacock TV. The Olympics FAQ says you'll be able to watch every event with that service:

Can I watch the entire Winter Olympics on Peacock, including Opening and Closing Ceremonies?

Yes! If you have a Peacock Premium plan, you can stream the entire Winter Olympics, from Opening Ceremony to Closing Ceremony and everything in between. Get more details here.

If you have a Peacock Free plan, you can stream recaps, highlights, and commentary on our always-on Olympic Channels.

Peacock TV Premium is $5/month. If you are a Comcast/Xfinity Internet subscriber, you can add Xfinity Flex to your plan for free, and get Peacock TV Premium included.

If you want to watch NBC content, your local NBC station is available several different ways.

• Antenna (free to watch)
• YouTube TV ($65/month)
• Fubo TV ($65/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month)
• DirecTV Stream ($70/month)

Keep in mind that only Peacock TV has every event. If you want the Winter Olympics in your Streaming Life, Peacock TV, at $5/month, is the cheapest way to accomplish this.

Tablo Connect update II

A few months ago, I set up Tablo Connect and tried it on my Chromecast with Google TV device, and with my Fire TV Stick 4K device. I had planned on testing it with Apple TV, but never did. I will eventually. Probably.

My focus for now is on Tablo Connect, not on the devices. Simply put, the device doesn't matter. Well, as long as the device supports Tablo Connect. That means no Roku. Tablo works on Roku, but the Connect feature doesn't. Maybe it will one day, but for now, to use Tablo Connect, you need Apple TV, Chromecast, Nvidia Shield, Fire TV, iOS devices, and Android devices.

So, what is Tablo Connect? Well, it's what Tablo calls their watch anywhere, on the go, whatever you want to call it. You can watch your Tablo, live or recorded content, away from home. Is that a big deal? Well, yeah, it really is. Think about that. You can watch your home TV antenna content anywhere. All you need is an Internet connection.

I manage the TV/tech setup in a couple of houses. I don't have an antenna at my house because of the trouble with trees and power lines. It's not an ideal situation, but one that I'm working to resolve. It's not a priority though. Why not? Because at my mother's house, I bought and put up an antenna. That gave that house the ability to watch TV over the air. I set up Tablo there so all the TVs can watch over the air TV and recordings through the Roku devices.

So, my antenna is at a location away from my house. Not ideal, but Tablo Connect lets me use it just as it it was at my house. And it works well. As long as the Internet is working at both locations, I can watch over the air TV any time I want.

The only issues I ever have are unrelated to Tablo connect. There are a couple of channels that occasionally experience dropouts, but that's the antenna and the signal, and the fact the TV tower is over 40 miles away for that station. Tablo Connect is great.

How could it benefit you? Well, if you're in a situation where an antenna isn't easy to set up at your location, but there is another location you could use, then setting up Tablo Connect solves that problem. I bore all the expense is the setup. I bought the antenna and pole, paid for the installation, paid for the Tablo device, paid for the Tablo two-week guide, paid for everything.

Was it worth it? Absolutely. I mean, if I was doing this at my house, I'd have paid for everything, so it was no extra cost for me. I bought what I would have bought anyway. I just put it up at my mother's house rather than mine, because it was much easier to put up an antenna there. I get to watch TV over the air, as do everyone there.

Tablo Connect is great. If you're using Tablo, or thinking about putting up an antenna, consider Tablo. Both it and Air TV work well, but Tablo Connect is a useful feature for me. It makes my Streaming Life so much better. It may be something for you to look into. I'm glad I did.

Do you need a year-round live streaming service?

If you cut the cord and replaced cable with a live streaming service -- YouTube TV, Fubo, Vidgo, Sling TV, Phio, etc. -- I have a question for you: why?

Why did you simply replace cable with a live streaming service? What was it about cable you didn't like? The price? Okay, I get that. If the live streaming service is cheaper, that's great.

Or was it paying for channels you didn't watch? Well, if that's the case, does the live streaming service have channels you don't watch? I bet it does. So what did you solve? Price? So we're back to that, which is fine, but I'm trying to understand why you actually cut the cord. The real reason.

Is it more control of your viewing options? That's legit. There is nothing wrong with wanting to control your TV, rather than ceding that to the cable company. With cable, you probably have only one or two cable options. With streaming, you have many options, including those listed above. You can switch easily, with month to month service, unlike cable where you are often locked into long term contracts.

My reason was price, and it's still true that I'm saving money vs paying for cable. But I don't have a live streaming service year-round. I'll subscribe to one during part of the year, usually for a total of four months, though not four back-to-back months. I'll let time pass between them. And I'm wondering if you should do that too.

Do this little thought experiment. Suppose you didn't have a live streaming service. Everything you have for streaming is there, just not the live streaming service. Would you be okay with that? Now, perhaps your first reaction is "no." But is that really your final answer. Let's go through this and see.

If you did not have a live streaming service, would you just not watch TV? I suspect you would find something to watch. Likely, you have other services, such as Netflix, Disney+, Discovery+,  Prime Video, Paramount+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Peacock, or one (or more) of the many many other services. If you have one or more of those services, you can find stuff to watch.

Of course, while you can watch something, you wouldn't be able to watch everything you want, losing the control you may be after. So is it a bad idea to drop live streaming? Well, for you, it may be. But it is something to consider.

If you only subscribed for a few months out of the year, how big of a problem would that be? If you subscribed every other month, would that be a problem? If you could catch up on the missed shows, would the savings in money, cutting the live streaming costs in half, be worth it? What about if you subscribed one month a quarter? Or four months a year, spread out in some manner? Would the savings make the delay in watching some shows worth it?

You can't do this with cable. If you are on a month to month billing with cable, after your long-term contract is up, and you drop cable, they'll sometimes have a reconnect fee. Or they may require a long-term contract to go back. Streaming services don't require that, and you can subscribe and drop as often as you like.

I'm really not trying to talk you out of a live steaming service, but I am trying to get you to put some thought into ways to save money. You have options streaming that you don't have with cable. If utilizing these options saves you some money, then you're ahead of the game. Heck, you're not just ahead, you've won.

If you put a little thought into your Streaming Life, you may end up putting some money in your wallet. That's a good thing.