Articles about TV

It's March Madness, which is an awful time of the year for those of us who no longer subscribe to cable or satellite -- at least not for TV.  The brackets are getting smaller and big games are pending, including my own team's matchup later tonight. Enter Sling TV to save the day. The service provides live TV and ample amounts of sports for any fanatic. That's why today I opted into the free seven day trial, or at least tried to.

Things didn't go smoothly, though it should, in theory, be an easy process. There was a major stumbling block and it came right in step one. I entered my Gmail address and was told I couldn't use it. A second try resulted in the same outcome. I clicked Contact, found that online chat with customer service was closed, but the phone variety was good to go.

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In the world of of cord-cutters there are few things more exciting than getting new streaming services and, consequently, those services grabbing new content deals. It means there will be something to watch when you want to kick back on the couch. Now Hulu is announcing a new offering that fits the bill.

The streaming service has secured exclusive right to the show Empire. This will include all past and future episodes. "In a new deal with Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, Hulu becomes the exclusive SVOD home to TV’s biggest hit of the year", says Hulu's Lisa Holme.

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Nielsen has been tracking the TV viewing habits of Americans practically since the invention of the tube. In recent years the polling company has had to adapt its operations to fit with newer technology that is increasingly being used by customers to satisfy their video needs.

That now seems to be leaning dramatically towards subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD). A new report states that this form of entertainment is winning across the board, and the numbers aren't even particularly close in this poll.

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As a cord-cutter for almost a year now I've learned to live with certain limitations. My TV viewing is sparse, so this wasn't difficult and Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime have done an admirable job of filling the void. Both work great on my Roku 3 and Amazon Fire TV. There's a Google TV here as well, though it's long been disconnected and I haven't got around to purchasing an Android TV, much as the Nexus Player intrigues me.

One set-top box that has failed to get my attention is Apple TV. That's largely because I don't live in the Apple ecosystem. I'm not an iTunes customer and it seems fairly limited compared to what I have. That may soon change.

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There's a fair chance that most every house built 30 years ago had cable installed in it. Not long afterwards satellite began to take off, and continued to eat into the market of companies like Comcast, CableVision and others. That's a logical progression, as new options give people better choices and channel numbers increased, along with premium options.

But that trend is now on the downside. According to a 2014 report in USA Today cord-cutters (those with neither cable nor satellite) rose from 4.5 percent in 2010 to 6.5 percent as of that time. Meanwhile, the same month saw a study from Leichtman Research Group reveal that the top nine cable companies lost a total of 510,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2014. Satellite fared little better, shedding 78,000 customers.

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Netflix just won another indirect victory in the form of a net neutrality proposal passed by the Federal Communications Commission, which would ban all types of paid prioritization on the Internet.

This means Verizon, AT&T and Comcast will be unable to seek more revenue from Netflix, in exchange for fast video streaming rates to Netflix’s 40 million US subscribers.

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Wrestling fan? Many folks are, which is what has made the WWE such a lucrative business. The organization recently launched its own network -- subscription-based, of course. After all, it's about making money in exchange for sport...ah....entertainment. Now the network is expanding, moving to set-top boxes.

Roku, perhaps the top name in this category, is announcing that the WWE has arrived on its boxes in the UK and Ireland. While we aren't sure how popular the "sport" is there, it's certainly set to get some viewers.

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Torrent sites have been on the run lately, with raids and all manner of filtering by governments that are trying to control the internet. It doesn't work, as the folks who want access bad enough know the ways around these things. Two of the latest victims were The Pirate Bay and EZTV. The former remains dead, though signs of a comeback are present. The latter wasn't down for long following the raid.

EZTV made a quick comeback, but problems have continued for the service, as Italian authorities closed in on its .IT domain. This has forced the organization to pack up shop and make a move to a new country where things will, hopefully, be calmer.

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If you're fond of watching TV, and most folks are, then you likely have some accounts with online services to supplement your viewing options. Several good choices exist, one of which is provided by online retail giant Amazon. Prime includes video streaming that competes with rival Netflix and now it's beefing up the original content available from this service.

13 new shows are debuting on the service, though they are pilots only. Amazon prefers to let the viewers decide what becomes a series and what gets shelved. So, your viewing and comments help here.

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Jeremy, James and Richard are coming back for a 22nd season. Oh, that guy in the white suit and helmet will be there too, but "all we know is he's called The Stig". There will likely be some fast and expensive cars involved, and certainly there will be entertainment. But how do you advertise a show that really needs no introduction?

The answer to that question seems to be a merger with the Lego empire. You know -- those toys that adults also like to play with. You'll find all of the characters in the new trailer, or pieces of them anyway.

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Amazon usually produces TV pilots before deciding which ones to turn into full series. Unsurprisingly, its union with critically-acclaimed writer/director Woody Allen, won’t be going through this process.

The company has already ordered a full season of the Untitled Woody Allen Project, which will premiere exclusively on Prime Instant Video.

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HD, with its 1080p picture took off, albeit a bit slowly at first. But in the long run, almost all content moved to the format and customers bought sets. It was a boon for manufacturers, but it was one that ended quicker than they hoped. Once everyone had that new TV, the rush came to a screeching halt and companies began puzzling over what to do next, desperate to get back those sales figures that had become a bygone era.

Enter 3D, people must want that experience, right? Not so fast. The platform fell flat on its face when nobody rushed to buy a TV that required wearing glasses -- worse, expensive ones at that. To quote my colleague Derrick Wlodarz, "the hurdles for 3D TV are plentiful. By far, the biggest, nastiest one has no doubt got to be content. And more specifically, breadth and reach of such content. Not just across movies, but television channels too. And this is one nagging factor that 3D TV proponents can't seem to come to grips with".

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In 2014 Google debuted Android TV, using Nexus Player as a sort of reference device. The new entry into the crowded market replaced the previous Google TV, which had been around for a while but never really took off. Google hopes the new platform will change the company's fortunes, as it desperately wants to be in your living room.

At the big Consumer Electronics Show taking place in Las Vegas, the search giant delivered more information about its new platform. Google arrived with announcements of new partners in the way of TV manufacturers offering sets powered by Android TV.

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Sling TV, yes from the folks who brought you the Box, has launched and it's heading in many directions all at once. Earlier we heard that Xbox One would be the first gaming console to feature the service, now we're learning of the set-top box makers also partnered with Sling.

The new internet TV and video service has also teamed up with two of the most popular device makers currently in this market -- Roku and Amazon. Both companies plan to carry this new internet-based video service.

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Despite the fact we now have 5K available, most people still haven't even made the leap to the Ultra HD, or 4K, technology. Satellite TV provider DISH Network is taking aim at that crowd now, announcing it will be moving into this growing field. With the failure of 3D, it seems TV makers have finally found a viable way to lure people into buying a new set or box.

The company is announcing the new Joey, a set-top box compatible with this latest video technology. It claims "that it will be the first pay-TV provider to launch a 4K ‘Ultra HD’ set-top box. Named the 4K Joey, the unit is designed to easily integrate with DISH’s Hopper Whole Home HD DVR system".

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