On Television

Updated, August 2016

In 2015, I wrote a post on Medium covering my thoughts “On Television.” It centered around Apple’s new tvOS announcement and the launch of HBO Now.

18 months later, where’s this industry now?

2015, Skinny Bundles Away

The industry has expanded and turned towards skinny bundles. Sling TV became a bit of thing since the original piece. Playstation Vue and other amalgamations of a dozen or more channels with a lower, easier-to-swallow price launched so some quiet fanfare.

With the advent of these streaming bundle services, a new world of confusing digital rights management and licensing quagmires have appeared. All of these streaming “skinny” bundles feature a matrix of availability levels. Some shows are only available live, no pausing, no rewinding… just live. Others get DVR, Video On Demand, and pausing/rewinding/fast forwarding. There isn’t any rhyme or reason to what can be played when and how. Even within network families, difference emerge. Essentially, there are exceptions stacked on exceptions for these streaming services.

Apple rolled out it’s vision of the future of TV: apps. It’s not as grand or cohesive a plan as I would have liked — but it remains the only box that matters for me. I’m still a “cord cutter.” Realistically, I’m a “never-a-cord-er.” I’ve never had a cable or satellite subscription as my primary mode of video consumption for any length of time. Apple relied heavily on TV channels and networks to launch new Apple TV “apps”, essentially channels, where you could authenticate each app with your pre-existing cable subscription. Which lead to:

2016, The Year of the Sign In Dance

So far, Apple has announced new tvOS 2 features, including an ability to log into your cable provider once and only once. Apps can share this “single sign on” authentication and avoid the hassle of going to channel.com/activate for each channel / app you install.

Services like Playstation Vue and Sling TV launch nationwide. Somehow the internet TV packages started in certain markets only.

HBO Now, which sparked the original On Television piece, has provided limited additional revenue for HBO’s parent company, Time Warner. Netflix also is seeing a plateauing of revenue. It’s a concerning time for these giants — I think there might be some consideration coming in the next two years or so.

Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu are winning awards for their proprietary content, and Apple is entering the proprietary TV game as well. Of course, it’s going to be one show about apps and another about Dr Dre.

On an interest close to my heart, TNT and TBS launched new apps and sites, as they do every 18–24 months, and they still don’t work. I haven’t been able to use TBS’s app to stream content for a entire 20 minute episode of Full Frontal. TNT’s app continues to be unable to return from commercial break, instead choosing to continue video ad playback at the same time as it TV show. It’s a feat that only Turner Broadcasting System’s interactive division could accomplish. I continue to buy Turner shows on iTunes.

My Television World

Well, let’s scope to small world of my personal television habits. I’m still subscribed to HBO Now, Netflix, and Hulu Plus.

However one of my biggest complaints about the third giant, Hulu, have been addressed. From my 2015 piece:

I hate, hate, hate advertisements on network websites and Hulu. Nine out of ten times they don’t apply to me: car insurance (I have no car), homeowner’s insurance (I don’t own a home) and for several months Huggies commercials (I don’t have a kid) dominate the ads shown. Most of the time these advertisements were grating to watch and were shown so fucking often I would actively seek to mute and ignore them. I wanted to give them my money to make these awful ads go away.

Hulu has completed restructured their subscription offerings. Firstly, Hulu now is only available by subscription. For $7.99/mo you get “Limited Commercials” but by tossing them four extra dollars, commercials are completely removed. Halle-fucking-lujah.

Time Warner actually bought at 10% stake in Hulu and they’ve announced a live TV streaming option to be arriving in 2017. (Source) The once down-and-out media player, Hulu is coming back stronger and seems better positioned than any of it’s competitors. The content is improving, and the UI is slowly getting better. (To be honest, the Apple TV app could use a bit of an information architecture rethink, but I’m giving it a pass considering the recent changes and focus on new product offerings in 2017.)

As many others have pointed out in numerous online articles, podcasts, and interviews, cutting the cable hasn’t improved much. It’s still hard as fuck to get to content, and most still requires a cable login.

Why I want a bundle and Live TV

In the time since writing the first On Television article, I actually signed up for Comcast’s X1 service, canceled X1, then bought a PS4 and started using Playstation Vue, returned that, and have now started to consider buying a TiVo and a cable card + cable subscription. The consistent friction from the fragmentation gets close and sometimes wins for a short bit. I miss having the ability to throw a channel on while cleaning or cooking, have a unified way to watch all of my favorite shows, and be able to access channels and shows that defy subscriptions; this includes TNT, TBS, HGTV, Bravo, and BBC content.

Comcast X1

Comcast’s X1 service requires Xfinity internet and TV, and includes their new, proprietary DVR box. It features basic voice control and different interface than your off-the-shelf Motorola DVR. (It’s better, but that’s not saying a lot.) The best part of this entire service was the ability to stop having to use a fragmented series of apps and interfaces to watch shows. The DVR and apps provided one unified(ish) way to access content. No need for multiple monthly subscriptions, and their On Demand programming really expansive. With their apps (in certain markets, including San Francisco) you can stream your DVR-ed programming on the go. It’s the cloud DVR we have been hoping for.

Within my 30 day trial window, I realized that this entire experience, while miles ahead of the app mess that I became accustomed to, wasn’t worth the $200/mo tradeoff. Comcast Xfinity internet is significantly slower and more expensive than the competitors in my location, and is required to be inside their X1 ecosystem. I ultimately returned the boxes, and got the complete “Comcastic” experience when returning and getting my refund.

Playstation Vue

I then moved to buying a Playstation 4, and attempting to use the Playstation Vue service. For about $50/mo you get an expansive set of channels to enjoy. Unfortunately, their interface is confusing as all get out, and their support is nonexistent. I made the mistake of opening, not attempting to play, just opening the Playstation Vue app outside my home’s Wifi network and the entire system became locked. I was forced to call into their support center, which was overrun with standard Playstation Network support requests. I spent four days attempting to unlock my service. When I finally did, a Vue employee chastised me for opening the app outside my home. Lesson: never blame the user for doing something as simple as opening an app. Comcast had some rights management restrictions, but they were kind and smart enough to say “This programming isn’t available outside your home network. Try again when you’re back on your X1 Wifi network.” They didn’t lock users out until they call in to apologize.

After being told off by Sony’s team of DRM evangelists, having no access for days, and being told by the same evangelists that doing this more than twice in a month can cause a termination of service (again for opening their app), I canceled and returned the gaming console to Target.

Alternates

I’ve looked at Sling TV and other services that have started to pop up. However the rights and licensing management have caused me more confusion and grief than it takes for me to hop on to the iTunes Store and purchase the show.

Current Status

Currently, my TV watching habits include a subscription to HBO Now, Hulu and Netflix plus a shortlist of shows that don’t fall into HBO Now / Hulu / Netflix-land. They are expensive to purchase, but ultimately that’s the only legal option I have as a cable cutter. Right now, two are TNT shows (Major Crimes and Murder in the First), one is NBC (The Blacklist), and the last is Sam Bee’s Full Frontal on TBS. My current television bill is as follows:

• HBO Now — $15/mo
• Hulu, Ad Free — $12/mo
• Netflix — $10/mo
• iTunes Season Passes — $155/year or roughly $13/mo

Grand Total: roughly $50/mo.

A final programming note for me in 2017: Google Fiber recently bought my local ISP, Webpass. Webpass provides gigabit connections over fiber optics and line-of-sight microwaves. There is a decent chance that Fiber TV offerings might appear soon, and if that’s the case, I might be the first customer to sign up.

The Industry at Large

Moving back to the macro view of TV in the US, I’m remaining confident that the innovation isn’t going to happen on the channel by channel basis. No one want’s CBS’s All Access land.. paying $8–12/mo for each channel isn’t sustainable. Skinny and not-so-skinny bundles seem to be the way the industry is moving. I think the next big leap, which I penned to be live sports last year, might be the full bundles without the boxes. I hope these cable and satellite giants can see how an Apple TV or Roku or Playstation or Xbox could function as a better cable box than anything a digital agency working out of Philly could conjure up.

As a consistently rumored Apple service is further delayed, I’m starting to wonder if Comcast / Time Warner cable or DirecTV will begin offering television subscriptions without the TV. If they can provide you with a cable login for HD content that can be accessed through Apple’s Single Sign On solution (coming in tvOS 2) at a more approachable rate (maybe administered through iTunes) I’d be on board. I could get a Comcast cable login through iTunes, in a way that’s similar to how I get a Netflix login billed through iTunes. If I move to New York, I could cancel in one click and sign up with Time Warner. Apple could then sign me into Live streaming and On Demand content in the various TV channel apps that actually matter to me.

This might just be a pipe dream. It is at least one that I share with FCC Chair Tom Wheeler. He put in place a plan that would essentially allow subscribers to use any DVR box, app, or device to consumer their licensed content. It’s unclear if this means just simple app authentication (as a standard) or if it means that every cable provider (from Comcast down to mom-and-pop utilities) will have to provide methods for streaming television content to every phone, tablet, set-top-box, and smart TV.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Olympics garbage fire that’s popped up in the last few weeks. 2015 wasn’t an Olympic year, but 2016 featured the more-popular Summer Olympics. NBC’s apps are worse than expected, and I’ve found looking up times for specific sports nearly impossible. NBC continues to delay the broadcast, require a cable or satellite subscription, and is heavily curating content in what is a blind, drunk, and offensively bad manor. It’s sad and Americans are up-in-arms more strongly than they were two years ago.

I doubt this will change in the 2018 Winter Olympics. (The only slightly redeeming bit was the NBC Sports app’s ability to let you watch content for 30 minutes upon installation without a login. Just incase you downloaded it and see that you want to watch an event immediately. You can start streaming now and log in later.) The Olympics is heavily controlled by NBC, who paid billions this year for the exclusive rights. I wish they would have either let a startup build their app over a 12 month period, or just loaded everything into Hulu. Honestly, an FTP server with the video files, or unstyled HTML page with video links would have been easier to use. (Even if it was behind their paywall.)

Lastly, there hasn’t been much of a peep from in-place streaming bubbles like Philo and Xfinity on Campus. These initiatives allow for a cloud DVR solution if you’re part of a college community and live on campus. I hope they are doing okay, and are expanding. I really would have loved a service like this back in the day. I haven’t heard much and Philo doesn’t seem to be hiring anyone outside sales and account management.

Stay tuned as we hope, pray, and refresh to see what’s new in entertainment delivery systems.

Originally published at decryptalpha.com.