BUZZR on Pluto TV

[snowpeck]

This. For example, we don't have a Seattle affiliate. I trick my DVR into thinking the Internet feed is a normal cable channel.

This right here is The Way. I run Channels DVR server on an old PC. One of the sources for the DVR is a free Sling login, which includes Buzzr and a handful of other free streaming channels. Works like a champ, although the timing is off sometimes.

The Harrisburg, PA market does not have OTA Buzzr. There is a lot of OTA activity in our market of late, with WGAL gaining a few new subchannels and some low-power signals spread throughout, but no one carries Buzzr.

I live within the very outer bands of theoretical reception for WTXF out of Philadelphia, but have never been able to receive them OTA.

I live within range of the Atlanta Buzzr affiliate but I still prefer watching and recording the stream because a) it's better quality and b) there are too many tall buildings and trees around my condo and reception of anything can be spotty at times.

[urbanpreppie05]

It's only available over the air in a couple dozen cities.

This. For example, we don't have a Seattle affiliate. I trick my DVR into thinking the Internet feed is a normal cable channel.

(Yes, including digital subchannels.)

And to add on to this some cities are listed as having affiliates but they're only available on some very, very low-power stations and are all but impossible to get a good signal for.

I've only gotten the Pittsburgh station twice...and it was an overcast day, even though the station is like 5 miles from me.

I live in Carnegie, right outside of downtown Pittsburgh, at the top of a very long steep hill.  I have a clear view of downtown and even with powered antennas I cannot get Buzzr.  Blah.  Also hi, neighbor.

Homestead/Munhall. Howdy sir.
I also think the ONLY channel I can ever get is WQED and occasionally KDKA.

[TimK2003]

In my neck of the woods, all of the major TV towers are within 10 miles of my house across relatively flat land.

Allegedly there is at least 3 or 4 subchannels (none are Buzzr) --Laff/Bounce/Start/H&I, nothing too exciting -- that I cannot pick up on my rabbit ears.  Likely these particular subchannels operate on less power than the major channels and may be directed more in other directions away from my neighborhood.

[BrandonFG]

So I subscribe to Youtube TV but thought about going back to Sling. With YTV, I get Cozi but no other subchannels. Is there anything stopping them or Sling from adding MeTV, H&I, or any of the other subchannels? My antenna isn't the most reliable when it comes to getting those or OTAs for that matter.

[chargeradiocom]

Also to add, the BUZZR website doesn’t exactly keep their affiliate list up to date. The station listed in Cincinnati dropped BUZZR about 3 years ago, & to my knowledge hasn’t resumed carrying it. Not that I could pick up the station worth a darn.

So I subscribe to Youtube TV but thought about going back to Sling. With YTV, I get Cozi but no other subchannels. Is there anything stopping them or Sling from adding MeTV, H&I, or any of the other subchannels? My antenna isn't the most reliable when it comes to getting those or OTAs for that matter.

The way it’s been explained to me, it’s a matter of the pesky differences between streaming rights and OTA/cable rights. For broadcast networks like MeTV that rely almost exclusively on leased library titles, there’s such a patchwork of pre-existing agreements that would need to be reworked for streaming, that it would be very difficult, & potentially very costly.

That’s not so much of an issue for a network like BUZZR or Cozi, where the parent company owns the bulk of what they play, and the handful of shows with a leased component came along late enough that streaming presumably was explicitly addressed in the contract. Of course, as we’ve seen with the Newlywed Game, just one show that can’t be cleared for streaming creates the need for a workaround.

[BrandonFG]

That makes total sense...thanks for the explanation. Cumbersome as it sounds, I wonder if we'll ever see a workaround, given how many streaming services we have compared to just five years ago?

[DjohnsonCB]

What channel is BUZZR on on Pluto TV?  I just got a new 32-inch LG TV for my bedroom which has Pluto.

Should be 164, in the Entertainment section (right between TPIR at 163 and DoND at 165). Although it looks like, if you're actually going through the LG Channels app, it may be in a different location.

That's where it is all right.  But first I had to install and then launch Pluto.  That's why I couldn't find it Thursday night.  Now if only there were some way I could save BUZZR to the list of channels I have for convenience, the list that includes my local OTA stations.  Also, I no longer have cable--just an antenna and a few stream services.

I live in an area with a lot of low-flying planes passing over my place as they take off or land at Eppley Airfield. This causes my OTA reception to be messed up on the two older sets I have in my living room and in the small room with my PC.  But so far my new LG--with a 2021 release date--has held the pic and sound steady even with planes passing.  Is there some sort of circuitry in new LG sets that keeps the OTA reception from going out?  Just asking.

[mystery7]

Is there some sort of circuitry in new LG sets that keeps the OTA reception from going out?  Just asking.

The "circuitry" is the built-in digital tuner that's been in all new TVs since 2009. A digital OTA signal is either there or it isn't - there's no in-between or static like there used to be. It's not subject to RF interference from planes, vacuum cleaners or aluminum siding.

Are the older TVs "older" enough not to have RCA jacks to plug the converters into, and still have to be tuned to channel 3 or 4 like they would for an old Atari? That's why they get all wiggy when the planes fly in.

[Adam Nedeff]

What channel is BUZZR on on Pluto TV?  I just got a new 32-inch LG TV for my bedroom which has Pluto.

Should be 164, in the Entertainment section (right between TPIR at 163 and DoND at 165). Although it looks like, if you're actually going through the LG Channels app, it may be in a different location.

That's where it is all right.  But first I had to install and then launch Pluto.  That's why I couldn't find it Thursday night. 

You...didn't know that you had to install and launch Pluto in order to watch Pluto?

[chargeradiocom]

That makes total sense...thanks for the explanation. Cumbersome as it sounds, I wonder if we'll ever see a workaround, given how many streaming services we have compared to just five years ago?

It will be interesting to see what transpires on this front. If you followed the Locast saga, it looked like they almost had it figured out, until they ran into the lawsuit from the networks that eventually led to their demise. Though from what I’ve read, it sounds like the judge’s issue wasn’t so much the copyright infringement that the networks alleged, but that they were using donations they were receiving as a nonprofit to expand into new markets.

There’s another service, LocalBTV, that’s using a very similar rollout & distribution method as what Locast did, except that they’re mainly just running subchannels, religious & shopping networks, independents, and PBS in some areas. They’re avoiding the major networks altogether at this point, probably in hopes of avoiding a lawsuit; although interestingly, they do have subs for a handful of network O&O stations. They’re also missing a handful of the bigger subs (MeTV being the most obvious), though they say they’re “working on” adding more channels.

So there’s definitely a market for streaming subchannels. Just my speculation, but I have to think that somebody, whether LocalBTV or someone else, is eventually going to figure this out in a way that’s within the bounds of the law.

[clemon79]

It will be interesting to see what transpires on this front. If you followed the Locast saga, it looked like they almost had it figured out, until they ran into the lawsuit from the networks that eventually led to their demise. Though from what I’ve read, it sounds like the judge’s issue wasn’t so much the copyright infringement that the networks alleged, but that they were using donations they were receiving as a nonprofit to expand into new markets.

Except if that was really all the judge had on them, all they had to do was...stop expanding. Stand pat. The networks had them dead to rights from go and they knew it; Locast was a company that was just trying to make a political point about the networks using legal strongarm tactics, and used their customers donors as pawns in their game. It was nice while it lasted but anyone who thought it was going to last for any extended duration was fooling themselves. (Though I had to say I didn't expect them to fold like an accordion two days after the judgement came down.)

There’s another service, LocalBTV, that’s using a very similar rollout & distribution method as what Locast did, except that they’re mainly just running subchannels, religious & shopping networks, independents, and PBS in some areas.

....and nobody will care, since even Locast's main focus was providing the major networks so people could watch the <Chris Berman>National...Football League.</Chris Berman> <insert Heavy Action sting>

Just my speculation, but I have to think that somebody, whether LocalBTV or someone else, is eventually going to figure this out in a way that’s within the bounds of the law.

It's not the law they are going to have to get around, it's the financial impact of fighting the lawsuit. And when the four companies who are bankrolling said lawsuit are Teh Mouse, Comcast, Viacom, and Fox, it's gonna take some thicc stacks to withstand that.

[tvmitch]

It's not the law they are going to have to get around, it's the financial impact of fighting the lawsuit. And when the four companies who are bankrolling said lawsuit are Teh Mouse, Comcast, Viacom, and Fox, it's gonna take some thicc stacks to withstand that.

Comcast is now charging a $17-18 Broadcast TV fee, per month, for even the most basic cable packages. That's $200 a year from every cable TV subscriber in add-on fees. And in many markets, Comcast owns at least one of those broadcast stations.

Of course they are going to fight Locast and similar services on this.

[clemon79]

Comcast is now charging a $17-18 Broadcast TV fee, per month, for even the most basic cable packages. That's $200 a year from every cable TV subscriber in add-on fees. And in many markets, Comcast owns at least one of those broadcast stations.

Of course they are going to fight Locast and similar services on this.

Actually I wasn't even taking that into account; that just underlines why having a content provider and a content creator under the same corporate umbrella is a Really Bad Idea. The main problem is that Locast was paying carriage fees to precisely nobody for what was essentially an IPTV cable service, and that wasn't gonna sit well with the networks at all. And as the four I cited are the primary sources of both professional and collegiate Armored Wankball, they tend to get a couple bucks for those.

[chargeradiocom]

So I subscribe to Youtube TV but thought about going back to Sling. With YTV, I get Cozi but no other subchannels. Is there anything stopping them or Sling from adding MeTV, H&I, or any of the other subchannels? My antenna isn't the most reliable when it comes to getting those or OTAs for that matter.

The way it’s been explained to me, it’s a matter of the pesky differences between streaming rights and OTA/cable rights. For broadcast networks like MeTV that rely almost exclusively on leased library titles, there’s such a patchwork of pre-existing agreements that would need to be reworked for streaming, that it would be very difficult, & potentially very costly.

That’s not so much of an issue for a network like BUZZR or Cozi, where the parent company owns the bulk of what they play, and the handful of shows with a leased component came along late enough that streaming presumably was explicitly addressed in the contract. Of course, as we’ve seen with the Newlywed Game, just one show that can’t be cleared for streaming creates the need for a workaround.

That makes total sense...thanks for the explanation. Cumbersome as it sounds, I wonder if we'll ever see a workaround, given how many streaming services we have compared to just five years ago?

I know I’m a bit off-topic & gravedigging, but I wanted to circle back to an earlier discussion. You may have seen that several Weigel diginets (MeTV, Decades & Start TV) were recently added to Frndly TV. Provided what I was told previously was correct, it seems that something has changed in Weigel’s contracts with the program distributors that allowed this to happen. I’m also noticing quite a bit more sharing of programs lately between MeTV & Decades, which further makes me think there’s been a change in the contracts.

That said, a few shows are apparently blocked from streaming and are getting the Newlywed Game treatment, at least for now. On MeTV and Decades’ respective websites, there are separate schedule links for OTA/cable and streaming.

[BrandonFG]

I’ve noticed quite a few MeTV/Decades ads on Facebook…for the price it’s tempting, but I need to figure out which streaming services to cut out first. I’ll definitely keep it in mind.