Why I like Roku better than Fire TV, or Google TV

If you've followed along for any period of time, you know I'm firmly in Team Roku. However, I also will use and do appreciate the other major streaming platforms. Apple TV's interface is good, as is the Google TV (and Android TV) interface. And, yes, the Amazon Fire TV interface is good as well.

My favorite is Roku, because it's not pushing stuff on me.

Well, that's not exactly true, because there is that big ol' ad once you move over to select the app you want to launch. However, it stands out as an ad, and can be ignored if you like. On Amazon and Google, they mix the ads and promos in with the rest of the content.

Roku doesn't throw stuff at you. Well, there is that big ad, but you see it for what it is. It's a simple interface, and the apps don't jump around. Whatever you place as your first app in the list stays there. On Amazon and Google, they will move them around, with the most recent played at the front.

There is a line that doesn't change, but it only shows a handful of apps, meaning you have to hunt for more apps is you want one that isn't in the top six or eight. Roku puts them all there, in rows of three, and you can find the one you want because it's always in the same place, unless you move it.

Amazon and Google with promote content within the interface, rather than off to the side as Roku does. I don't like that. I prefer to know that if I see something, it's something I put there, not something that some company is trying to push off on me.

I've not talked much about Apple TV in all this. Apple TV is similar to Roku in the way the interface works. However, they do offer a couple of different views, including one that looks somewhat like the Amazon or Google one, and one that looks more like Roku in that it's simply a list of your apps.

Roku wins the interface battle for me, due to its simplicity.

But I get it. Some people like what is suggested to them. Roku does offer suggestions, but not at the main menu. And if  you like the Fire TV or Google TV interface better, that's fine. I'm not trying to change your mind. I'm simply trying to tell you what I like about the Roku interface.

To me, the others are too cluttered and jumbled and make it harder to find something to watch. I want things simple in my Streaming Life, and Roku does that for me.

No more remapping Amazon Fire TV remote buttons

If you have been trashing Roku and praising Amazon because of the ability to remap the buttons on the remote, you're about to lose your passion for the Fire TV. Amazon has an update out that has blocked users from doing exactly that, according to AFTV News:

That changed with the recent arrival of software update version 7.6.2.4 to the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. This update contains a more sophisticated method to detect whether the app being launched by the remote app buttons is the expected app or not. Trying to use Remapper to remap an app button results in the line "App [app name] is not trusted. Aborting launch." appearing in the Fire TV's log file.

So far, only the Fire TV Stick 4K Max has received this change, but I expect other Fire TV models to also eventually receive a similar update that prevents my Remapper app from working. As mentioned in my introductory post about the app, this was to be expected. It was a nice two years where we were able to crawl back a bit of control over how Fire TV remotes worked, but I don't expect a new workaround to be found to get Remapper to work again.

This is not unexpected, as the author said. Amazon, and Roku, both have buttons to certain apps on their remotes. They sell those to companies, and do their best to enforce the mappings so that they can justify the price they charge.

Both Amazon and Roku sell remotes that come with programmable buttons, allowing the user to add that customization to their device of choice, to make their Streaming Life easier.

MLB TV now even more NOT worth it

I have a love-hate relationship with MLB TV. I so want to love it, but MLB blacks out my team -- the one that plays in a stadium over four hours away from my house -- and has for years. And continues to.

But now, they are doing something that makes that aggravation even greater. They have raised the price of a subscription.

Oh, they've thrown a new wrinkle in as well. In the past, when you auto renewed, you got the previous year's pricing. Not anymore. According to TV Answer Man Phillip Swann, MLB is hitting everyone with the price increase:

But MLB TV announced yesterday that it will raise the price of the 2023 plan by $10 to $149.99; the 2022 regular season price was $139.99. In addition, there are no pre-season discounts, which have been available in past years.

Which brings us to the issue of the auto-renewal.

Earlier today, we noted in this article that MLB TV has had a policy of auto-renewing subscribers every March 1 at the previous year's price. That would be $139.99 for 2022. The league even has a web page that says this:

"Your subscription will automatically renew annually approximately March 1 each year at the previous year's regular full yearly price."

However, it appears that MLB TV this year has updated the policy to state that you will be auto-renewed at the current year's price, not last year's rate.

Once again, I so want to subscribe to MLB TV, but the blackouts mean it's meaningless for me. And this on top of that makes it less desirable. However, if it works for you and your Streaming Life, that's great. I just wish it worked for me.

Washington's Birthday (2023 Edition)

Today is Washington's Birthday.

Okay, it's not the actual anniversary of the day George Washington was born. That's coming up on Wednesday. But today is a federal holiday, and that holiday is called Washington's Birthday.

Now, before you argue about what today is, keep reading. And if you were going to argue, if you do keep reading, you may learn something.

Here is the listing of this year's holidays from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management:

You can't see it in that image, but at the bottom, it says:

**This holiday is designated as "Washington's Birthday" in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees. Though other institutions such as state and local governments and private businesses may use other names, it is our policy to always refer to holidays by the names designated in the law.

Some of you, maybe most of you, are thinking that today is Presidents Day. It's not. There is no such thing. And some of you may want to argue about it. "The combined Washington's Birthday and Lincoln's Birthday together and call it Presidents Day."

No they didn't. There never was a federal holiday for Lincoln. Ever. Look it up. There may have been state holidays, there may have even been local holidays that closed schools, but there never was a federal holiday for Lincoln. Ever. I'm not saying there shouldn't have been, I'm just saying there wasn't. And that's the truth.

What some -- or most -- may not realize is that the holiday wasn't to celebrate George Washington as president. Yes, he was president. He was the first under the current Constitution, but that's not why there's a holiday for him.

George Washington was one of the most important figures in the creation of the United States as an independent country. He was reviled and respected -- maybe even more respected than reviled -- by the United Kingdom when the War of Independence was fought. He was loved by many in this young country.

His actions in the founding of this country happened in the 1770s and 1780s, with the War of Independence being fought from 1775 (the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence was well after the start of the war; look it up) to 1784 (Cornwallis surrendered to Washington in 1781, the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, but Congress didn't ratify it until early 1784; look it up).

Washington became president in 1789, the first one under the Constitution that was ratified in 1788. However, this was at the end of his service to the nation he helped found. He achieved his high status well before he became president. Had he never become president, his birthday would still have been celebrated, and we'd probably not have any of this silly myth about a "Presidents Day."

We would also have not had the presidency of George Washington. Maybe that would have been a good thing, maybe it would have been a bad thing. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and others, including ones that never served as president, may have been our first president. Perhaps they would have handled some of the major events of those eight years differently. Maybe even some of those events may not have happened at all.

What I do know is that George Washington's birthday wasn't first celebrated because of his presidency. It was because of his actions that led to the creation of this nation, and its establishment as a republic. Without him, there may not have ever been a United States. He didn't do it single-handedly, of course, but without him, there may very well have never been this country.

George Washington was a flawed man. He was an adulterer and a slave owner. He was not a perfect man by any stretch of the imagination. However, we are all human, and we all have faults, some worse than others. Washington was one of the most important men to lead this young country, well before he became president. That is why his birthday is celebrated.

Today doesn't celebrate the men who held the office of president. There is no celebration of Joe Biden. There is no celebration of Donald Trump. There is no celebration of any president at all, except for Washington, but his being president has nothing to do with the celebration. There is no holiday celebrating anyone for being president. And there probably never should be.

So, what does all this have to do with streaming? Nothing. Unless you bought a new streaming device or TV in some store's poorly-named sale. Now go watch some educational video with your streamer, and learn the facts about something. Like the actual holiday that is today: Washington's Birthday

Good news for Fox

A couple of reports this week showed that Fox is making huge strides in streaming and digital content.

One report, as cited by The Streaming Advisor, says that Tubi, the free ad-supported television (FAST) service from Fox, grew at an impressive rate last year:

Tubi's Total Viewing Time (TVT) is up 44% year-over-year (2022 calendar year vs 2021), with more than 5 billion hours streamed in 2022, and the platform audience has grown surpassing 64 million monthly active users. Tubi's audience continues to be young and increasingly diverse, African American and LGBT audiences grew over 50% in 2022, and audience growth exceeded 25% in each major level of household income and the Hispanic demo – according to MRI. Additionally, Tubi's core younger demographic remains strong – more than 1 in 3 (36%) Tubi streamers are between the ages of 18 and 34. Tubi is proud to offer consumers free access to more than 50,000 titles from 455 content partners as well as a growing curated FAST offering watched by 1 in 5 AVOD streamers in the past 12 months.

The news about this growth came out around the same time as new data showing that Fox News continues to dominate the ratings for streaming and digital content:

The news option has spent 23 straight months as the number one news brand with multiplatform minutes. Multiplatform minutes reflect views on mobile, smart TV’s and any other way people may access the service online.

FOX News Digital closed out January reaching over 3 billion total multiplatform minutes, 1.8 billion total multiplatform views and 109 million multiplatform unique visitors.

I won't even mention the rating that show Fox News host Greg Gutfeld dominating the late night ratings. Well, I did mention it, but won't go further into that. Needless to say, Fox is having a good year. Again. It seems many people are including Fox entertainment and Fox News in their Streaming Life.