In this week's rundown of recent news items for cord-cutters: Six classic sitcoms come to Amazon Prime Video, how to stream media from your PC to your HDTV, OTT viewers complete 98% of video ads, and more.
Amazon Prime Video is adding full seasons of six classic sitcoms from the 80s and 90s. Rolling out throughout the month of August will be "Roseanne" (9 seasons), "3rd Rock From the Sun" (6 seasons), "A Different World" (6 seasons), "Grace Under Fire" (5 seasons), "Cybill" (4 seasons), and "Grounded for Life" (5 seasons). All episodes wil available to Amazon Prime subscribers at no extra charge and can be streamed on the Amazon Video channel on Roku and through Amazon apps on other devices.
August is here, meaning football season is not far away. If you hate paying for expensive cable TV packages just to watch pro football, Michael Crider looks at "the cheapest ways to stream NFL football (even if you don't have cable)" in this How-To Geek article.
Looking for ways to stream media from your PC to your HDTV over Wi-Fi? PCWorld tells you how. The article explains how to set up a DLNA server on Windows, how to turn on media streaming, and how to enable your network-capable HDTV, Blu-ray player, game console, or set-top streaming box (such as a Roku) for receiving the streaming media.
CBS News reports that "[j]ust 3 percent of people in urban areas lack access to broadband, but in rural areas, 35 percent of people have no [broadband] access." In response, "[t]he FCC Thursday committed $2 billion in subsidies over the next decade to help telecommunications companies bridge that gap." In addition, according to TeleCompetitor, a "bi-partisan coalition of 43 Congressional representatives is asking the FCC to reserve at least three TV white space channels in the 600 MHz band to support rural broadband deployments." More information on this initiative is available in a press release from North Dakota Congressman Kevin Cramer.
Do you have difficulty skipping past ads on your Roku or other over-the-top device? That may be part of the reason why "OTT viewers, on average, complete 98 percent of video ads," according to a study reported by AdWeek. That compares to 91% for tablet viewers and only 86% for smartphone viewers. The study from FreeWheel also found that "[a]bout 36 percent of OTT viewership is for visits of at least an hour; of that amount of time, 60 percent is spent streaming live content."
Are you wondering how to stream 4K or Ultra HD content to your new TV? According to Decider.com's Michael Gowan, " K isn't at the 'plug in and be stunned' stage just yet." But Gowan does give you tips for finding the right 4K streaming boxes and video providers, and give you some direction concerning Internet bandwidth. And he gives some troubleshooting tips in case you've followed all the other advice and still aren't seeing 4K video on that fancy new screen.
Plex's Live TV and DVR are now out of beta for Plex Pass subscribers. Live TV is now available on Apple TV and Live TV and DVR support has been extended to Android mobile, joining iOS, Android TV, and the Plex Web app (DVR only).
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