Trying Disney+ with ads

This week, Disney launched Disney+ with ads. I knew I wanted to try that, because a few things were interesting.

First, I've always used the basic Hulu service, which has ads. To be clear, I'm not talking about Hulu+Live TV. Yes, I've tried that from time to time, but I normally just use standard Hulu, which has always had ads. There is a "no ads" version, and I tried it, but it's not worth it to me. I can deal with ads.

Next, I've tried Netflix with ads. I don't subscribe to Netflix often, but I did recently give it a month with the ad-supported service. It was fine, and saved $3/month over a regular subscription. Yes there were ads -- most of the time; some content still didn't have ads -- but they did a good job with it. It was kind of like watching Hulu, but with even fewer ads.

Finally, I've tried HBO Max ads. It's $10/month rather than the $15/month price of the traditional plan. As with Netflix ad-supported and standard Hulu, it was fine. Not a lot of ads, but some, and they were placed properly and not intrusive.

So, with this week's launch of Disney+ with ads, I decided to try it. So, I subscribed.

I was actually going to wait, but didn't. The reason for waiting was that I'm still in my month of HBO Max. If you've followed here for some time, you're aware that I'll subscribe to a single service for a month, watch all I can, then cancel it, and subscribe to a different service the next month. I continue that over the year. I do get to watch everything on-demand that I want, and I pay a lot less over the year.

I don't normally double up on services, and I'm in the midst of HBO Max, so that means I would wait, right? Well, normally, yes. But there are several shows on Hulu that have been collecting, awaiting on my to subscribe again. And I took advantage of the HBO Max special of 3 months for $6. So, I can afford to double up and no go too far outside budget.

With Hulu and Disney+ together for only $10/month -- ad-supported pricing -- I decided to do this.

So, how is it? Well, I don't know. I just did this. I mean, literally, I subscribed then opened the laptop to type this. I haven't watched anything yet. But I'm about to. Well, after breakfast.

I'm very curious to see how this works into my Streaming Life. I think it will go well. But let's find out.

Illegal IPTV streaming

I started to write about something I haven't in a while, but something that needs to be kept in mind for cord cutters and streamers: illegal IPTV streaming services.

I've written about it before, and I didn't want to just repost what I had posted before. I wanted it to be something a little different, but still give the same information, as it all still applies.

Well, Tyler the Antenna Man came to the rescue. He doesn't know, of course. He just so happened to have posted a video recently about this very topic. So, I'm going to simply let you watch his video, as he does a proper job on explaining things.

[Direct YouTube link]

Of course, Tyler runs an antenna service, and his video channel is for promoting that as much as sharing information. But he's not high pressure, and offers good information that you can use without purchasing one of his antennae or using his recommendation service. I will add that his recommendation service is very good, and something I would recommend if you aren't certain about your antenna purchase plan.

And, of course, his information about illegal IPTV services is spot on. Stay away from those services. Sellers have gone to jail. Subscribers have been hit with fines. Plus, it's just plain wrong to use them. Don't incorporate something like that into your Streaming Life.

More cord cutters

So you're a cord cutter. Guess what? So are more and more people. That means you were in or cord cutting before others.

Well, unless of course you aren't a cord cutter, in which case ... why not?

But let's say you are. New data indicates more and more people are joining your ranks -- our ranks -- and dropping traditional pay TV.

Data released recently from Moffett Nathasson indicates that pay TV subscribers dropped by large numbers in the third quarter of this year by over 6%:

The drop in pay TV subs was slightly worse than the 6.2% slide seen in Q2 and the 5.2% decline seen a year ago in Q3 2022. 

MoffettNathan's definition of pay TV includes both traditional cable and satellite operators as well as newer vMVPDs like Fubo TV and YouTube TV. 

To put this in perspective, MoffettNathanson reported that the "Q3 loss of 655K subscribers is the largest third quarter loss ever; last year’s loss was…617K and the year before just 91K" in Q3 2020.

So, is this good news? Not for TV subscribers. That means higher fees for carrying local stations.

According to the report, that means smaller income from broadcast retransmission fees, which could translate into even higher fees for the remaining subscribers.

Recently, Comcast announced increases, and the vast majority was due to the broadcast fees. And this report indicates more could be coming to other pay TV services.

While broadcasters may view this as a trend reaffirming the value of their over-the-air broadcasts, it also promises to create some serious financial problems for stations, which in recent years have relied heavily on retransmission consent payments from pay TV providers.

BIA has predicted that subscriber fees from retransmission consent agreements will increase from $14.55 billion in 2022 to $17.37 billion in 2030, growth that will be difficult to maintain if the pay TV ecosystem continues to collapse.

But you're a cord cutter, right? These things don't impact you.

You are a cord cutter, right? Right?

If not, you may want to look into it. I cut the cord in early 2011, and have never once regretted it. My Streaming Life is good. You should try it.

Christmas movies for free

With December well underway, many are looking to add Christmas movies to their regular TV watching schedule. So, how do you go about doing that?

One way would be to watch content from Hallmark. We recently talked about that.

While watching Hallmark content is a great way, it's not the cheapest way. Well, not always.

If you recall, some services do offer free streams of Hallmark content, although not current Hallmark movies.

• Plex
• Roku Channel
• Pluto TV
• Xumo
• Sling TV (free tier)

But is that all? Are there other ways to watch Christmas movies for free? No.

Pluto TV

The granddaddy of FAST apps has a Season's Greetings section. It has nine linear (live streaming) channels. If you look around the live channel guide, you'll see Christmas channels in other sections, but they are duplicates of what's in the Season's Greetings section. Of course, some other channels will occasionally have Christmas or other holiday content. These nine are all Christmas content, including movies, fireplace, music videos, and one Spanish language channel.

Xumo

The Comcast backed FAST service has a Holiday Hub that has 18 live streaming channels. This includes five music channels and a music video channel, but no fireplace channels.

Crackle

This long-time favorite now has a more family friendly approach since it was acquired by Chicken Soup for the Soul. Crackle doesn't have a live-streaming hub of holiday content, but does have a Holiday section of 160 on-demand movies. They are mostly Christmas themed, but there are other holidays represented, including Thanksgiving.

Tubi

The Fox-owned Tubi has a Holiday Hits category with 200 on-demand selections. There is no linear content, but that is a fair number of on-demand movies and TV. Tubi has some fireplace and Christmas music based selections that run about an hour each.

Plex

This service has both live streaming and on-demand sections. However, it's doesn't contain the focus of other services. There is no Holiday or similar category in the Movies & Shows section. However, there are over 250 on-demand holiday themed movies. But beware: there are all sorts of sub-genre and mixed genre holiday movies, including horror films. Not everything is suitable for family viewing.

Unfortunately, in the Live TV section, there is no category for holiday content.

Roku Channel

In the live streaming section, there is no section for Christmas movies, but there are some Christmas channels. My suggestion would be to mark them as Favorites.

Roku Channel does have a Seasons Streamings section for on-demand content, however. And a pretty good selection.

Pub-D-Hub

This offering is a little unusual, but the free Pub-D-Hub service does have a Christmas section. It's all really old content -- Pub-D-Hub is public domain content after all -- but some is really good. This may become a favorite of older viewers.

There are other apps and services that offer Christmas content, of course, but these are the highlights of the most popular. And all of these are free.

There are ways to get Christmas content into your Streaming Life. These are but a few of the free ways, but some of the best.

How to watch Hallmark Channel

Hallmark has meant quality television for years. More recently, it has become known for its Christmas movies. As we're nearly a week into December, you might be wondering where you can watch Hallmark Channel, or Hallmark's related channels, as a streamer. The answer is: a lot of places. Which particular place is right for you depends on exactly what you want. Answers are never simple, are they?

Let's start simple. Where can you watch Hallmark Channel? By that, I mean the same channel that you get with a cable or satellite subscription. If you've cut the cord, or are looking to, you may want to ensure that you are able to watch Hallmark Channel.

We'll cover that, as well as Hallmark's other channels -- Hallmark Drama and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries -- as well as it's on demand services -- Hallmark Movies Now and Hallmark Movies & More -- and the differences. Plus, some free Hallmark content.

You may right now be saying why would you want to know where you can subscribe to it when you can watch it free. Well, the free streaming channels don't have the current movies. They have Hallmark movies, to be sure, but not the same ones you can see on the standard Hallmark Channel.

If the mere fact of Hallmark content -- albeit older Hallmark content -- is enough, then you can watch it for free at a few places.

Here are the places that carry various Hallmark content

Plex

• Live Hallmark Movies & More
• On demand Hallmark Movies & More
  

Roku Channel

• Live Hallmark Movies & More
• Subscription Hallmark Movies Now
  

Pluto TV

• Live Hallmark Movies & More
• On demand movies
  

Peacock

• Live Hallmark Channel
• Live Hallmark Movies & More
  

Xumo Channel

• Live Hallmark Movies & More
• On demand Hallmark Movies & More

Sling TV free tier

• On demand Hallmark Movies Now (limited)
  

Those are a lot of options, and they may be enough to get you what you want. However, if you want to current Hallmark Channel and its sister channels, you'll need to subscribe to a live streaming service. You have plenty of options there as well.

Hallmark's channels

• Frndly TV ($7/month)
• Philo ($25/month)
• Sling TV Orange + Lifestyle Extra ($46/month)
• Sling TV Blue + Lifestyle Extra ($46/month)
• Sling TV Orange+Blue + Lifestyle Extra ($61/month)
• Vidgo Plus ($60/month)
• YouTube TV ($65/month)
• Fubo TV ($70/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month)
• DirecTV Stream ($70/month) Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries included; Hallmark Drama available in an add-on package.

Like I said, the answer isn't simple. But if you know what you want, you have some options.

One thing to consider is if you want the current Hallmark Channel, look at the various packages and see what other channels are avaialble. You may find the $7/month Frndly TV is suffiicient. Or you may find one of the others more suited.

What all this means is that you have plenty of options -- maybe more than you want to deal with -- to include Hallmark content in your Streaming Life. If you don't know what to do, watch the free content until you decide. I mean, it's free, right?