So we are going to try to tackle this topic from two points of views. I will share my view and Jen will give hers. So let’s start. First of all it seems that every single streaming service is on a quest to go live. Between Google’s YouTube TV, Sling TV, PlayStation Vue and Verizon the landscape is filled. What that does mean is if you are a cord cutter there will be way more options out there for you to play with. However the downside of all the options is that you may get overwhelmed. One of the things I like as cord cutter is being able to get what I want without any commercials. Netflix lives on us binge watchers. After awhile with all these “live Streaming” services TV will feel like old school TV again. Do I want to pay $45-$59 for channels that I may never watch? No I don’t. I don’t want to go back to square one but some might disagree. ~Rubens Saintel
I disagree. I am on board with this phenomenon on live stream options, but I watch a very limited amount of live TV. Except for sports, and an odd news broadcast, I watch mostly pre-recorded TV shows. Which is why I’m wondering if Hulu’s Live option is actually going to be worth it for consumers? At $39.99 a month, the question needs to be answered as to whether or not that is reasonable? In my opinion, it’s not. Let me take a step back. A decent cable package – which includes live options – runs about $65 a month, let’s say. From a straight numbers perspective, does this actually work out? This particular Hulu package doesn’t include all the other TV you want to watch, that isn’t live. It’s strictly for live TV. The next question is – could you get all your other TV needs met, for less than $25 a month? ~Jen Elsie MacGill
The PlayStation Vue so far is the service that I have been using and love. The DVR works great, the channel options are enough for my needs. The only pet peeve I have is one that will transfer to any of the other services out there. No local channels unless you live in a major market. You could pay your Internet provider which in most cases is also your cable provider for just local channels but that would be counterproductive to the whole idea of cutting the cord. Get yourself an antenna and a streaming service. I’m just not convinced that Hulu is the way to go. It’s not even the way to for regular streaming because even if you pay extra they still have “limited” commercials on shows. ~Rubens Saintel
I’m glad you touched on Hulu. So let’s get back to Hulu and further discuss whether or not it’s worth it. This new Hulu service will allow you to record some live TV. The recording capacity is limited, but available nonetheless. There is talk of an unlimited DVR with up to 200 hours of programming. Which is great. The ability to save recorded live TV in the cloud is incredible. Presumably allowing you to stream what you’ve already recorded anywhere you are. And you don’t have to watch commercials! (fingers crossed)
But is there an appetite to watch recorded live TV? Or does that even make sense? There are very few games that I would consider watching after the fact, in a recorded version. Yes, there are some that exist, but that is a very small percentage. So would this DVR function actually be something that you would use? What is also great about this service is that you will get notifications that a game is being played. So maybe you’ve missed the first half because you got distracted by life, and then you receive a notification. Instead of having missed the game, you can tune in for the second half. Which is also pretty cool. Think of it like a personal assistant to make sure you never miss a game. ~Jen Elsie MacGill