Pirates gonna pirate

I haven't talked about piracy very much. I didn't realize that. If you had asked me, I'd have said, "How did you get my number?" But if I answered you, I would have said that I had talked about piracy a few times, but I didn't go overboard. That's true, but I actually thought I had talked about it more than I did.

Searching the Website, I only found four times I talked about piracy. One of those was a follow up on an earlier post, so they could be considered one, meaning only three different topics were brought up that even touched on piracy.

One (well, two) were actually about IPTV, which is pretty much piracy services. One was about my not being a fan of Amazon Fire TV devices (I've since developed a better feeling about Fire TV Stick). One was about Roku's change to private/non-certified/beta apps, some of which were for piracy.

I am very opposed to piracy. Some people don't have an issue with it, but I do. I have a huge issue with it. I strongly believe that one is entitled to the fruits of his labors. And movies, TV shows, and the like, are the results of a lot of work by people who created and produced the content. They are entitled to benefit from that, and no one has the right to benefit without their permission.

It does not matter how much a person or company has. If they own the right to something, they own the right to that thing.

Isn't J. K. Rowling entitled to benefit from sales from her books and associated spinoffs? Yes she is. It doesn't matter how much she's made. Nobody should benefit from someone else's work without their permission.

It's that permission, I suppose, that people use as a loophole to justify their piracy. The fact that Warner Bros. has a lot of money does not make it okay to pirate Harry Potter films. Warner Bros. reached an agreement with J. K. Rowling to make the films based on her books, so WB is making money from her work, but with her permission. She's okay with it. They have a contract. Everything's fine.

A video pirate, however, is simply a thief. There's no other way to say it. Video pirates are thieves. And it amazes me that people with give them money to watch their IPTV services. I suppose they'd also buy stolen merchandise out of the trunk of a car. Thieves gonna thieve. Enablers gonna enable.

No one is entitled to someone else's property, whether physical or intellectual. I don't understand why anyone would think otherwise. This isn't a Streaming Life thing. It's a life thing.

Streaming the State of the Union address

Tonight is the State of the Union address. If you're a streamer, and you want to watch it, you have lots of options. The address is at 9:00 PM ET.

Antenna (Free)

If you have an antenna, you can watch the State of the Union address from one of the broadcast networks.

• ABC
• CBS
• Fox
• NBC
• PBS

Peacock ($5/month)

Coverage from NBC is available, since Peacock and NBC are owned by NBC/Universal

Sling TV ($35 Orange) ($35/Blue) ($50 Orange + Blue)

A variety of networks carried by Sling TV will offer the address, on either the Orange, Blue, or Orange+Blue package.

• CNBC (Blue+News Extra package) (+6/month)
• CNN (Orange, Blue)
• Fox News (Blue)
• MSNBC (Blue)

Vidgo ($55/month)

• ABC
• Fox
• Fox News
• MSNBC

YouTube TV ($65/month)

• ABC
• CBS
• Fox
• NBC
• PBS
• CNBC
• CNN
• Fox News
• MSNBC
• Telemundo
• Univision

Fubo ($65/month)

• ABC
• CBS
• Fox
• NBC
• CNBC
• Fox News
• MSNBC
• Telemundo
• Univision

Hulu+Live TV ($70/month)

• ABC
• CBS
• Fox
• NBC
• CNBC
• CNN
• Fox News
• MSNBC
• Telemundo

DirecTV Stream ($70/month)

• ABC
• CBS
• Fox
• NBC
• CNBC 
• CNN
• CSPAN
• Fox News
• MSNBC
• Telemundo
• Univision

Finally a standalone sports package, but is it enough?

For many sports fans that stream, a standalone sports package -- one that doesn't require other non-sports packages -- would be wonderful thing. Today, if you want to stream ESPN, you have to have a subscription to a service such as Sling TV, YouTube TV, Vidgo, Fubo, or DirecTV Stream. The cheapest of those includes a lot of non-sports. In fact, all of those simply streaming cable-like packages. The difference is that you use the Internet to get them, and subscriptions are one month at a time, not years at a time.

You can get packages without sports, the most popular of those are Philo and Frndly.TV, but you can't get one that's only sports. Fubo started as a mostly-soccer channel. Fubo, futbol. See? But it became simply another streaming-cable package. Well, mostly. It's still pretty sports heavy, and not just soccer.

Over the last few year, many of these live-streaming/streaming-cable packages dropped the regional sports networks. Fox Sports Net channels disappeared from the live streaming services after Fox sold them. They finally became Bally Sports networks. And guess who is launching a steaming sports package? Bally.

In a meeting recently, Chris Ripley, the CEO of Sinclair, which owns Bally Sports, said they would offer live streaming packages this year.

Our current expectations are for the launch of streaming services with content currently available on our RSNs for 5 Bally Sports RSNs with MLB teams in the first half of 2022. We expect to launch our remaining Bally Sports RSNs in the second half of the year, as well as features only subscription.

This isn't what I particularly want, as my primary interest is college football, which currently means ESPN. But, it's a start. And it does give lots of sports fans an option they didn't have before.

Sinclair, to my understanding, hasn't been thrilled with how their purchase of the Fox regional sports networks has worked out. I don't know how this will work out. But if it is a success, and it entices other companies to offer standalone sports packages that include major sports, this would be what sports fans want.

If that does come, I certainly don't want these smaller audience packages to go away. I don't want the lesser watched sports offerings to go away. The content you find on the regional sports networks do not have widespread audiences. Regional is a part of the name for a reason. And the lesser watched sports, such as what you find on ESPN+ has an audience. I don't want that to go away. I want ESPN to expand its coverage, not necessarily into ESPN+ -- how it happens isn't as important as that it happens.

This year's launch by Bally is a good thing. I hope it succeeds. That would be good news for many sports fans. I would really like to have options for standalone sports packages in my Streaming Life.

A new chair!

I got a new office chair!

Yeah, I get it. Big deal. It's a chair.

Well, yeah, it really is a big deal. In more ways than one.

Not every chair holds someone that's over 200 lbs. Of course, I'm 6'2" so I need a chair that's not only more sturdy for heavier, but for taller as well. Sitting in most desk chairs makes me feel like I'm in a kindergarten chair. Really, my knees should not be higher than my waist.

I had a used chair that a good friend passed to me several years ago. But all the years of usage in my home office -- I worked from home part time for years, then full time for a while -- it gave out. It was old when I got it; he had replaced his and passed his still-good one to me. Only after a few years, it had reached end of life.

So, a few years ago, I bought a cheap office chair. Mostly because I'm cheap. Well, it didn't last all that long. It was one of those "under 200 lbs" chairs. I should have read the print better before I ordered it.

This time, I paid attention. And I did something I thought I'd never do. I got a deck chair. Just kidding. I got a gaming chair.

Now, I'm not a gamer. Sure, I'll play Sudoku on my phone first thing in the morning to get my brain running, but not much more than that. A gaming chair? Pshaw!

Well, I did some looking around, and then it occurred to me that these gamers spend a lot of time in their chairs. They get lots of wear. If the reviews from actual purchasers are pretty good, I figure the chair will be too. So I ordered one.

Now, it is pretty plain looking. It looks more like an office chair than a gaming chair. Almost completely black. Just my style.

It arrived this week. I found it under the carport when I got home. There it was, bearing the words "two man lift" right on the box.

Challenge accepted.

I got it in the house with minor difficulty. It was a decent size box and a little bulky. But, after supper, I put it together and sat in it. I was in love.

But seriously, I like the chair. I don't watch TV from my office, but it is where my computers are located. It's where I'm typing this. And while it's not directly a part of my Streaming Life, it is a good addition to my regular life.