# Ad-free Peacock has ads



## the2130

I decided to try Peacock and signed up for the "ad-free" Peacock Premium Plus tier. First show I tried streaming (an episode of The Blacklist, an NBC show), had multiple unskippable commercial breaks during the show. There is no free trial, so they will get my money 30 days. I guess they think they can force me to watch ads. Get a clue, Peacock.


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## James Long

"*Due to streaming rights, a small amount of programming will still contain ads (Peacock channels, events and a few shows and movies)."


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## the2130

Yeah, I saw that after I signed up. That's probably why they don't offer a free trial. My point is that they really shouldn't be selling it as an ad-free tier unless it really is ad-free. Oh, well. I'll keep it for 30 days, watch what interests me (minus the commercials, of course), and then cancel it out. As I said, Peacock really needs to get a clue if they want to be more than a minor player in streaming.


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## compnurd

the2130 said:


> Yeah, I saw that after I signed up. That's probably why they don't offer a free trial. My point is that they really shouldn't be selling it as an ad-free tier unless it really is ad-free. Oh, well. I'll keep it for 30 days, watch what interests me (minus the commercials, of course), and then cancel it out. As I said, Peacock really needs to get a clue if they want to be more than a minor player in streaming.


All ad free services have some ads. And peacock offered a free trial for a long time


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## James Long

the2130 said:


> Yeah, I saw that after I signed up.


The plan is called "Peacock Premium Plus" ... I'm not sure how you missed the disclaimer. It is not buried on the home page.


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## the2130

compnurd said:


> All ad free services have some ads. And peacock offered a free trial for a long time


Not really.


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## the2130

James Long said:


> The plan is called "Peacock Premium Plus" ... I'm not sure how you missed the disclaimer. It is not buried on the home page.


I signed up through the app on my tablet. I didn't see anything like that.


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## dod1450

So does paramount.

Sent from my LM-G850 using Tapatalk


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## harsh

I had Paramount+ ad free (back when there was new Star Trek content to be had) and there were no commercials -- the extra $3/month was worth it. There were lead-in promos for other Paramount+ offerings but pretty much every service I've used has those and you get a bunch of them when you go to a movie theater. Amazon allows you to skip promos and I suspect other services do as well.


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## compnurd

the2130 said:


> Not really.


Really


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## rnbmusicfan

I have been with Hulu Plus for many years, and able to watch ABC programs without ad interruptions. At most, there is an ad in the beginning of the program. But not during the program.

I used to get NBC shows reliably on Hulu, like Saturday Night Live without ads on Sunday morning. But since Peacock was contrived, the next day availability went away on Hulu. By Monday, I have no interest in watching SNL, and I usually only check out for political satire clips.

Since I have Peacock as well, I then tried viewing the season premiere SNL, Sunday morning on Peacock and got clips of the episode, and buffering, than the whole episode in continuity without buffering.

I got Peacock last year on a Black Friday sale, and wanted to watch Saved By The Bell reboot, along with King of Queens and The Office reruns. But compared to Hulu, it doesn't offer as much and their app is crap. Comcast/NBC went cheap or low quality in, that's their strategy.

I probably won't renew. It's no surprise that their subscription numbers are weak and they try to force YouTube to force its customers to take Peacock.


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## the2130

harsh said:


> I had Paramount+ ad free (back when there was new Star Trek content to be had) and there were no commercials -- the extra $3/month was worth it. There were lead-in promos for other Paramount+ offerings but pretty much every service I've used has those and you get a bunch of them when you go to a movie theater. Amazon allows you to skip promos and I suspect other services do as well.


That is correct - I have the ad-free Paramount+ and I can confirm that there are no commercials during TV shows and movies. You often get a short promo for another show at the start, but no ads run during the program. I also have ad-free Hulu, which has 6 or 7 shows where there is a 15-second commercial at the beginning and end, but nothing during the show itself. I subscribe, or have subscribed to, most of the major streaming services - Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, AMC+, Disney+, and Epix, in addition to those already mentioned. None of them are doing what Peacock is doing - i.e, running ads during shows on a tier sold as ad-free. Assertions to the contrary are just not true.


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## gio12

I have peacock premium and usually no ads. Sometimes a show wgeh starting will have one and a few shows 2-3 short ones.
Amazon prime watching shows on the IMB stream, as ads and stuck wit them.

Now the new Law and Order SVU shows recored via YouTube TV and not giving me the DVR version, only OD and 
commercials. This is BS and don't know why.


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## B. Shoe

I think two statements can be made, and both can be true:

1. Yes, statements for the "ad-free" tier include the mention that some programs still do contain ads. That communication is being made to consumers in some capacity, so they should be aware of what they're purchasing.
2. It's lame to put an asterisk to "ad-free" and advertise it as such, regardless of how you try to pass along ads in some programs. "Limited ads" would be a straightforward and fair way to promote the tier.


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## James Long

Paramount+'s disclaimer is buried deeper on their website (at least it was when I went looking for it). Several "FAQ" answers for "why am I seeing ads?"
Peacock's is clear on the website. I decided not to pay extra for "no ads" and don't consider the breaks to be overly annoying. It isn't worth the extra money to me to remove most ads.


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## billsharpe

I signed up for a three-month free promotional sub -- actually a Safeway Monopoly winner -- for Peacock Premium Plus. We watched episodes of B Positive without any commercials. There wasn't enough programming there to entice us to pay for any additional months.


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## b4pjoe

You sure you watched B Positve on Peacock? That is a CBS show and streams on Paramount+.


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## the2130

B. Shoe said:


> I think two statements can be made, and both can be true:
> 
> 1. Yes, statements for the "ad-free" tier include the mention that some programs still do contain ads. That communication is being made to consumers in some capacity, so they should be aware of what they're purchasing.
> 2. It's lame to put an asterisk to "ad-free" and advertise it as such, regardless of how you try to pass along ads in some programs. "Limited ads" would be a straightforward and fair way to promote the tier.


Yes, it is lame to offer an "ad-free" tier that isn't really ad-free. Even if I had seen the disclaimer, it doesn't tell me which shows have ads or when they appear. I could have read that and interpreted it to mean there are ads in programs like live sports events, or a short ad at the beginning like what Hulu does. Hulu is at least honest about it - they tell you there are a handful of shows that will have a 15-second ad at the beginning and end of the show. It's annoying, but not a deal-breaker for people like me who have little tolerance for advertising. Someone mentioned that Peacock offered a free trial at one time. This is probably the reason they don't offer it any more - too many cancelations by people who thought they were paying for ad-free programming.


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## techguy88

compnurd said:


> All ad free services have some ads. And peacock offered a free trial for a long time


HBO Max's ad-free tier has no ads and is the only one to do this.



the2130 said:


> Yes, it is lame to offer an "ad-free" tier that isn't really ad-free. Even if I had seen the disclaimer, it doesn't tell me which shows have ads or when they appear. I could have read that and interpreted it to mean there are ads in programs like live sports events, or a short ad at the beginning like what Hulu does. Hulu is at least honest about it - they tell you there are a handful of shows that will have a 15-second ad at the beginning and end of the show. It's annoying, but not a deal-breaker for people like me who have little tolerance for advertising. Someone mentioned that Peacock offered a free trial at one time. This is probably the reason they don't offer it any more - too many cancelations by people who thought they were paying for ad-free programming.


Peacock could be a little more transparent about the shows with and without ads. With the movies on Peacock that have ads on all tiers there is a disclaimer that appears in the description (usually they say something like "This movie is free to all Peacock users with ads.")

IIRC they discontinued free trials for the two Premium tiers when WWE Network was integrated into Peacock but that section has no ads on both Premium tiers.


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## compnurd

techguy88 said:


> HBO Max's ad-free tier has no ads and is the only one to do this.
> 
> Peacock could be a little more transparent about the shows with and without ads. With the movies on Peacock that have ads on all tiers there is a disclaimer that appears in the description (usually they say something like "This movie is free to all Peacock users with ads.")
> 
> IIRC they discontinued free trials for the two Premium tiers when WWE Network was integrated into Peacock but that section has no ads on both Premium tiers.


I get ads for other HBO Max shows on there ad free tier


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## b4pjoe

compnurd said:


> I get ads for other HBO Max shows on there ad free tier


Same here. It does allow me me to "skip" it though.


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## the2130

techguy88 said:


> HBO Max's ad-free tier has no ads and is the only one to do this.


My post pertains to ads running DURING PROGRAMS. And as I already stated, Peacock is the only service that is doing that on an "ad--free" tier. Any claims to the contrary are not true.


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## techguy88

compnurd said:


> I get ads for other HBO Max shows on there ad free tier


You will see lead-in and lead-out promos for other HBO Max programming just like on Paramount+ for Paramount+ programming. That has been around since HBO On Demand launched. The thing is HBO Max does not run ads during the program on the ad-free tier.


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## b4pjoe

Just putting this here since it is the most recent Peacock thread.

Peacock Reportedly Planning Major Changes to Service


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## the2130

b4pjoe said:


> Just putting this here since it is the most recent Peacock thread.
> 
> Peacock Reportedly Planning Major Changes to Service


They certainly need a complete overhaul if they ever intend to be a competitor in the streaming business, and not just a bit player as they are now. There is no way to even manage the "Continue Watching" section in the app. I decided to launch some of their shows and movies to see which ones have commercial breaks, and now all of those programs are on my "Continue Watching" list with no way to remove them. Since the commercial breaks are unskippable, I would have have to watch all of the ads in a program in order to to advance to the end and make it disappear from the list. And it looks like most of the movies have commercial breaks in them, even for subscribers to the ad-free tier. All of the ads I've seen so far are for Peacock programs, which means the "Due to streaming rights" disclaimer is mostly just baloney.

I wonder what the churn rate is for Peacock, particularly for the so-called "ad-free" tier. I think most people are going to feel they are being ripped off if they sign up for the ad-free tier only to find a lot of the programming has commercials. I guess this is what you get from a streaming service owned by a cable company. I definitely plan to cancel.


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## b4pjoe

I bought the ad-free plan before it launched for a discounted yearly price. I found during that year I hardly ever watched anything on it so canceled when it came due again at a NOT discounted. Wouldn't have kept it at the discounted price either.The only way I would consider it again is if all of their prime time shows were shown next day. Not next week like The Blacklist and several others. I'd also need to be able to stream the local NBC channel like Paramount+ does with the CBS local. Disney+ is next on my chopping block. I signed up for the 3 year discount before it launched. Disney would need the ABC local station and prime time ABC shows next day before I would consider it again.


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## harsh

the2130 said:


> I decided to launch some of their shows and movies to see which ones have commercial breaks, and now all of those programs are on my "Continue Watching" list with no way to remove them.


Which app are you using (what platform)?

Have you tried a long press on the title?


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## NashGuy

b4pjoe said:


> I bought the ad-free plan before it launched for a discounted yearly price. I found during that year I hardly ever watched anything on it so canceled when it came due again at a NOT discounted. Wouldn't have kept it at the discounted price either.The only way I would consider it again is if all of their prime time shows were shown next day. Not next week like The Blacklist and several others. I'd also need to be able to stream the local NBC channel like Paramount+ does with the CBS local. Disney+ is next on my chopping block. I signed up for the 3 year discount before it launched. Disney would need the ABC local station and prime time ABC shows next day before I would consider it again.


Which other NBC shows besides The Blacklist don't show up next-day on Peacock? (Not saying that there aren't any, I'm just wondering.)

As for getting ABC shows next-day, well, Disney directs those to Hulu (along with next-day access to shows from their FX, FXX, and Freeform cable nets). Only way I ever see that shifting to Disney+ is if they end up just making Hulu a non-optional content hub inside of Disney+, the way that they have Star as a content hub inside D+ in certain overseas markets.

But I do think it makes sense for Hulu's base tier to include a live stream of the local ABC station, as Paramount+'s premium tier does for CBS stations. (It would be technically trivial to do, given that Hulu's Live TV add-on already has all those ABC stations integrated.) My guess is that the reason they don't do that is because of the live sports that ABC stations carry, e.g. Saturday college football. While ViacomCBS is putting both entertainment and sports content into Paramount+, Disney's strategy has been to separate sports content out to ESPN+.


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## NashGuy

b4pjoe said:


> Just putting this here since it is the most recent Peacock thread.
> 
> Peacock Reportedly Planning Major Changes to Service


Peacock will get a shot in the arm next year given that first-run rights for Universal's theatrical films will shift from HBO to Peacock. Well, they're going to divide up the pay-one window so that 120 days after those films debut in theaters they will be exclusively on Peacock for 4 months. After that, it looks like their live-action films shift over to Prime Video for 10 months while the animated films shift to Netflix for that period. Then both shift back to Peacock (I think) for the final 4 months of the pay-one window.

So NBCU is kinda hedging their bets. They want to invest in Peacock _somewhat_ to make it more attractive but they aren't willing to keep their films on it for the entirety of the pay-one period. Instead, they're taking some cash from the two biggest streamers, which makes sense, because they're the ones that are the least directly competitive with Peacock (as opposed to Hulu, Paramount+, and HBO Max).

I continue to think that Peacock and Paramount+ are scrapping it out for last place in the streaming wars. (Never mind Apple TV+, which is following its own strategy; Apple can do whatever they want given the amount of money they have.) It's interesting that NBCU and ViacomCBS admitted that they'd be stronger together and are launching a joint-venture streamer called SkyShowtime in certain European markets. (Sky is NBCU's big premium cable network brand in the UK and Europe while Showtime, of course, is ViacomCBS's premium content brand.) There's been speculation about a possible merger of those two companies but it would be difficult from a regulatory perspective and would likely require them to spin off either NBC or CBS, as current law doesn't allow one company to own two major broadcast nets. But there's nothing precluding them from pooling their resources to combine Peacock and Paramount+ (and perhaps fold in Showtime too) in the US, as they're doing in Europe. But, of course, NBCU has already been down that road with their Hulu joint venture, which always suffered from a lack of clear direction when management essentially reported to multiple owners. Maybe they don't want to try that again.

At any rate, I'm doubtful that both Peacock and Paramount+ will continue to exist a few years from now. One of them will end up getting absorbed into a bigger player, probably because the parent company will be acquired/merged. Discovery has hinted that they might be looking for additional M&A action after they merge with Warner next year, so I could easily see either Peacock or Paramount+ getting absorbed into HBO Max, with the other one relegated to also-ran status. (Perhaps it would end up folding in some other niche players like AMC, Lionsgate and/or Hallmark.)

Other than a tie-up between NBCU and ViacomCBS, or a between DiscoveryWarner and one of them, it's hard to imagine another plausible merger. Disney and Netflix are both already so big in video entertainment that they wouldn't be allowed such a major acquisition. Same is probably true of Amazon. I don't think Apple is interested. Google? Seems a stretch.


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## B. Shoe

I'm just picking on one spot of the linked story above, but it NBC needs to hit a home run with whatever it does different with Winter Olympics coverage on Peacock. The recent Summer Olympics were supposed to be a big draw/lead-in for customers to the service, and it didn't fare well at all. A lot of confusion about live events/coverage (which is broader than just the online platform), and what felt like an extremely high frequency of ads jammed into Peacock's broadcasts. I used Peacock for about five days before shifting to my NBC Sports App access for online coverage of the games.

If NBC is able to negotiate as they did for Beijing 2008, primetime coverage could again be live medal events held in the morning in Beijing, which would obviously play well for NBC. The Winter Olympics will go against a now later Super Bowl week/Super Bowl during the middle of the Olympics schedule, along with NBA All-Star Weekend and the Daytona 500 on the final weekend.


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## harsh

I suspect a big part of the Olympics coverage had to do with the fact that most of the competitor's families were not allowed to attend. To support those families, I think they tried to offer everything live if they could and it really put a stick in the spokes for those who didn't need to watch live.


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## billsharpe

b4pjoe said:


> You sure you watched B Positve on Peacock? That is a CBS show and streams on Paramount+.


You are absolutely right. I also subscribe to Paramount+. I did watch a few NBC shows on Peacock and did not notice any ads during my three=month free sub.


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## b4pjoe

NashGuy said:


> Which other NBC shows besides The Blacklist don't show up next-day on Peacock? (Not saying that there aren't any, I'm just wondering.)
> 
> As for getting ABC shows next-day, well, Disney directs those to Hulu (along with next-day access to shows from their FX, FXX, and Freeform cable nets). Only way I ever see that shifting to Disney+ is if they end up just making Hulu a non-optional content hub inside of Disney+, the way that they have Star as a content hub inside D+ in certain overseas markets.
> 
> But I do think it makes sense for Hulu's base tier to include a live stream of the local ABC station, as Paramount+'s premium tier does for CBS stations. (It would be technically trivial to do, given that Hulu's Live TV add-on already has all those ABC stations integrated.) My guess is that the reason they don't do that is because of the live sports that ABC stations carry, e.g. Saturday college football. While ViacomCBS is putting both entertainment and sports content into Paramount+, Disney's strategy has been to separate sports content out to ESPN+.


Well it has been awhile since I last checked but at that time I think Dateline wasn't available next day. These days the only regular thing I watch on NBC is The Blacklist and Sunday Night Football.

I'd be fine with getting Hulu if it had the ABC local and next day access to prime time shows. Disney+ has almost nothing that interests me. No young kids to worry about their content and I've never been a Star Wars, Pixar, or Marvel fan. When they offered the 3 year discount before launch I took it figuring I could find something that I would watch but not really other than some NatGeo shows that does not show current run episodes. Usually at least a season behind. Life Below Zero is one example of that with the current season being on the NAT GEO app but you have to have a provider login to watch and your forced to watch commercials.


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## the2130

harsh said:


> Which app are you using (what platform)?
> 
> Have you tried a long press on the title?


I mostly use the Android app on my tablet. And no, a long press doesn't do anything. It's just a poorly designed app.


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## the2130

NashGuy said:


> Peacock will get a shot in the arm next year given that first-run rights for Universal's theatrical films will shift from HBO to Peacock. Well, they're going to divide up the pay-one window so that 120 days after those films debut in theaters they will be exclusively on Peacock for 4 months. After that, it looks like their live-action films shift over to Prime Video for 10 months while the animated films shift to Netflix for that period. Then both shift back to Peacock (I think) for the final 4 months of the pay-one window.
> 
> So NBCU is kinda hedging their bets. They want to invest in Peacock _somewhat_ to make it more attractive but they aren't willing to keep their films on it for the entirety of the pay-one period. Instead, they're taking some cash from the two biggest streamers, which makes sense, because they're the ones that are the least directly competitive with Peacock (as opposed to Hulu, Paramount+, and HBO Max).
> 
> I continue to think that Peacock and Paramount+ are scrapping it out for last place in the streaming wars. (Never mind Apple TV+, which is following its own strategy; Apple can do whatever they want given the amount of money they have.) It's interesting that NBCU and ViacomCBS admitted that they'd be stronger together and are launching a joint-venture streamer called SkyShowtime in certain European markets. (Sky is NBCU's big premium cable network brand in the UK and Europe while Showtime, of course, is ViacomCBS's premium content brand.) There's been speculation about a possible merger of those two companies but it would be difficult from a regulatory perspective and would likely require them to spin off either NBC or CBS, as current law doesn't allow one company to own two major broadcast nets. But there's nothing precluding them from pooling their resources to combine Peacock and Paramount+ (and perhaps fold in Showtime too) in the US, as they're doing in Europe. But, of course, NBCU has already been down that road with their Hulu joint venture, which always suffered from a lack of clear direction when management essentially reported to multiple owners. Maybe they don't want to try that again.
> 
> At any rate, I'm doubtful that both Peacock and Paramount+ will continue to exist a few years from now. One of them will end up getting absorbed into a bigger player, probably because the parent company will be acquired/merged. Discovery has hinted that they might be looking for additional M&A action after they merge with Warner next year, so I could easily see either Peacock or Paramount+ getting absorbed into HBO Max, with the other one relegated to also-ran status. (Perhaps it would end up folding in some other niche players like AMC, Lionsgate and/or Hallmark.)
> 
> Other than a tie-up between NBCU and ViacomCBS, or a between DiscoveryWarner and one of them, it's hard to imagine another plausible merger. Disney and Netflix are both already so big in video entertainment that they wouldn't be allowed such a major acquisition. Same is probably true of Amazon. I don't think Apple is interested. Google? Seems a stretch.


I'm not sure how much of a shot in the arm those Universal movies will be with Amazon getting the movies just 4 months after Peacock. With half the population subscribing to Amazon Prime, most subscribers will probably just wait for the movies to show up there.


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## James Long

harsh said:


> I suspect a big part of the Olympics coverage had to do with the fact that most of the competitor's families were not allowed to attend. To support those families, I think they tried to offer everything live if they could and it really put a stick in the spokes for those who didn't need to watch live.


I suspect we will have the same attendance issues in a few months. I will be happy to be wrong.


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## harsh

James Long said:


> I suspect we will have the same attendance issues in a few months. I will be happy to be wrong.


Since wearing masks isn't all that difficult when the temperature is around freezing, I'm hoping they allow many of the families to attend.


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## NashGuy

b4pjoe said:


> Well it has been awhile since I last checked but at that time I think Dateline wasn't available next day. These days the only regular thing I watch on NBC is The Blacklist and Sunday Night Football.
> 
> I'd be fine with getting Hulu if it had the ABC local and next day access to prime time shows. Disney+ has almost nothing that interests me. No young kids to worry about their content and I've never been a Star Wars, Pixar, or Marvel fan. When they offered the 3 year discount before launch I took it figuring I could find something that I would watch but not really other than some NatGeo shows that does not show current run episodes. Usually at least a season behind. Life Below Zero is one example of that with the current season being on the NAT GEO app but you have to have a provider login to watch and your forced to watch commercials.


I think The Blacklist has been an exception among NBC shows for awhile because its episodes haven't been going next-day to Hulu or Peacock or even the cable-authenticated NBC app for a long while now, maybe ever. I think they lag by a week or so. Maybe has something to do with the longstanding deal in place to send completed seasons of the show to Netflix?

As for Dateline, Peacock shows that it adds new episodes weekly and I can see that the most recent episode, which aired on NBC last Fri. 10/1, is on Peacock. I can't see why it wouldn't be available next-day, as the show is completely owned by NBCU.

Peacock does stream NBC's Sunday Night Football live but they don't offer on-demand replays of it. Looks like they only do that for certain foreign sports like rugby.

Hulu definitely offers ABC's primetime non-sports shows on-demand in the early hours of the following day. But there's no live feed of your local ABC station. But aside from sports, the only thing you'd be missing is their local news, which might be available via their own free app or a local news aggregator app like NewsOn.

I'm with you on Disney+. No kids here and that service has very little content that appeals to me as I'm not really into Star Wars or Marvel stuff. I'm glad that they break out Hulu as a separate service rather than lumping it together with Disney+ into a single, more expensive offering. Although it won't surprise me if they do that eventually. We'll see...


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## NashGuy

the2130 said:


> I'm not sure how much of a shot in the arm those Universal movies will be with Amazon getting the movies just 4 months after Peacock. With half the population subscribing to Amazon Prime, most subscribers will probably just wait for the movies to show up there.


Having recent theatrical movies on Peacock, and getting them before any other service, will still help raise Peacock's profile and appeal somewhat. But yeah, it won't have as much impact as it otherwise would since they'll be passed along to Prime Video four months later. Sort of a question of how long do you want to wait to watch a new movie? See it right away in the theater, or wait maybe three months and rent it on-demand, or wait four months and see it on Peacock, or wait eight months and see it on Prime?


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## b4pjoe

NashGuy said:


> I think The Blacklist has been an exception among NBC shows for awhile because its episodes haven't been going next-day to Hulu or Peacock or even the cable-authenticated NBC app for a long while now, maybe ever. I think they lag by a week or so. Maybe has something to do with the longstanding deal in place to send completed seasons of the show to Netflix?
> 
> *As for Dateline, Peacock shows that it adds new episodes weekly and I can see that the most recent episode, which aired on NBC last Fri. 10/1, is on Peacock. I can't see why it wouldn't be available next-day, as the show is completely owned by NBCU.*
> 
> Peacock does stream NBC's Sunday Night Football live but they don't offer on-demand replays of it. Looks like they only do that for certain foreign sports like rugby.
> 
> Hulu definitely offers ABC's primetime non-sports shows on-demand in the early hours of the following day. But there's no live feed of your local ABC station. But aside from sports, the only thing you'd be missing is their local news, which might be available via their own free app or a local news aggregator app like NewsOn.
> 
> I'm with you on Disney+. No kids here and that service has very little content that appeals to me as I'm not really into Star Wars or Marvel stuff. I'm glad that they break out Hulu as a separate service rather than lumping it together with Disney+ into a single, more expensive offering. Although it won't surprise me if they do that eventually. We'll see...


Yes you can watch The Blacklist on the cable-authenticated NBC app next day but you are forced to watch ads. Pretty sure it was early last fall season where I wanted to watch a specific episode of dateline but it didn't get to Peacock for a week but it was on the cable-authenticated NBC app next day with forced ads just like The Blacklist. That might have changed in the last year though. I canceled Peacock a few months ago anyway because there just isn't much on NBC that I watch and I found their other stuff didn't really interest me.


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## NashGuy

b4pjoe said:


> Yes you can watch The Blacklist on the cable-authenticated NBC app next day but you are forced to watch ads. Pretty sure it was early last fall season where I wanted to watch a specific episode of dateline but it didn't get to Peacock for a week but it was on the cable-authenticated NBC app next day with forced ads just like The Blacklist. That might have changed in the last year though. I canceled Peacock a few months ago anyway because there just isn't much on NBC that I watch and I found their other stuff didn't really interest me.


Hmm, maybe that episode of Dateline not showing up next-day was a fluke or maybe you were on the free tier of Peacock at that point. To the extent that current NBC shows are available on the free tier of Peacock, I think they're on a one-week lag, whereas they show up next-day on the paid premium tier (same as they do on Hulu). This article had the run-down for last year's 2020-21 NBC season.

I get Peacock Premium for free via Comcast broadband. I wouldn't pay for it but I have found a few things on there to watch. The ad breaks are mercifully short. As for NBC itself, the last primetime series I watched on it was Superstore, which is now done. Only stuff I care about on NBC now is SNL, the evening news, and occasionally Meet the Press. I DVR all three from my OTA antenna. At times when I have Hulu ad-free (like now), if I don't catch SNL as it airs live, then I watch it next-day on Hulu since it has much better HD picture quality than NBC OTA, plus there are no ads to FF through as in the DVR recording.


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## the2130

Most of the NBC primetime shows are still streaming the next day on Hulu, including new shows this fall. That deal will change eventually, but it's still in place at this time.


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## b4pjoe

NashGuy said:


> Hmm, maybe that episode of Dateline not showing up next-day was a fluke or *maybe you were on the free tier of Peacock at that point*. To the extent that current NBC shows are available on the free tier of Peacock, I think they're on a one-week lag, whereas they show up next-day on the paid premium tier (same as they do on Hulu). This article had the run-down for last year's 2020-21 NBC season.
> 
> I get Peacock Premium for free via Comcast broadband. I wouldn't pay for it but I have found a few things on there to watch. The ad breaks are mercifully short. As for NBC itself, the last primetime series I watched on it was Superstore, which is now done. Only stuff I care about on NBC now is SNL, the evening news, and occasionally Meet the Press. I DVR all three from my OTA antenna. At times when I have Hulu ad-free (like now), if I don't catch SNL as it airs live, then I watch it next-day on Hulu since it has much better HD picture quality than NBC OTA, plus there are no ads to FF through as in the DVR recording.


No I was on the premium tier at that time. I just let that expire about a month or two ago.


----------



## NashGuy

the2130 said:


> Most of the NBC primetime shows are still streaming the next day on Hulu, including new shows this fall. That deal will change eventually, but it's still in place at this time.


Yeah. When Comcast/NBCU and Disney struck their deal to give full control of Hulu to the latter, Variety reported that "by 2022, NBCUniversal will have the right to cancel most of its content-licensing agreements with Hulu." Given that most of what NBCU licenses to Hulu is next-day access to the five most recent eps of their shows, it sounds like we might see that disappear around this time next year, when the 2022-23 broadcast TV season begins. Although, just because they can do that doesn't mean they will. (It'll come down to whether they want more licensing money from Hulu/Disney or want to make Peacock Premium more competitive by making it the exclusive streaming home of current NBC shows.) I certainly expect next-day NBC shows to exit Hulu by the end of 2024, though, because that's when all current licensing deals between NBCU and Hulu expire. Comcast will likely have sold out their remaining stake in Hulu to Disney by that point too.


----------



## the2130

b4pjoe said:


> Yes you can watch The Blacklist on the cable-authenticated NBC app next day but you are forced to watch ads.


There's an easy workaround for that. You could use Playon or a similar app to record the stream with a web browser and then skip the commercials when you watch it.


----------



## James Long

As long as the solution does not take more time and effort than the problem.


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## the2130

Yes, you have to weigh the time and effort to record the programs against the time wasted (and aggravation involved) in sitting through commercials, but in most cases it's not even a close call. I've recorded entire seasons of shows with Playon with minimal effort.


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## James Long

Peacock makes it easy with the circle on the screen counting down the number of seconds until the interruption ends. I just hit mute at the beginning of each break and wait for the counter to hit zero. Knowing exactly how long the break will be at the beginning I may take the opportunity to stretch my legs, empty my bladder or get a refill of my drink or food. A lot better than the ad breaks of unknown length seen on regular TV (is this a three minute break or four ... skip forward a few times AHH it was a two minute break ... skip back a few times). Recording and editing on another device before viewing is a step that takes more time than I'm willing to give.

As long as the commercials are inserted at "good points" in the programming (generally where the show's writer knows that the audience will be leaving for a minute or more and writes the break into the action) I don't find commercials to be extremely intrusive and the mute option works well. Breaks where no break was written in are more intrusive. I was watching a TV show produced for ad supported TV on an "ad free" binge a couple days ago and was thrown off by the immediate return to the show after a build up to the commercial break. I almost NEEDED a commercial as part of enjoying the show. Almost. I was happy not to need to use the mute or skip buttons. But there were a couple of times that after the big build up to the break I hit pause and took my own break, regardless of the availability of commercials.


----------



## NashGuy

b4pjoe said:


> No I was on the premium tier at that time. I just let that expire about a month or two ago.


Well, FWIW, just as a follow-up, I checked Peacock Premium yesterday (Sat.) morning for the new episode of Dateline, which had aired on NBC the night before (Fri). It wasn't there, even though it was available to stream from NBC's cable-authenticated site. Normally new NBC episodes are available on Peacock next-day. But I checked again just now (Sunday afternoon, so less than 48 hours after the new Dateline episode aired) and it's now available on Peacock.

So IDK, maybe Dateline is a special exception and its eps don't appear on Peacock until 24 hours, or maybe 36 hours, after airing on NBC? No idea why they'd do that given that no outside company is involved in the ownership, production or distribution of the show. So NBCU can do whatever they want with it on their own platforms.

I also checked Hulu and it looks like Dateline isn't available at all on that service, unless you have the Hulu live cable TV add-on, which incorporates the NBC cable-authenticated on-demand platform.


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## b4pjoe

I guess I am looking for the network streaming holy grail. If I could get all 4 major networks via streaming like Paramount Plus does it I could cut the cord easily. They have their shows available same night in addition to the fact they have the local channel live. I still have DirecTV so I can record and ff through commercials but Paramount+ has spoiled me. I watch all of the CBS shows I care about via Paramount+ just because there are no commercials that I have to ff through. With the other 3 networks I have to record and ff through the commercials. The horror...


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## NashGuy

b4pjoe said:


> I guess I am looking for the network streaming holy grail. If I could get all 4 major networks via streaming like Paramount Plus does it I could cut the cord easily. They have their shows available same night in addition to the fact they have the local channel live. I still have DirecTV so I can record and ff through commercials but Paramount+ has spoiled me. I watch all of the CBS shows I care about via Paramount+ just because there are no commercials that I have to ff through. With the other 3 networks I have to record and ff through the commercials. The horror...


I assume that you can't get good reception of your local stations with an OTA antenna, which you could pair with a DVR solution (e.g. Channels, Plex, Tablo, TiVo)? I do have an OTA DVR but honestly find little worth watching on the broadcast networks any more. But aside from that, a combo of ad-free Hulu, ad-free Paramount+, and the free PBS app covers nearly everything from the major nets and without ads. I don't see the big deal in waiting a day or so after something airs in order to stream it.


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## b4pjoe

Correct. OTA is not an option. Locals are 80 miles away. I don't have an issue waiting a day. I work nights so I catch up on the weekend. But the wife wants no part of waiting for a day unless it is something she records on the DVR.


----------



## the2130

b4pjoe said:


> I guess I am looking for the network streaming holy grail. If I could get all 4 major networks via streaming like Paramount Plus does it I could cut the cord easily. They have their shows available same night in addition to the fact they have the local channel live. I still have DirecTV so I can record and ff through commercials but Paramount+ has spoiled me. I watch all of the CBS shows I care about via Paramount+ just because there are no commercials that I have to ff through. With the other 3 networks I have to record and ff through the commercials. The horror...


CBS primetime shows are not available the same night on Paramount+. They stream the next day.


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## James Long

the2130 said:


> CBS primetime shows are not available the same night on Paramount+. They stream the next day.


I thought they offered the local channel via live linear streaming in select markets? Not my market, of course.


----------



## the2130

James Long said:


> I thought they offered the local channel via live linear streaming in select markets? Not my market, of course.


Yes, that's true. But then you are watching the live feed of the local CBS affiliate. You not only get all the commercials, but also the on-screen graphics promoting the local news and other stuff like that. And you have to watch it on the linear schedule.


----------



## b4pjoe

the2130 said:


> CBS primetime shows are not available the same night on Paramount+. They stream the next day.


Well when the Primetime shows are on CBS by the time I get home at 11:00 pm Central time they are on Paramount+. They are on there about 4 hours after the shows air. For example the 60 Minutes that aired at 6:00 pm Central time tonight is available on Paramount+ right now.


----------



## NashGuy

James Long said:


> I thought they offered the local channel via live linear streaming in select markets? Not my market, of course.


You're in one of the unlucky few markets, I guess. Paramount+ (the premium tier) carries the live local CBS station "in 99% of the United States" per their support site. Looks like they've got 206 local affiliates on board.

Paramount+ Help Center


----------



## billsharpe

I've been watching Sunday Morning on Paramount+ for sometime now on Sunday afternoon. It's nice to get through this 90-minute show in a little over an hour without having to fast forward. The nature feature at the end of the show is sometimes shortened, but Paramount+ offers a full 2 minutes or more of it in the "extras" list for the program.

We had previously recorded Sunday Morning on VCR tapes back in the Charles Kuralt days and DVR recordings before signing up with CBS All Access.


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## James Long

NashGuy said:


> You're in one of the unlucky few markets, I guess. Paramount+ (the premium tier) carries the live local CBS station "in 99% of the United States" per their support site. Looks like they've got 206 local affiliates on board.
> 
> Paramount+ Help Center


It looks like they added my market when I wasn't looking.


----------



## the2130

James Long said:


> Peacock makes it easy with the circle on the screen counting down the number of seconds until the interruption ends. I just hit mute at the beginning of each break and wait for the counter to hit zero. Knowing exactly how long the break will be at the beginning I may take the opportunity to stretch my legs, empty my bladder or get a refill of my drink or food. A lot better than the ad breaks of unknown length seen on regular TV (is this a three minute break or four ... skip forward a few times AHH it was a two minute break ... skip back a few times). Recording and editing on another device before viewing is a step that takes more time than I'm willing to give.


Yes, it's nice to know how long a commercial is going to run. Paramount+ does that with the promo spots that run before shows, and Hulu's ads that run in before and after shows are only 15 seconds. I really just don't like paying extra for an ad-free tier and having ads that interrupt the programs. It may not be as bad as I first thought on Peacock - it appears that there are no commercial breaks in the NBC shows that stream next-day, or in the Peacock originals. I also checked a few other shows like "The Office" and didn't find any commercials. On the other hand, there are a ton of older movies that have ads, and there doesn't appear to be any way to know which ones have ads without launching them and checking the progress bar for break points, after which they will be in the "Continue Watching" section with no easy way to remove them. I really didn't sign up for Peacock to watch older movies, so that isn't a huge deal, but they really should label them as "free with ads" to make it easy to identify those movies and shows that have ads.

As to your comment about recording and editing on another device, editing isn't really necessary. When I record shows with Playon, I just copy the files to one of the Plex folders on my PC (or record directly to a Plex folder) and it's ready to view on any of my devices, including my TV. Plex handles the episode naming and numbering and imports program details from online databases. And if there are commercial breaks, I use the 30-second skip in the Plex client app to bypass them. Since most commercial breaks are in increments of 30 seconds, it's pretty simple to skip the ads. And if you overshoot the point where the program resumes, you can skip back in 10-second increments. All things considered, it's only slightly more trouble than recording with a DVR. I once recorded all 1225 episodes of "Dark Shadows" and put them on my Plex server for later viewing.


----------



## NashGuy

b4pjoe said:


> But the wife wants no part of waiting for a day unless it is something she records on the DVR.


Tell her that if she's willing to wait the next day and stream it on ad-free Hulu, Paramount+ or Peacock, then she'll get better picture quality and won't have to bother with fast forwarding through ads like on a DVR recording. I remember the first time I watched SNL on Hulu as opposed to my local NBC station (even getting it OTA, not through overly compressed cable), I was astounded how much better it looked. FX has even begun streaming most of their shows in 4K next-day on Hulu.

Also there's no risk of missing parts of shows due to severe weather coverage (which happens a lot here in tornado-prone Middle TN). Nor do you have to put up with obnoxious on-screen graphics promoting other shows or local station crawlers with news updates, election returns, etc. It's a much more pleasant viewing experience to stream shows on-demand rather than watch on linear channel TV, IMO.


----------



## Mike Lang

Even what we think is ad free is really content with strategic product placement. There's no avoiding it.


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## James Long

Mike Lang said:


> Even what we think is ad free is really content with strategic product placement. There's no avoiding it.


Do you mean all those cigarette signs in the Superman movie were intentional?


----------



## the2130

NashGuy said:


> Tell her that if she's willing to wait the next day and stream it on ad-free Hulu, Paramount+ or Peacock, then she'll get better picture quality and won't have to bother with fast forwarding through ads like on a DVR recording. I remember the first time I watched SNL on Hulu as opposed to my local NBC station (even getting it OTA, not through overly compressed cable), I was astounded how much better it looked. FX has even begun streaming most of their shows in 4K next-day on Hulu.
> 
> Also there's no risk of missing parts of shows due to severe weather coverage (which happens a lot here in tornado-prone Middle TN). Nor do you have to put up with obnoxious on-screen graphics promoting other shows or local station crawlers with news updates, election returns, etc. It's a much more pleasant viewing experience to stream shows on-demand rather than watch on linear channel TV, IMO.


That's how we watch almost all of the network shows we follow. Even though most of them are still set to record on the DVR, we stream them instead. It's a much better viewing experience. The networks and local stations have gotten so aggressive with their channel bugs and other graphics overlays during shows, it's just annoying to watch. It's nice to have to have ad-free, next-day streaming as an alternative.


----------



## b4pjoe

NashGuy said:


> Tell her that if she's willing to wait the next day and stream it on ad-free Hulu, Paramount+ or Peacock, then she'll get better picture quality and won't have to bother with fast forwarding through ads like on a DVR recording. I remember the first time I watched SNL on Hulu as opposed to my local NBC station (even getting it OTA, not through overly compressed cable), I was astounded how much better it looked. FX has even begun streaming most of their shows in 4K next-day on Hulu.
> 
> Also there's no risk of missing parts of shows due to severe weather coverage (which happens a lot here in tornado-prone Middle TN). Nor do you have to put up with obnoxious on-screen graphics promoting other shows or local station crawlers with news updates, election returns, etc. It's a much more pleasant viewing experience to stream shows on-demand rather than watch on linear channel TV, IMO.


Yep. Been down that road. She doesn't like having to switch HDMI inputs and finding the app on her Amazon Cube. She does it if she has too but she is used to her DirecTV. But still whines about rain fade.  I watch all of the shows ad free on streaming that I can.


----------



## NashGuy

b4pjoe said:


> Yep. Been down that road. She doesn't like having to switch HDMI inputs and finding the app on her Amazon Cube. She does it if she has too but she is used to her DirecTV. But still whines about rain fade.  I watch all of the shows ad free on streaming that I can.


Ah, but if you dropped satellite/cable, then your streaming device would be the only thing she'd be watching through. So no switching inputs or remotes.

Some of her resistance may come down to the unavailability of certain cable content via on-demand streaming services (at least without having to wait several months). That's mainly only true, though, when it comes to sports and cable news talk shows. But it sounds like a lot of it in her case is just being used to watching TV a certain way (DirecTV) and not wanting to have to adjust to a different way (multiple streaming apps). Which is fair. People like what they like and if they're willing to pay what it costs, then OK. Hard for me to see the value proposition in cable vs. streaming, though, unless you're on cable for the sports.


----------



## b4pjoe

NashGuy said:


> Ah, but if you dropped satellite/cable, then your streaming device would be the only thing she'd be watching through. So no switching inputs or remotes.
> 
> Some of her resistance may come down to the unavailability of certain cable content via on-demand streaming services (at least without having to wait several months). That's mainly only true, though, when it comes to sports and cable news talk shows. But it sounds like a lot of it in her case is just being used to watching TV a certain way (DirecTV) and not wanting to have to adjust to a different way (multiple streaming apps). Which is fair. People like what they like and if they're willing to pay what it costs, then OK. Hard for me to see the value proposition in cable vs. streaming, though, unless you're on cable for the sports.


Yeah most of what she watches is the 4 major networks prime time shows. That is why I would like to see all 4 networks operate like Paramount+. I would not need a cable/sat/or streaming service like DirecTV Stream, Hulu Live TV, or Youtube TV. Doubt if I ever see that though.


----------



## NashGuy

b4pjoe said:


> Yeah most of what she watches is the 4 major networks prime time shows. That is why I would like to see all 4 networks operate like Paramount+. I would not need a cable/sat/or streaming service like DirecTV Stream, Hulu Live TV, or Youtube TV. Doubt if I ever see that though.


Well, once again, nearly all of the ABC, Fox and NBC primetime shows are on Hulu next-day, along with a whole lot of additional stuff. Get it ad-free for $13/mo. And get Paramount+ ad-free (with live local CBS) for another $10/mo. Total of $23/mo is a heck of a lot less than YTTV's $65/mo. If you prepaid for a year of the Paramount+ premium plan ($100), your total annual cost for it and Hulu ad-free combined would be $524 cheaper than a year of YTTV.

You should see if you could talk her into pausing the DTV subscription for a month and trying to do just those two services (plus whatever other streaming subscriptions you normally do), doing everything through your Fire TV cube.


----------



## the2130

b4pjoe said:


> Yep. Been down that road. She doesn't like having to switch HDMI inputs and finding the app on her Amazon Cube. She does it if she has too but she is used to her DirecTV. But still whines about rain fade.  I watch all of the shows ad free on streaming that I can.


If you have an Internet-connected smart TV, there shouldn't be any need to switch HDMI inputs. The streaming apps can be can be accessed directly from the TV.


----------



## the2130

Mike Lang said:


> Even what we think is ad free is really content with strategic product placement. There's no avoiding it.


Product placement in TV shows and movies is in no way comparable to commercials.


----------



## James Long

the2130 said:


> Product placement in TV shows and movies is in no way comparable to commercials.


Everything is comparable. Not everything is of equal pain. Some would argue "product placement" is worse when it disrupts the dialog and action during the show.

If you have seen the Truman movie there were blatant product placements where the characters highlighted a product including one where Truman noticed his wife rambling on about a product and asked "who are you talking to?" I laughed at that fictional excess but wasn't laughing when Hawaii-Five O did a product placement for Subway where a main character pushed the quality and value of those sandwiches while sitting at the food truck featured as part of the show (the food truck the character owned!). Not only was it a long period of off topic non-plot advancing garbage pushing a product it was a betrayal of the characters. (The second most obvious product placement on the show were the cars ... a lot of chase scenes with the same kind of beauty shots one sees in a car commercial.) There are a lot of logo placements in shows. Pro tip: If you see a brand name on screen (logo not obscured) someone probably paid to put it there.

I'd rather have commercials than force writers change the plot of the shows I watch. But everyone has their pet peeves.


----------



## harsh

NashGuy said:


> Ah, but if you dropped satellite/cable, then your streaming device would be the only thing she'd be watching through. So no switching inputs or remotes.


Trading switching HDMI inputs for half dozen substantially different apps isn't necessarily a win.


----------



## the2130

James Long said:


> Everything is comparable. Not everything is of equal pain. Some would argue "product placement" is worse when it disrupts the dialog and action during the show.
> 
> If you have seen the Truman movie there were blatant product placements where the characters highlighted a product including one where Truman noticed his wife rambling on about a product and asked "who are you talking to?" I laughed at that fictional excess but wasn't laughing when Hawaii-Five O did a product placement for Subway where a main character pushed the quality and value of those sandwiches while sitting at the food truck featured as part of the show (the food truck the character owned!). Not only was it a long period of off topic non-plot advancing garbage pushing a product it was a betrayal of the characters. (The second most obvious product placement on the show were the cars ... a lot of chase scenes with the same kind of beauty shots one sees in a car commercial.) There are a lot of logo placements in shows. Pro tip: If you see a brand name on screen (logo not obscured) someone probably paid to put it there.
> 
> I'd rather have commercials than force writers change the plot of the shows I watch. But everyone has their pet peeves.


It sounds like product placement is a much bigger deal for you than it is for me. When I see name-brand products in programs, like the HP logo on computer equipment in "The Office", it's obvious a company is paying for that, but it really doesn't bother me as long as it doesn't interfere with the story. After all, the story is about people working in an office who happen to be using PCs. There are more blatant examples, like the ones you mentioned, but I tend to just ignore stuff like that as long as it fits in with the story. We all have our pet peeves - for me, it's commercials that interrupt the programming and can't be skipped.


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## NashGuy

harsh said:


> Trading switching HDMI inputs for half dozen substantially different apps isn't necessarily a win.


And on cable TV, you have the hassle of shuffling through all those channels, plus managing your DVR. Honestly, it's just what you get used to.


----------



## billsharpe

We have had Verizon/Frontier FiOS for over seven years and have become quite comfortable with the service. I did buy a Roku TV set four years ago and have subscribed to a few streaming services. We're not quite willing to give up the convenience of cable TV just yet. I may give Hulu with Live TV a try before ditching the cable. We already have Paramount+.


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## harsh

the2130 said:


> There are more blatant examples, like the ones you mentioned, but I tend to just ignore stuff like that as long as it fits in with the story.


Apple gives away tons of equipment for product placement and I've never been perturbed or influenced by any of it.


----------



## NashGuy

b4pjoe said:


> Yeah most of what she watches is the 4 major networks prime time shows. That is why I would like to see all 4 networks operate like Paramount+. I would not need a cable/sat/or streaming service like DirecTV Stream, Hulu Live TV, or Youtube TV. Doubt if I ever see that though.


Another thought: can you get a basic TV package from your broadband provider that includes just your local broadcast channels? That's usually an option from cable operators, although often not from telco/fiber operators like AT&T, Verizon or Frontier. Comcast has a package called Basic that includes the local channels, in HD if broadcast that way, plus cloud DVR service with 20 hours of storage. The incremental cost to add it to standalone broadband, including the broadcast TV fee, is an extra $25-30 per month. (It varies, because the broadcast TV fee varies from one area to another.) You can stream it through their app for Roku, Fire TV, etc. for no additional cost.

For a similar price, Charter offers something similar, except it also includes your pick of 10 cable channels. But no DVR service.
Spectrum TV Choice review: A la carte TV for cord-cutters, but at a cost | TechHive


----------



## b4pjoe

That article is a couple of years old. My local TV cable company is Charter/Spectrum. Right now they have "TV Stream". Stream 25+ channels including live local broadcasts and watch thousands of On Demand titles. No cable box required. $24.99 per month. Then you get into the fine print.

On top of that $24.99 per month charge is another $12.95 Broadcast TV Charge per month that explains "The Broadcast TV Surcharge is a fee by the owners of local broadcast "network-affiliated," TV stations (affiliates of CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, and so on). The fee enables Spectrum to continue to offer these channels for our customers." So now it becomes $37.94 per month.

Then if you want Cloud DVR they have two plans:

Record up to 50 shows and save them for 90 days for $4.99 per month

Record up to 100 shows and save them for one year. for $9.99 per month

If you would like a dedicated HD box you can add that for $8.99 per month.

See where this is going? If I wanted the DVR option I'd have to get the $9.99 one so now that would put me at $47.93 which doesn't sound that bad until you realize you are only getting 25 channels.

And here are the 25 channels.

View attachment 31789


----------



## NashGuy

b4pjoe said:


> That article is a couple of years old. My local TV cable company is Charter/Spectrum. Right now they have "TV Stream". Stream 25+ channels including live local broadcasts and watch thousands of On Demand titles. No cable box required. $24.99 per month. Then you get into the fine print.
> 
> On top of that $24.99 per month charge is another $12.95 Broadcast TV Charge per month that explains "The Broadcast TV Surcharge is a fee by the owners of local broadcast "network-affiliated," TV stations (affiliates of CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, and so on). The fee enables Spectrum to continue to offer these channels for our customers." So now it becomes $37.94 per month.
> 
> Then if you want Cloud DVR they have two plans:
> 
> Record up to 50 shows and save them for 90 days for $4.99 per month
> 
> Record up to 100 shows and save them for one year. for $9.99 per month
> 
> If you would like a dedicated HD box you can add that for $8.99 per month.
> 
> See where this is going? If I wanted the DVR option I'd have to get the $9.99 one so now that would put me at $47.93 which doesn't sound that bad until you realize you are only getting 25 channels.
> 
> And here are the 25 channels.
> 
> View attachment 31789


Hmm, so the overall cost has gone up. But in the past, they didn't offer a cloud DVR option to go with it.

At any rate, you seemed to indicate that all you (or, rather, your wife) really care about on cable/satellite TV are your local broadcast channels. So you can get them, plus 10 cable channels that you may not watch, for $37.94, which has to be a fair amount less than you pay for DirecTV.

As for renting an HD box, why? Since this is a package available via streaming, just use the Spectrum app on your own device.

As for paying for cloud DVR, that may depend on whether you keep Hulu and Paramount+ subscriptions. If you do, then you can watch pretty much all the broadcast nets' shows on-demand the next day and for at least the next few weeks (with better PQ and without ads if you pay for the ad-free tier). Which renders the Spectrum cloud DVR largely superfluous.

Maybe Spectrum has a locals-only package (which requires their own TV adapter and remote), no cable channels, that costs less. As I say, Comcast does (and I thought all cable operators were required to offer such, although maybe not any more).

But at any rate, yeah, the cost to get your local broadcast channels isn't cheap. Unless you can get them for free with an antenna. But if watching network stuff on-demand (via Hulu, etc.) isn't good enough, and you have to have those live locals, well, you'll have to pay...


----------



## b4pjoe

Yeah I watch a lot of other channels than locals. I'd have to check Hulu again. When I had ad free there were a lot of TV shows that weren't on there at all.

I didn't add in the HD boxes to the price. I just listed it as $8.99 per month option.

And you are right that is a lot cheaper than DirecTV. If I lived alone I'd probably do that and keep Paramount+ and Discovery+ which I watch a lot of stuff on. And like I said I would have to take another look at Hulu ad free. All of those together would still be far cheaper than DirecTV sat. If like you say Hulu ad free would fill in most everything besides Paramount+ it might be an option. If not I would have to have the Cloud DVR as I work nights.


----------



## NashGuy

b4pjoe said:


> Yeah I watch a lot of other channels than locals. I'd have to check Hulu again. When I had ad free there were a lot of TV shows that weren't on there at all.
> 
> I didn't add in the HD boxes to the price. I just listed it as $8.99 per month option.
> 
> And you are right that is a lot cheaper than DirecTV. If I lived alone I'd probably do that and keep Paramount+ and Discovery+ which I watch a lot of stuff on. And like I said I would have to take another look at Hulu ad free. All of those together would still be far cheaper than DirecTV sat. If like you say Hulu ad free would fill in most everything besides Paramount+ it might be an option. If not I would have to have the Cloud DVR as I work nights.


Well, cable shows (outside of premium services) typically don't show up next-day on any of the SVODs. Exceptions are shows on FX, FXX, and Freeform, which come to Hulu. I think Discovery also experiments with putting some of their cable networks' new episodes on Discovery+ pretty quickly (e.g. within a week) but I think it varies from show to show.

Aside from that, the great majority of cable shows do end up on one SVOD or another after the season has finished airing on cable -- the entire season will become available at once, anywhere from a few weeks to several months later, on Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max, Peacock or Paramount+. But which service they go to doesn't always line up with which cable network it aired on.


----------



## the2130

NashGuy said:


> Well, cable shows (outside of premium services) typically don't show up next-day on any of the SVODs. Exceptions are shows on FX, FXX, and Freeform, which come to Hulu. I think Discovery also experiments with putting some of their cable networks' new episodes on Discovery+ pretty quickly (e.g. within a week) but I think it varies from show to show.
> 
> Aside from that, the great majority of cable shows do end up on one SVOD or another after the season has finished airing on cable -- the entire season will become available at once, anywhere from a few weeks to several months later, on Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max, Peacock or Paramount+. But which service they go to doesn't always line up with which cable network it aired on.


I don't mind waiting for an entire season of a show to appear on a streaming service. It's a better viewing experience - no ads interrupting the show, no graphics overlays on the screen, and I don't have to wait a week between episodes. For streaming shows that drop one episode per week, I usually wait until all episodes are available before watching.


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## NashGuy

NashGuy said:


> Well, cable shows (outside of premium services) typically don't show up next-day on any of the SVODs. Exceptions are shows on FX, FXX, and Freeform, which come to Hulu. I think Discovery also experiments with putting some of their cable networks' new episodes on Discovery+ pretty quickly (e.g. within a week) but I think it varies from show to show.


Just saw another exception today -- saw an ad for the new season of the Bravo show Project Runway which said that new eps stream next-day on Peacock. And I'd already read that that would be the case with the new season of Bravo's Below Decks. (A recent season of the show this summer actually debuted a week early on Peacock, before airing on Bravo, but that was a one-off deal.) I've never watched anything from Bravo -- not my cup o' tea -- but it looks like NBCU is gradually making it a next-day feeder for Peacock the way Disney has done with their FX and Freeform cable channels for Hulu. Wonder if we'll see NBCU also do it with scripted originals from their USA cable net?


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