Our weekly news brief summarizing cord-cutter news from around the Web is back after a short hiatus. In this week's round-up: A new and better broadcast TV standard is on the way, first impressions of Hulu with Live TV, a streaming stick just for kids, MLB to stream live games free on Facebook, and more.
Consumer Reports tells us that "free over-the-air TV is going to get better." They're referring not to the quality of the programming, but to the development of a new broadcast standard, ATSC 3.0, aka "Next-Gen Broadcast TV." A key improvement is that "the new standard is IP (internet protocol)-based, which means it can carry internet content alongside traditional TV broadcasts. The broadcasts can also include 4K video and high dynamic range (HDR) content — the two biggest selling points in TVs right now."
Writing for TechHive, Jared Newman offers his first impressions from the beta version of Hulu with Live TV. He notes that "Hulu's attempt to distance itself from the legacy TV experience is refreshing, and it can lead to discovering some great television. But it can also be disorienting, due to an expansive, sometimes confusing menu system... and it's marred by limited device support and occasional glitches."
Cutting the cord doesn't necessarily mean cutting the cost, writes Makeda Easter in the LA Times. "Cutting the cord can save consumer hundreds of dollars each year... until they start subscribing to streaming alternatives." Much of the blame falls on the need to subscribe to multiple streaming services to have access to all of your favorite shows.
But wait... that LA Times headline is misleading, according to cordcutternews.com's Luke Bouma, who points out a number of pricing errors in that story and argues that cordcutters can cut their costs.
Trying to follow Roku's success with the Roku TV, Amazon is taking pre-orders for the Element Fire TV Edition, which comes with Amazon's Fire system built into the TV set. Variety reports that the devices will "support 4K video, and pack a quad-core processor, 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage for apps."
PBS KIDS is selling a streaming stick just for kids. The PBS Kids Plug & Play With WiFi is a $50 device that offers "free access to PBS KIDS' new 24/7 channel and live stream in partnership with local PBS stations, as well as more than 100 hours of on-demand videos, with no subscriptions required." It also comes pre-loaded with sing-alongs, games, and other original content that requires no WiFi.
Smart TVs and over-the-top streaming devices aren't used just for video. More than one-half of Americans listen to music through TV streaming apps according to a survey conducted by Ipsos on TV app usage. The top 25 streaming apps included Pandora (#4), Spotify (#7), iHeartRadio (#14), and Vevo (#25).
Pluto TV is making thousands of movies and TV shows available on-demand. The free video-streaming platform, available on Roku and other devices, is known for over 100 linear TV channels that offer news, tech, movies, sports, and music.
Major League Baseball will live-stream 20 games for free on Facebook during the 2017 season. Games will be streamed on Friday nights. The MLB deal with Facebook follows a similar deal with Twitter.
Viacom is working with cable and satellite companies to offer a "skinny bundle" without news and sports at $20 or less per month. If it comes to fruition, it will help traditional pay TV companies compete with similar skinny bundles from streaming services like Sling TV and DirecTV Now. Viacom's networks include MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and BET.
