New Roku rules for accessibility compatibility

Roku is putting out some new rules regarding apps and accessibility functions. Starting this Fall, Roku will require apps to meet the requirements to be in the Roku Channel Store (their app store).

We're not talking about just new apps; we're talking about existing apps as well.

Yes, that means if an app you like doesn't meet the rules, it gets booted from Roku's Channel Store.

Among the things Roku is requiring is that apps respect the device settings. Today, some apps have their own closed caption settings, for instance, and ignore the settings for the device. I can tell you from first-hand experience that such behavior is frustrating.

I use captions for British programs -- yes, they speak English, but it's not the same -- and for some movies and TV shows that make it hard to hear because of the music or background sounds. If someone needed the captions, I can see that would be very frustrating.

According to Cord Cutters News, this is about to change, and includes Autoplay functionality as well:

Roku will also require channels to honor a new autoplay rule that allows Roku owners to disable auto-play on all apps with a single click. This is something we learned about earlier this year but is now being required of app developers.

Certification Requirement: If autoplay is disabled on a device, channels may not begin video playback until the user navigates to a video or explicitly starts playback. Once playback begins, channels may continue playing the video until the user navigates away from it, pauses it, turns the device off, or a screensaver starts. Channels must adhere to this requirement to pass certification (Effective October 1, 2024).

Developers can use the roDeviceInfo.isAutoPlayEnabled() function to check whether auto-play video is enabled or disabled on a device. This function returns a flag indicating the current state of the auto-play setting. Developers can use this function to ensure that the auto-play device setting is respected when customers browse content in their apps.

Both of these changes are small, but developers need to follow them, or they won’t be able to be on Roku players or Roku TVs going forward.

My Streaming Life doesn't absolutely require captions, but it is great to see that the functionality that is expected will be delivered.

Watching local channels without cable

It's possible to watch local channels without cable. There's more than just one way, in fact.

Michael Timmermann of Michael Saves recently posted a video about that. I found it to be helpful. Perhaps you will too.

[YouTube]

I have an antenna, but I like the idea that CBS and NBC are avaialble on Paramount Plus and Peacock respectively. Picking up ABC and Fox next day (not locals, however) on Hulu helps as well.

My Streaming Life is all about saving money, and the antenna is what works best for me. But for those that can't do that, these ways may offer some good alternatives.

Dual booting Windows and Linux

If you wanted to try Linux, perhaps because of its increase stability, security, and privacy, then one way is to be able to boot to Linux or Windows on the same computer. You can check out Linux in a real world enviornment while keeping your Windows envioronment intact.

Britec recently has a video on doing just that.

[YouTube]

My Streaming Life doesn't normally use desktop or laptop computers, but security and privacy are a concern for me. If Linux is an interest, I hope this helps.

Watch the Final Four (2024)

College basketball has reached the end of the playoff. The 68-team tournament is down to four: Connecticut, Perdue, Alabama, North Carolina State.

This evening, North Carolina State faces Perdue and later tonight Alabama plays Connecticut. The two winners will face off Monday night.

A lot of people watch the NCAA Final Four. So, if you're a streamer, how do you watch it?

Todays games are being broadcast on several networks:

• TBS
• TNT
• truTV

Here is how to watch the channels if you are a streamer:

TBS

• Max (with Ads) ($10/month)
• Max (Ad free) ($16/month)
• Sling TV (Blue) ($40/month)
• Sling TV (Orange) ($40/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue) ($55/month)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($77/month)
• DirecTV (Entertainment) ($85/month)

TNT

• Max (with Ads) ($10/month)
• Max (Ad free) ($16/month)
• Sling TV (Blue) ($40/month)
• Sling TV (Orange) ($40/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue) ($55/month)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($77/month)
• DirecTV (Entertainment) ($85/month)

truTV

• Max (with Ads) ($10/month)
• Max (Ad free) ($16/month)
• Sling TV (Blue) ($40/month)
• Sling TV (Orange) ($40/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue) ($55/month)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($77/month)
• DirecTV (Entertainment) ($85/month)

The cheapest way to watch all the games is via Max, which is as low as $10/month.

Oh, there is a March Madness Live app from the NCAA, but it authenticates against one of the services listed above. The app by itself doesn't get you the content, much like the ESPN app doesn't get you college football unless you authenticate against your ESPN provider.

My Streaming Life doesn't involve much basketball at all. But a lot of people enjoy this. If this describes you, then you have ways to watch the games.

Which Sling TV? Orange or Blue?

If you want a live streaming service -- effectively streaming cable -- then one of the best bargains is Sling TV.

Sling TV is $40/month, and has the most popular cable channels. It has entertainment channels, news channels, sports channels, but it's missing one thing: local channels.

Now, in some markets, where ABC, Fox, or NBC owns the local stations, local channels are available. But, in most markets, this isn't the case. Sling.com has a chart that shows where local channels are available.

Because local channels aren't usually available, the price is lower for Sling TV than for other services, such as YouTube TV, Hulu+Live TV, Fubo, DirecTV streaming, and others. However, the sports and news runs up the price, which is why Sling TV is more than Philo, which doesn't have news or sports.

But, if you want a service that has news and sports, then Sling TV is the best bargain.

If you look at their offerings, you'll see they have two plans: Orange and Blue. They are the same cost, but have some differences. And it's those differences that make a lot of difference.

Lets start with the channel offerings. The bulk of the channels are available on both services. There are some channels that are only available with the Orange package, and some channels that are only available with the Blue package.

Orange has these 6 channels:

• Disney Channel
• ESPN
• ESPN2
• ESPN3
• Freeform
• MotorTrend

Blue has these 14 channels:

• Bravo
• Discovery Channel
• E!
• FOX Sports 1
• FX
• Fox News
• HLN
• MSNBC
• NFL Network
• National Geographic
• SYFY
• TLC
• USA
• truTV

The remaining 26 channels are on both Orange and Blue:

• A&E
• AMC
• AXS TV
• BBC America
• BET
• Bloomberg Television
• CHARGE!
• CNN
• Cartoon Network
• Comedy Central
• Comet
• Food Network
• Fuse
• HGTV
• History Channel
• IFC
• Investigation Discovery
• Lifetime
• Local Now
• MGM+ Drive-In
• Nick Jr.
• QVC
• TBS
• TNT
• Travel Channel
• Vice

Of course, there are other channels that can be added to packages, but we're only talking the base package, as it give a good idea of the differences.

Oh, there is one other difference. On Orange, you get one stream. On Blue, you get three simultaneous streams.

There is a $55/month package that combines the two packages. It's as if you have two services, meaning you get all the channels in both packages, with one stream for each Orange channel and three streams for each Blue channel. For the 26 common channels, you get four (one for Orange and three for Blue).

So, which is the one for you? I use Sling Orange during football season to get ESPN, but the rest of the year, do without. I have plenty to watch using other paid or free services. My Streaming Life is all about saving money, and I don't pay for stuff I don't watch. But, if the content on Sling is worth it to you, knowing what channels and how many streams you get is helpful.

When to run a new over the air channel scan

You cut the cord. You stream your channels. You put up an antenna to watch local channels, and you record over the air content using a DVR.

Is that you? If so, you may wonder if you ever should re-scan your channels.

Well, yes, you should. For example, I ran a scan a couple of months ago, and found more channels that I had before. I hadn't run the scan in a couple of years, and new channels were available in that time. I should have run a scan, but when? And when should I run another?

The answer to that question isn't easy. There are different reasons that the available channels could change, and that could mean that I may need to scan more often than you, if our local circumstances are different enough.

But maybe there is a simple answer. And maybe experts in over the air channels would have an answer.

Well, recently, Tablo posted about this very topic:

"Is there a rule of thumb for how often I should run a new channel scan on my Tablo?"

You should always run and save a fresh channel scan with your Tablo if you are experiencing issues with antenna TV reception or have recently changed or moved your TV antenna.

Outside of those situations, we recommend running and saving a new channel scan with your Tablo at least once every three months.

They go on to list various benefits of doing this. It's an interesting read. I still wonder if that's too often, and more work than necessary. But, they are the experts.

My Streaming Life uses over the air antenna to supplement the streaming channels. I'll start scanning more often. Maybe I'll come around to there way of thinking.

How much do we really spend on streaming services?

A recent article from Cord Cutters News says that a majority of streamers pay under $40/month for streaming services.

The breakdown isn't simple, because nothing is every simple. The two largest groups in the survey pay over $40/month, even though those two groups together fail to make a majority.

Here is the breakdown:

According to our readers, more than 66% of cord cutters spend $50 or less on services each month. Only 23.5% of our readers pay $51 or more each month.

Here is a full breakdown of how much our readers spend of TV content each month.

• 5.7% spend $0 to $10 a month.
• 10.1% spend $11 to $20 a month.
• 12.5% spend $21 to $30 a month.
• 19.9% spend $31 to $40 a month.
• 23.9% spend $41 to $50 a month.
• 23.5% spend $51 or more a month.

4.5% declined to answer or said they don’t pay anything for video services. (This group was not included in the 66% of cord cutters who pay less than $51 a month.)

That last paragraph explains why the numbers only total to 95.6%. Of course, that makes the total 100.1%, which is impossible, but rounding accounts for that.

So, what do I spend? Well, I decided to run the numbers, and was surprised by just how much I spend, and how much I don't spend, depending on how you count it.

Here's the complication: Prime Video. I pay for Amazon Prime. But, I paid for Amazon Prime before Prime Video even existed. I subscribe for shipping benefits. I rarely watch Prime Video, and when I do, it's because somebody else wants to watch something there, and I go along with it. So, not counting Prime Video, and not counting a large portion of Paramount Plus -- the basic service is included with Walmart Plus, and there is a large discount on the upgrade -- it turns out that I only pay $16.74/month for streaming services.

Only, that's not right either. You see, during the college football season, I pay for Sling TV. I do it in a way that four 30-day subscriptions cover the entire season and bowl games, so I don't pay that every month. But, I do pay $40/month for those 4 months, and $0 the rest of the year. That averages out to $13.33/month over the year, bringing the total to $30.07/month.

But wait, I actually use ESPN Plus during college football season, bringing the average over the year to $33.73/month. Still not bad. And that's my number.

Of course, if I were to count Prime Video (which I pay for but don't use; family members have subscriptions and I watch it with them), the number jumps quite a bit, to $45.32.

My Streaming Life costs more than I expected. I thought I was under $33.73/month, but I'm not. Still, it's not bad, and a lot cheaper than cable.