Whole house DVR? Yes!

When I put up an antenna, I tried out three different DVR systems. All worked well. My favorite of them is Tablo, but Air TV (from Sling TV) was good. I wasn't all that thrilled with Amazon's offering, but it did okay.

Recently, Tablo posted an answer to a question about setting up a whole home DVR. And the answer is that you can. And with a network connected DVR -- meaning network connected Tablo, as well as Air TV systems -- you get that as part of the setup:

Let's say your TV antenna is connected to your Tablo in an upstairs bedroom. The room next door is your office where your Wi-Fi router is located. Downstairs you have a Roku-enabled Smart TV.

Your Tablo will connect to your router via Wi-Fi and so will your Roku-enabled Smart TV. Using the Roku Smart TV's remote, you download the Tablo app to the television. The app on the Smart TV connects to your Tablo over Wi-Fi so you can stream live and recorded programs and control the DVR using the Roku remote. Have another TV in the basement with a Fire TV stick? The same process applies.

This is why I really like my Tablo setup. But to be fair, this applies to Air TV as well. If you want a whole home DVR as part of your Streaming Life, it's easy.

A new YouTube TV scam?

One of the pitfalls of doing something new is needing help, and getting bad search results when you seek that help.

This seems to have happened recently to people looking for help with YouTube TV. It seems some scammers were gaming the Google search results and getting their fake Website, voutube.com, listed high in the results.

It's kind of funny, in a shake your head way, in that Google owns YouTube TV and YouTube, yet were listing fake results at or near the top of the search results.

According to Cord Cutters News, this has been happening recently:

Recently some of our readers noticed sponsored Google search results when you look for help with YouTube TV that doesn’t point you to TV.YouTube.com but instead point to voutube.com. A simple switch of the Y with a V can easily be missed if you are not looking closely for it. (Also, we highly recommend you do not go to that other website.)

Increasingly scammers are trying to trick YouTube TV customers into thinking they are contacting customer service. Instead, they reach a 3rd party group that offers to help them for a fee or some other plan.

Tricks like this are not new, as Roku, for years, faced a vast number of groups that would try and trick you into paying to activate your Roku. Sometimes $100 or more they would want in order to activate your Roku for you. These groups bought up search terms about activating or setting up your Roku player and would try to charge you to do what should have been free.

I did a search for "help with YouTube TV" and did not get the fake results that were reported. Apparently, Google stepped in and did something about it. But this does show that scammers are able to succeed for at least a while, and are brazen enough to try to do it to Google services, and Google searches.

Stay vigilant when it comes to seeking help on the Internet. Don't treat Google searches as Gospel. Like everything else, be careful with your Streaming Life.

WBTV?

Word is that Warner Bros. Discovery is planning to launch a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service.

That would join the large number of existing services, including Pluto TV, Xumo, Tubi, Plex, Streamfree (Sling TV free), and others, that provide streamers with tons of free content. Of course, they have ads, but for the cost, that ain't bad.

Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent of Warner Bros. (naturally), Discovery (of course), HBO Max, TCM, TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, and others. This would be their first foray into FAST services. Cord Cutters News has more information on that:

Warner Bros. Discovery has a vast back catalog of content from Discovery, Scripps, and Warner Bros. programs to build a service on. Now don't look for major hits like Friends being offered free but do look for Warner Bros. Discovery to follow Pluto TV's model by offering a collection of new and older content to help attract subscribers to HBO Max.

Pluto TV has been very successful not only at getting ad revenue but also in promoting Paramount+. Often older seasons of hit shows are offered free to get you hooked, only to make you pay to see the new seasons. Now Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly wants a similar model for themselves.

Here's the catch. They are planning on calling it WBTV. That makes sense, right?

Well, there is a TV station in Charlotte, NC with the call sign WBTV. And it's been WBTV since 1949, when it first signed on. So there's that.

Once they get all that worked out, I'm looking forward to the WBD offering. I think with their catalog of content, the FAST service, whatever name it takes, will be a good addition to my Streaming Life.

Fubo being Fubo

For the last few years, Fubo TV has been the leader in streaming sports programming. No, they don't have everything, but they have more sports overall than any other live streaming service.

Recently, they added Bally Regional Sports Networks -- just in time for Bally to be ready to declare bankruptcy -- filling a huge gap in their sports coverage. They also did something recently that isn't so great.

Right before the Super Bowl, Fubo TV stopped monthly subscriptions, and offered only quarterly subscription plans. Now, after the Super Bowl, they offer monthly subscriptions again.

Why?

Money. It's always money.

The TV Answer Man, Phillip Swann, explains.

It would appear FuboTV has some concerns about people signing up for one month and then canceling soon after the Super Bowl, although it still permits a 7-day free trial. (Fubo also sends reminder e-mails before the 7-day free trial ends.)

A FuboTV spokesperson noted last Friday that the quarterly-only packages were "temporary."

"We have temporarily made our channel packages available to new subscribers as quarterly plans. We're always experimenting with our channel package offerings to better understand what our subscribers like," a FuboTV spokesperson told the TV Answer Man.

They do have a valid concern regarding the 7-day trial being used only for the Super Bowl. Of course, the Super Bowl was offered free on other apps, so nobody had to use Fubo TV to watch the Super Bowl.

If someone did use the 7-day trial, and then forgot to cancel, they'd pay for three months. Another option would have been to have removed the 7-day trial. After all, not all services offer the 7-day trial. Some require you to subscribe for a month with no free trial.

I suppose no matter what Fubo TV did, they'd get complaints from people like me. Of course, they could have done nothing, and left things as they were. But where's the money in that.

To be clear, I don't have any problem with companies getting money for their goods and services. But I don't have a problem with people legally saving money, either. But this does go to show you that you have to keep a watch on things in your Streaming Life, just as you do in all aspects of life.

Less than half of USA had cable TV

If you are a cord cutter -- and of course you are -- you are no longer in the minority.

I cut the cord in early 2011, after getting a Roku device in late 2010. And, according to a study in late 2011, at the time, over 71% of USA homes had cable TV then.

A new study from the Leichtman Research Group suggests that 71% of U.S. households still have pay TV.

However, the new figure -- which accounts for cable, telco, satellite and internet-delivered virtual MVPDs -- still represents a significant decline from penetration rates five years ago. The research firm said this latest percentage is down from 82% in 2016, 87% in 2011 and 86% in 2006.

A new study says that less than half of USA homes have cable TV in 2023.

For years cord cutters were often looked at as this weird small group of people who didn’t watch TV. Now according to Samba TV, 52% of Americans no longer pay for cable TV.

You can clearly see this change as broadcasters have increasingly moved content off of traditional broadcast TV to streaming. NBCUniversal has been one of the largest movers of content off of NBC and over to Peacock.

This is a big shift. And if you've been a cord cutter for some time, you were ahead of the curve. If you're new to cord cutting, welcome aboard. Enjoy your Streaming Life!