YouTube TV is now the largest live TV streaming service

Quick, what's the largest live TV streaming service? If you said "YouTube TV" then you either are very smart, or you read the title of this article.

Figures released recently show that YouTube TV now has over 8-million subscribers. YouTube's CEO Neal Mohan wrote a blog post recently that included that bit of information:

We’re also seeing growing consumer interest in our subscription services. We’re excited to announce that we have more than 8 million subscribers to YouTube TV. And we passed 100 million Music and Premium subscribers, including trials. Music subscriptions help us deliver on our goal to be the best place for artists to connect with fans, from insider access to Coachella to Shorts challenges with NewJeans, Dua Lipa, Tate McRae, and more.

The 8-million subscribers total is the most of any live TV streaming service, according to Cord Cutters News:

With this jump, YouTube TV has nearly doubled the subscribers of Hulu + Live TV, the next largest TV service. This news comes as YouTube TV successful used its NFL Sunday Ticket exclusivity to help drive up subscribers. To help keep customers, YouTube TV has also been rolling out new improvements...

My Streaming Live rarely uses a live TV streaming service. I'll subscribe during football season to get ESPN, but that's it. The rest of the year, I don't need the live TV content. But, it seems a lot of people do want the services. I will say that if I used one of those services, YouTube TV probably be the one.

Hulu and password sharing

An email sent to Hulu subscribers this past week indicates the service is beginning to crack down on password sharing.

On January 31, this showed up in my email:

We're Updating Our Subscriber Agreement

We wanted to let you know that we are making some updates to our Subscriber Agreement.

These terms will apply as of January 25, 2024 for new subscribers. For prior and existing subscribers, like you, these terms will be effective beginning on March 14, 2024, unless you acknowledge an in-app notice of these changes earlier. Until then, the terms of our prior agreement apply.

We encourage you to review the updated Subscriber Agreement in full and save a copy for your files. Once effective, it will govern your use and enjoyment of your Hulu subscription. We are as committed as ever to making sure you have an enjoyable streaming experience. Please visit our Help Center for more information about your subscription.

We have highlighted some of the changes for your reference:

• We're adding limitations on sharing your account outside of your household, and explaining how we may assess your compliance with these limitations.
• We're updating aspects of our dispute resolution policies, including terms related to choice of law and updates to the arbitration agreement to be more specific about the procedures for resolving any disputes relating to your subscription and our services, and to offer you the choice to “opt out” of resolving disputes through arbitration.

Thank you,
The Hulu Team

So, what does this mean? What changed?

Both the old terms and new terms state:

c. Restrictions on Your Use of the Services. You agree that as a condition of your license, you may not and agree not to:

share your login credentials with third parties;

So it already says no password sharing? Yes, it already said that. But you know people. And so does Hulu. They added the following:

m. Account Sharing. Unless otherwise permitted by your Service Tier, you may not share your subscription outside of your household. “Household” means the collection of devices associated with your primary personal residence that are used by the individuals who reside therein. Additional usage rules may apply for certain Service Tiers. For more details on our account sharing policy, please visit our Help Center.

So, either some people played stupid, or actually were stupid, when it came to the rules for no password sharing. This is stupid language for stupid people.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not taking up for Disney vs the little guy. But, they are the content owners and service providers. Yes, I give them my money, but they do get to set the rules. If I don't like the rules, I don't have to subscribe to their service.

My Streaming Life has included Hulu since I dropped cable in early 2011. Hulu is cheap, with the price now at $7/month. I haven't shared my password, and don't plan to. This policy change doesn't impact me at all. But if it impacts you, maybe you should ask yourself why.

Onn 4K Streaming Box

In 2021, I bought and tested the Walmart Onn Streaming Box. It went poorly.

Last year, Walmart released an updated Onn 4K Streaming Box. That went well. In fact, I like the devices so well that I plan to add them to TVs that don't have a Google TV interface available. The $20 price is $30 less than the 4K/UHD Chromecast device, and has the same functionality.

Okay, I said I like it, and that's true, but I didn't give many details of what I like. I'll do some of that now.

First, the box comes with everything you need.

Besides the device itself, the remote, alkaline batteries, and the power cord, there is also an HDMI cable and double-sided adhesive tape.

The thing I don't like about the device is that it's so small and lightweight, that the stiffness of the HDMI and power cables can keep the device from sitting flat. The double-sided tape can be used to keep it attached to a shelf, or better, the back of a TV. It's not a stick, but it can be out of sight like a stick.

If the device was heavier or larger, it might not be possible to mount it so easily. The Roku Ultra device is larger and heavier, and there are third-party mounts that can be purchased for around $20. Or, you can buy a pack of adhesive strips from Roku for $3. Yes, that's cheaper, but Walmart includes the necessary adhesive tape. No extra cash, no extra waiting.

Another thing I don't like is that the HDMI cable and power connection are on opposite sides. That means there is no "back" to the device. Either one comes out the front and the other the back, or they come out the left and right sides. Either is awkward. Unless you mount it to the back of the TV, in which case it doesn't matter.

So, those two things I don't like about it, are actually pluses. There is one other thing I don't like about it: the USB connection is USB mini, not USB-C. It's really not a big deal, and I assume cheaper. If so, that keeps the price down. So, that might actually be a plus as well.

Now the things I like. Well, it's a Google TV interface. I like the interface. Roku's is simple, and easy, and great. But Google TV is pretty darn good. It's a busier interface, similar to that of Fire TV, but it's better done than Fire TV. It's different from Roku's, but it's good. So the interface is a positive.

The remote is good. I actually like it better than the Chromecast remote. I like it as well as the Roku remote, which has traditionally been my favorite.

Setup is easy. You simply use the Google Home app (available on Android and iOS) to set it up. It's easy and well done. It walks you through the setup, and suddenly you're done and have a working Google TV device.

Now, if you don't like the Google TV interface, you won't like the Onn 4K Streaming Box -- or Google Chromecast, for that matter. But if you do, the device works well and setup is as easy as it is for Chromecast.

My Streaming Life has used primarily Google TV for the last several months. The Walmart Onn 4K Streaming Box is a very good streaming device at a great price.

Watching the NFL postseason: The Pro Bowl Games

The NFL playoffs are not done. There is still the NFL Championship, Super Bowl 58 (or LVIII, if you like their silly Roman numberals thing). But that's next weekend. Today, it's the all star game, called the Pro Bowl. The best players of the AFC and the NFC square off in Orlando. Well, the best players that could be bothered with playing. Players from the two Super Bowl teams won't be playing. And a lot of otehrs that would qualigy have opted out. But still, it's pro football with a lot of starts. Well, sort of pro football.

It's a bunch of pro football players who have been playing a lot of activities, including dodgeball, and the championships are this afternoon. Oh, along with a flag football game.

The Game

The Pro Bowl Games championships and flag football game are today.

• AFC vs NFC. ABC, ESPN, ESPN+

How to watch

The various networks carrying the games are available to streamers in several different ways.

ABC

• Antenna (free)
• Sling TV (8 markets only) ($45/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($77/month)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Entertainment) ($85/month)

ESPN

• Sling TV (Orange) ($40/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($77/month)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Entertainment) ($85/month)

ESPN+

• ESPN+ (standalone) ($10/month)
• Disney Bundle ($15/month)

My Streaming Life does not often involve professional football, particularly NFL games. And dodgeball isn't my thing. But, there is no denying the popularity of the NFL, even when it's not playing football. If you want to watch the pro bowl games and are a streamer, or if you're thinking about becoming a streamer, maybe this will let you know just what you would need to do to watch the NFL.

Paying Amazon to remove ads doesn't remove all ads

Some people are getting upset because Amazon has added ads to Prime Video, and are asking for $3/month to remove those ads.

Some that are paying the money are upset that they are still getting ads. I hate to say it, but Amazon is correct about still showing ads. The problem is that people assume things they shouldn't assume.

Of course, the bigger problem is that Amazon started showing ads as a hidden way to increase the price of their service. Getting $140/year isn't enough for them, it seems.

Here is why I'm saying that Amazon is correct in still showing ads. Follow me on this, if you initially disagree.

Amazon had places that had ads already. They recently added ads to their Prime Video service, but have always had ads on Freevee (formerly IMDB TV) and other free streaming channels. If Amazon hadn't made their recent change, you would not have ads on the Prime Video content, but you would have ads on Freevee and similar services.

Now, Amazon has added ads to Prime Video, and want to charge you $3/month to remove those ads. And they will remove the newly-added ads, but you'll still get the ones you always got.

So, technically, Amazon is correct in not removing all the ads. But I really don't like them adding ads to start with. They are catching flack because of this whole removing ads but not removing ads.

My Streaming Life doesn't often use Prime Video, so this isn't really a problem for me. But I hate what they've done to those that use the service a lot.

Verizon's nationwide home 5G Internet isn't nationwide

I saw an announcement from Cord Cutters News yesterday that Verizon had launched a new nationwide 5G home Internet service.

I knew Verizon had service available in many places, and was waiting on it to become available everywhere. When I saw that article, I thought to myself, "Self, you should check this out."

This morning, I did. And I learned something. Nationwide service isn't available nationwide.

I know that, because I live in the nation. My state was one of the 13 original states when this nation became a nation. Nationwide should cover this part of the nation. It's not like Georgia just became part of the nation. No state has been part of the nation longer. Well, unless you are Verizon. Or Total by Verizon.

The prepaid carrier, which is available in hundreds of stores throughout the country or online, will be offering the service, which costs $50 a month, or $45 if you sign up for its auto-pay discount. The company touts unlimited data and download speeds of up to 200 Mbps.

The move follows in the footsteps of T-Mobile, which expanded its 5G home internet service to its prepaid arm, Metro. By expanding its distribution to Total, the company is expanding its potential base of customers beyond people who look at Verizon as a service provider. Prepaid services like Total typically cater to customers with lower credit scores and are looking for better deals on their wireless service.

If only they included me.

I do like my Comcast (Xfinity) Internet service. But I want options. The pricing of this plan is in line, and would seem to be a viable option. If they offered it "nationwide" like they say.

My Streaming Life will continue to ride Comcast for a while yet.

Watching with no subscriptions

I will occasionally subscribe to a streaming service. For a while, I've been subscribing to one streaming service a month, and changing out each month to a different service. That way, I could watch the content from several services, but not pay the cost of all of those services each month.

That way has been a good way to stream. Only, I've noticed something over time. I would subscribe to a service, then not watch anything on the service. The reason that happened is that my process was to subscribe to a service at the start of the month, then toward the end of the month, set a reminder to cancel, and do that before the month ended.

Then, at the start of the next month, I'd subscribe to another service. And the cycle would repeat. And that was a pretty good way to do things, except that I would sometimes subscribe because it was time to, but never watch the service. This wouldn't happen all the time, but it would happen sometimes.

Then, I decided to subscribe, set a reminder, cancel when it was time, but then not subscribe to another service until there was something I wanted to watch on it. And I found that I would go a while before subscribing.

Things didn't go quite so smooth, though, as there have been subscriptions to services for longer than a month. For example, a service, say Starz, would offer a heckuva deal for subscribing. As I had budgeted $15/month for services, these promotions would have a really good price for 3-6 months, and when a family member said "I'd watch that" then I would take advantage of the special pricing and subscribe. It was more than $15, but not a lot more. And it covered multiple months.

Well, wouldn't you know it, but the service would often not get used. So, now I'm keeping my mouth shut, not asking "would you watch that?" to anyone, and simply subscribing when I find something I want, or am asked about some content.

I've canceled or suspended subscriptions on everything, and I'm now waiting on services to end. When that happens, my plan is to not subscribe to anything. I want to see how long I can go like that.

I'm thinking I can go that way for a while. My Streaming Life hasn't used the pay services much over the last year, so I'm about to make that official. No subscriptions. Let's see how long I can go.