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Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV

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Re: Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV

#151
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Roku tends to have poor quality (outsourced) apps when companies have invested in a multiplatform system - brightscript doesn’t interoperate well with anything else so its usually an outsourced project.

Funny. The Roku MLB.tv app blows every other platform out of the water.

MLBAM must have done that in house. I'm not saying its impossible to do a good Roku app, it definitely is, and frequently its going to be faster because the language is fairly single purpose. But a roku team tends to need its own explicit resources. I've heard of a lot of gnashing of teeth from colleagues walking up to it, though I haven't played with it yet myself.

Re: Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV

#152
post #82

Two Apple TV apps I have recently discovered and love using: Pluto.tv: replicate the cable guide experience. Endless episodes of things like This Old House, MST3k, and vintage game shows. I much prefer Pluto content to modern HGTV-type cable shows, and it scratches the same itch of "just watch whatever's on". - https://pluto.tv/ Kanopy: use your library card or university ID to stream indie movies and documentaries.…

I have to chime in with another recommendation for Pluto. The app is noticeably snappier than anything else on my 3 different models of Roku. (Weird since it’s free and Hulu, HBO, Sling et al should have plenty of money for development.). Sling especially has dark patterns selling DVR space and loses audio sync constantly. Pluto is rock solid by comparison.

My only complaint is that it completely freezes my firestick at least once a day. We plan on upgrading to something else so this shouldn't be a concern soon.

Re: Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a reference essay on the shift from Big Bird to Elmo: https://kotaku.com/how-elmo-ruined-sesame-street-1746504585 Major thesis: "It started in small ways. A lot of stories used to be based around Big Bird, who was psychologically characterized as a six-year-old. And in a lot of ways, this was ideal—six years old was on the older end of Sesame Street’s age demographic, and Big Bird served as both a role model and…

I caught a few episodes a few years ago (my youngest is 6 now) and there were a few "lessons" that I though just wrong and I didn't want my kids learning. The only one I can remember was this episode where they were stacking lots and lots of hats on somebodies head. They were banging on and on about "guessing" how many hats were on his head. Don't count, just guess. It was bugging me.

Surely that was exactly the point of that lesson: sometimes you have to guess. I'd say it's a pretty good lesson to learn that sometimes you need to guess, and how to visualize and imagine what different amounts of something look like. What does 10 hats look like versus 100 hats?

Believe me, there's no shortage of counting on Sesame Street, so the fact they detour into guessing once or twice isn't a bad thing.

Re: Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV

#154
post #2

Can anyone explain why PBS television stations are local rather than nationwide? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a local program on one, but they seem to have a huge extra layer of bureaucracy in order to broadcast the same programs in a hundred different locations.

Can anyone explain why PBS television stations are local rather than nationwide? The stations are locally-owned. Usually by a college, school district, or local government entity. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a local program on one Almost all PBS stations have local programming, even in small markets. Some of them award-winning programs. And a lot of the "national" shows are actually productions of local stations.…

Also a really common type of local program is programming about gardening and other outdoor activities. They'll focus on plants that'll grow in the local climate and usually have specials to tell people that now is the best time to plant some plant or another because the ground has finally thawed or whatever. I've also seen specials about nearby state parks and birdwatching type programs.

Re: Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV

#155
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Roku tends to have poor quality (outsourced) apps when companies have invested in a multiplatform system - brightscript doesn’t interoperate well with anything else so its usually an outsourced project.

Funny. The Roku MLB.tv app blows every other platform out of the water.

You think the Roku version of MLB is significantly better than, say, the Apple TV version of MLB? Why?

Re: Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you are getting downvoted. PBS has always been free to watch over the air. The article talks about how great it is to have PBS available for streaming on Youtube TV. But it doesn't mention YouTube TV is a subscription only service starting at $50/month. This is similar to a cable provider offering 100+ PBS channels to its $50/month subscription. Call me cheap, but I don't want to pay $50/month to be able…

- PBS Passport : $5/month - PBS Kids* : $4.99/month - PBS Masterpiece* : $5.99/month - PBS Living* : $2.99/month $19/month for all of these, is still better than $50 for Youtube TV, if all you care about is PBS programming. * Requires Amazon Prime

Sure that's cool, but without a rooftop antenna, I get 2 different PBS stations, each which have 3 digital channels, so I get 6 PBS channels. Most programming is in full HD and higher resolution than streaming which always seems to add extra levels of compression. These are the ONLY stations I get without rooftop because PBS transmitters have more geographical coverage than any other network in the US. With my super big-ass gigantic antenna on a 50 ft tall pole, I get a bunch of other networks as well, again with higher resolution than typical cable or streaming. But the point is that even without any antenna, most people get at least one PBS station, which typically will have at least 3 channels multiplexed in their band.

The announcement above seems to be an ad for youtube's $50 streaming service. Anyone who has that service already knows what it carries. Anyone wanting to sign up for that service based on PBS alone should just turn on their TV and see what happens.

It's useful though for Americans living out of the country.

Re: Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don’t have kids of my own yet, so I’m out of touch with how the show is being run these days, but if Elmo is the lead now, this definitely sounds like a step back in quality level. My (at the time 2 year old) referred to Seasame Street as "Elmo." The shift in content aligns with the shift that has happened in Early Learning Education in the US--mainly less emphasis in academic subjects, and more emphasis on socia…

That's a strange claim since the primary complaint abut Elmo was the elimination of Big Bird's social-emotional learning. Sesame Street is for pre-schoolers, which was never academic outside of a cadre of upper class dog-eat-dog New Yorkers

> , which was never academic outside of a cadre of upper class dog-eat-dog New Yorkers

Can you explain what you mean by this?

Re: Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV

#158
post #82

Two Apple TV apps I have recently discovered and love using: Pluto.tv: replicate the cable guide experience. Endless episodes of things like This Old House, MST3k, and vintage game shows. I much prefer Pluto content to modern HGTV-type cable shows, and it scratches the same itch of "just watch whatever's on". - https://pluto.tv/ Kanopy: use your library card or university ID to stream indie movies and documentaries.…

Pluto is ok, except the quality stinks, and at least on my ISP, stutters on every streaming device in my house.

Re: Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV

#159
post #60
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Everybody make like a train now” https://youtu.be/E4TRvYAyt3k

That's not Sesame Street. The Sesame Street Muppets were unique to the show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sesame_Street_Muppets Here's Johnny Cash on Sesame Street: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H75eQX006jA

apparently your take on childrens TV is wrong! i hope you are sufficiently corrected!

Re: Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV

#160
This is awesome and really seals the deal for me wrt to youtube tv. It was the one missing channel for me.

For local cable operators I think there is a big opportunity though to develop their own apple tv apps to stream IPTV so that the remain relevant. I have pretty fast local internet and youtube tv for less than the bundled package. They are already streaming IPTV to small boxes connected to a TV so it seems like apple tv integration should be easy.

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