[kwlug-disc] OT: Online TV services?

Wed Nov 1 21:26:15 EDT 2017

Legal?  Netflix, Youtube, CraveTV

Legal and Free (and somewhat good):  Crackle.com (owned by Sony), and
TubiTV.com (not sure who owns it but has decent content albeit a bit old).

Also, most of the TV networks also will stream for free a couple recent
episodes of what was recently on air, but for "full" access you need a
satellite/cable/IPTV subscription.

As others mentioned there is Kodi (and all it's shady TV/movie pirating
apps).  Kodi itself isn't illegal or shady and makes a great media player,
with lots of legal content plugins (that scrape/pull from legit streaming
network sources) but it is mainly popular for the apps that stream pirated
content.

I was lucky enough to get Shaw Direct through the LTSS program a few years
back (and then upgrade to a nearly full TV package for $25/month guaranteed
until at least end of 2019) but if they raise the price after that I will
just cancel it as nobody really watches 'regular' TV in my household, it's
mostly Youtube and Netflix.  I just like to have Shaw for the occasional
channel surfing when I'm bored, or to watch BNN/CNBC/live news/occasional
sports/etc.

*Mark Steffen*
Office Direct: +1.226.476.1240 | Mobile: +1.226.600.0464
*"Don't believe everything you read on the Internet." -Abraham Lincoln*

On Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 5:03 PM, Russell McOrmond <russellmcormond at gmail.com
> wrote:

>
>   I dropped cable back in 2012, and use the legal streaming options.  I am
> also a Teksavvy customer.
>
>   In all but one case, I don't use VPN services:  http://mcormond.
> blogspot.ca/2016/11/notes-from-watching-supergirl-via-vpn.html  .  VPN
> may annoy some of the legacy cable companies, but they are legal to use --
> and if NAFTA were a legitimate "trade agreement" then we'd have a single
> content market and there wouldn't be shows legally available in the US
> (where most people VPN to) but not in Canada.
>
>
> Easiest to use service is Netflix, and it works on the most devices.  My
> wife doesn't want to fiddle with messy websites to watch TV, so pretty much
> only watches Netflix -- if we watch on a different streaming service then
> I'm the one with the controls.
>
> The second most useful for me is Google Play, where I can get seasons of
> shows for not much -- and it works on most of my devices, but not quite as
> easy as Netflix.
>
> Amazon Prime is now in Canada, and there are some really good shows on
> that -- but the catalog isn't huge.
>
>
> Some Canadian broadcasters have their own custom apps and websites, but
> they're all pretty bad.   I watch some shows on the CTV GO app, but its
> flaky.
>
> I also have CraveTV and while it is an amateurish services compared to the
> professional "foreign" services, it often works. Pretty much everything
> that is available on CraveTV is available in the USA via Netflix and/or
> Hulu, and we'd all be better off if the region blocking were removed from
> those better services.
>
>
>
> As I try to speak to politicians about the problems caused by our outdated
> broadcaster-centric cultural policy, I blog about my experiences.
>
> http://mcormond.blogspot.ca/search/label/Television
>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 25, 2017 at 5:44 PM, Bob Jonkman <bjonkman at sobac.com> wrote:
>
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>> Hash: SHA1
>>
>> Hi: A friend recently switched from Rogers to Teksavvy, and wonders
>> what TV services are available.  Aside from Netflix, what's available
>> in Canada? Can you subscribe to CraveTV without subscribing to Bell's
>> internet? Or anything from Rogers?
>>
>> I'd like to stick to sources that are directly available in Canada,
>> without using proxies or VPNs...
>>
>> - --Bob, who still wonders where to get shows on Betamax
>>
>>
>> - --
>> Bob Jonkman <bjonkman at sobac.com>          Phone: +1-519-635-9413
>> SOBAC Microcomputer Services             http://sobac.com/sobac/
>> Software   ---   Office & Business Automation   ---   Consulting
>> GnuPG Fngrprnt:04F7 742B 8F54 C40A E115 26C2 B912 89B0 D2CC E5EA
>>
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
>> Version: GnuPG v2
>> Comment: Ensure confidentiality, authenticity, non-repudiability
>>
>> iEYEARECAAYFAlnxBb4ACgkQuRKJsNLM5erRfQCgjhNt4EtAE8qY7OQf9HI5Qnk7
>> rekAoI3hTPx/4Ys6k+JXFlWubrowLIc4
>> =6oZa
>> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kwlug-disc mailing list
>> kwlug-disc at kwlug.org
>> http://kwlug.org/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
>
> Please help us tell the Canadian Parliament to protect our property rights
> as owners of Information Technology. Sign the petition!
> http://l.c11.ca/ict/
>
> "The government, lobbied by legacy copyright holders and hardware
> manufacturers, can pry my camcorder, computer, home theatre, or portable
> media player from my cold dead hands!" http://c11.ca/own
>
> _______________________________________________
> kwlug-disc mailing list
> kwlug-disc at kwlug.org
> http://kwlug.org/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://kwlug.org/pipermail/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org/attachments/20171101/dbfadd64/attachment.htm>