# Recent huge DVR systems expansion, i.e. Hulu Live/Frndly



## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

For quite a long time, YouTube TV had a monopoly on extreme DVR capability, with 9 month storage of unlimited programs. I always assumed that Google was behind this, but the recent expansion of such capability to both Hulu Live and Frndly has shown that whomever is providing it shows they dont mean it to be only for yttv and will sell the capability to any and all live programming systems. 

There are quite a few others out there with minimal _by comparison_ DVR systems, I wonder how long it will take them to 'jump on board'. Not only the 'national' systems but cable streaming from Comcast (Instant TV), Spectrum, and even regionals (in my state there are several smaller cablecos including fiber providers that have streaming systems with pretty lackluster DVR capability).

If indeed this is Google chasing these folks, more power to them. This is the new standard!


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Until such time that there aren't limitations to unlimited services, there's never a time to step off the neck of the service providers. Un means none.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I doubt there is one "central provider" of DVR service. I believe each provider has their own capture and retention and has decided how much storage to provide per customer and the length of retention. YTTV's longer retention served as a challenge to the industry ... if they offer longer retention why are the other providers not offering longer retention?

I assume that each provider is looking at their customers and seeing how long programs are actually retained (regardless of the limit) if most people watch and delete within a month then it doesn't matter if the limit is three months or nine months. The shows that are left on the DVR until they expire would be the only ones that the provider would need to pay more to retain with 9 month retention instead of 90 day retention. The provider could also look at the last time that expiring content was actually played to see what impact it would have on their customers.

The lemmings in the marketing department don't want to be at a competitive disadvantage where their company's "unlimited" has more limits than their competitor's "unlimited" offering. The bean couners in accounting would fight the cost vs benefit of expanding the storage. Sounds like math to me.

Perhaps some day some company will "do the math" and allow one year retention. Or more.


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## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

It's one thing for a top tier competitor to yttv to either to build a system matching the yttv DVR (especially when they previously charged an excessive, to me, amount for a lackluster storage fee), or jumping onboard a Google offering (I've searched high and low for a public system offering but have not found it), but for a small (cheap) streamer such as Frndly to jump on this system while adding a few wrinkles is amazing. 

How long will it be before sling, fubo, and others yank themselves up to or beyond this new level? Things are going to get (very) interesting.


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## NashGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

1948GG said:


> How long will it be before sling, fubo, and others yank themselves up to or beyond this new level? Things are going to get (very) interesting.


DirecTV Stream is moving in this direction too, albeit slowly. Their cloud DVR used to be limited to, IIRC, 500 hours, then they upped it to limited storage. But it was still limited to 90 days, 30 episodes, and cost an extra $10/mo. Now they're throwing it for free if you sign up for service online. And some folks are saying that they're phasing in an extension of the retention period from 90 days to 9 months, although I don't know if that's been definitely confirmed yet. The fine print on their website still says 90 days.

Xfinity TV from Comcast now charges $10/mo for 150 hours of cloud DVR storage or $20/mo for 300 hours. Either way, there's a 1-year retention on recordings.


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## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

I've kept a close eye on Xfinity stream as I was one of the first wave of subscribers years ago when I tossed DirecTV after 24+ years in order to continue reception of (all) my local channels. But the extreme limitations of the dvr system eventually forced me to drop it. The recent Frndly addition of the Weigel channels will, as I have since moved far out of range of ota broadcast signals (even the one retransmitter in my dma), finally allow me to recieve channels that were both available on DirecTV (but still not on DirecTV stream, really puzzeling) and ota in the high priced suburban neighborhood I lived in post retirement (the even higher priced one I lived in when working had legal restrictions on antenna reception, baked into the land titles away from federal/fcc rules) so until very recently with Free2view tv I've been unable to watch any of those channels. One more week and I'll finally get them back after over 7 years (with an expansive dvr to grab shows playing once a week in the middle of the night) at a price far below any cable product (I get most of the major network channels in my dma on youtubetv, lacking only my secondary pbs channel which around the country yttv has, in those markets with more than one, been slowly adding). 

Finally. At least before I get planted.


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## NashGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

1948GG said:


> One more week and I'll finally get them back after over 7 years (with an expansive dvr to grab shows playing once a week in the middle of the night) at a price far below any cable product (I get most of the major network channels in my dma on youtubetv, lacking only my secondary pbs channel which around the country yttv has, in those markets with more than one, been slowly adding).


As YouTube TV continues to grow, the channels carried on Frndly TV are about all that's left for them to add to their line-up. In December, YTTV added the most important ones, the three Hallmark channels, along with Sony's Game Show Network and GetTV, all five of which were already on Frndly.

The next ones I look for YTTV to add are the A+E nets, which Frndly just recently added: A&E, Lifetime, History, LMN, Vice. I've been looking for YTTV to add those for a year or so now, especially given that their main rival, Hulu with Live TV, has them.

Beyond those, a few of the Weigel diginets -- mainly MeTV, of course -- would be smart additions. I have to think that their carriage fees would be pretty low. And YTTV already carries Weigel's Start TV, so the relationship is already in place.

INSP, with its westerns, is surprisingly popular, ranking no. 22 for the full year 2021 in Nielsen ratings. That's actually one spot ahead of MeTV. So maybe YTTV will consider it.

Another one on Frndly which I look to show up on YTTV sooner or later is Circle, which is really the only noteworthy TV network devoted to country music and lifestyle. (Yes, there's still CMT, but like MTV before it, Viacom basically removed music from its programming except for an annual awards show and instead loaded it up with old TV shows and movies that have little or nothing to do with country music.) Circle airs an hour or so of the Grand Ole Opry live every Saturday night and fills up the rest of the schedule with a mixture of new original and rerun/licensed programming. The fact that NBCUniversal just this week purchased a stake in the Grand Ole Opry and Circle significantly increases the chances that various pay TV operators will add Circle in the coming years. Right now, only DISH carries it. (Circle originated as an OTA diginet and also streams for free in two Comcast-owned apps, Peacock and Xumo.)

There are only a few minor channels aside from those already on Frndly that I could imagine YTTV possibly adding. Two of them are owned by Scripps: ION and Grit. As far as I know, ION isn't available as a streaming channel from any source (although neither was MeTV until Frndly just added it). Grit streams on Sling. Aside from those two, I guess it's possible that we could see YTTV add AXS TV and/or its sister channel HDNet Movies. Sling and Philo each carry both of those channels.


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## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

NashGuy said:


> As YouTube TV continues to grow, the channels carried on Frndly TV are about all that's left for them to add to their line-up.


Yttv does carry a couple, why when they added those a bit ago they didnt go for the most popular. It can't be the expense, as they are essentially giving those channels away for free on advert supported ota as well as on free2view tv streaming across the country.

There are a couple more channels on Frndly that are of high interest to many, again non-network independent types running older programming. I'm kinda surprised that someone out there hasn't scooped them all up like free2view tv and attached a decent dvr system at reasonable cost. I'd easily pay $10/month for that. Maybe those folks will eventually expand up to that level; one can dream.


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