Traditional/Streaming Live TV Providers Losses, 1st Quarter 2026 Edition

[navychop]

 

[navychop]

I've used Firestick, Roku and the Apple TV. I no longer use the Firestick. One Roku went non supported. Roku Ultra is fine, but Apple TV is much better. Frankly, if you can afford it, and do not hate Apple, go with the Apple TV STB.

Frankly, I'm with Frank.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I've used Firestick, Roku and the Apple TV. I no longer use the Firestick. One Roku went non supported. Roku Ultra is fine, but Apple TV is much better. Frankly, if you can afford it, and do not hate Apple, go with the Apple TV STB.

Frankly, I'm with Frank.

Honestly I like the Roku interface better than the Firestick or Fire TV. I have 3 Fire tvs and I have Rokus hooked up to them all, to get around the Fire interface. The Fire TV would often tell me that it can't update an app, because lack of space. I just deleted all the apps off of them and rather use the Roku stick.

 

[Foxbat]

Too bad we can't have one master app that has all your other apps plugged into it on a home screen and when you want to watch a show you just type in or say the show and it comes up on that app without all the signing in bull crap.

The AppleTV app comes close, aggregating most streaming services (Netflix being the most obvious omission). I'm sure Roku does something similar, but now features Ads.

 

[Foxbat]

Unfortunately, true; A.I. is ruining the World. The two 4K AppleTV STBs are $199 for 64 GB (was $149 before July) and $249 for 128 GB (also includes a Gigabit Ethernet port). I'd be hard-pressed to recommend buying one at this time since the next generation of this is due "Real Soon Now."

 

[dishdude]

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Unfortunately, true; A.I. is ruining the World. The two 4K AppleTV STBs are $199 for 64 GB (was $149 before July) and $249 for 128 GB (also includes a Gigabit Ethernet port). I'd be hard-pressed to recommend buying one at this time since the next generation of this is due "Real Soon Now."

That's ridiculous. You can buy the top of the line Onn streamer for $50 and it works great, also serves up recommendations based off which apps you subscribe to.

 

[Foxbat]

That's ridiculous. You can buy the top of the line Onn streamer for $50 and it works great, also serves up recommendations based off which apps you subscribe to.

True. And a Kia and a Mercedes will both get you to work. Apple isn't the only game in town.

I hear Plex is also good at aggregating streaming content, and I'm sure that App is supported on all the streaming platforms.

 

[navychop]

Is ONN an old Indian word meaning "Yugo?"

 

[b4pjoe]

That's ridiculous. You can buy the top of the line Onn streamer for $50 and it works great, also serves up recommendations based off which apps you subscribe to.

Its only ridiculous because of what AI has done to the whole tech industry prices. Do you think Apple is immune to those price increases?

 

[navychop]

I ALMOST bought the ONN. Offhand, I don't remember why I passed on it.

But it may be memories of buying cheap and regretting it. Thereby paying even more. Remember when s/w was 8 bit? Wordstar cost too much, so I bought a cheapo two part word processor. One did the typed document entry, the other did the formatting for printing. Ended up having to buy Wordstar after all.

 

[ncted]

I tried the Onn 4K Pro. It was pretty good. Definitely worth the price compared to some of the alternatives and you are happy in the Google ecosystem.

 

[meStevo]

We are entirely Google on 8 TVs and 4 phones in the house - but once I switched to Apple TV in my office I haven't gone back to the Chromecast. Wanted a hardwired and fast solution, and it's so smooth and reliable compared to a Chromecast in a busy environment.

If you anchor your services to it (subscribe to them through their app), I'd mention Prime as well, as a decent aggregator.

 

[navychop]

which non-FAST service has 4-6 minute commercials?

I've gone thru the following, all on MyEntertainment:

Food Truck Race
Project Runway
BBQ Brawl

All the commercials I've checked are 4-5.5 minutes long.

 

[savarese04]

I've gone thru the following, all on MyEntertainment:

Food Truck Race
Project Runway
BBQ Brawl

All the commercials I've checked are 4-5.5 minutes long.

I'm genuinely confused. Are you describing ads during on demand content available on DTV or ads during linear programming?

 

[navychop]

DTV.

MyEntertainment is a DTV product.

 

[Bruce]

DTV.

MyEntertainment is a DTV product.

But what he is asking, are you watching live on a channel or on demand.

If live on a channel, that commercial break would be the same on any provider, DirecTV, Dish, YTTV, etc.

If On Demand, that sounds about right.

Why don't you just record those shows, Cloud DVR is included with MyEntertainment, then you can just FF thru the ads, same as a DVR with a different provider.

 

[navychop]

Why don't you just record those shows, Cloud DVR is included with MyEntertainment, then you can just FF thru the ads, same as a DVR with a different provider.

That is exactly what I do.

I could not get my head around someone watching a streaming channel in real time.

 

[Bruce]

That is exactly what I do.

I could not get my head around someone watching a streaming channel in real time.

But those commercials are there with Dish or any other provider, has nothing to do with streaming.

If the channel has them, same everywhere.

 

[navychop]

Yeeeeeessss.

Doesn't matter WHERE that excessive string of ads comes from. If I can't skip them, I'm not watching.

Also, watching live TV is, to me, a truly strange concept. Other than for sports or emergencies, WHY would you do that? No skipping commercials.

Heck, I even record rocket launches and watch later.

 

[Bruce]

Yeeeeeessss.

Doesn't matter WHERE that excessive string of ads comes from. If I can't skip them, I'm not watching.

You should drop your Live TV Services, go with the ad free streaming services instead, like Discovery+ for the shows you named as a example.

Keep asking yourself, why you still have Dish ( way too expensive for what you get-reruns) and DirecTV's MyEntertainment.

You must be paying close to $200 a month for both, the shows you watch, you would be well under $50 a month with the streaming services.

Discovery+ ad free is only $9.99 a month for example.