They say let sleeping dogs lie. We have been customers of our cable company for over two decades – Paragon, then part of Bright House, now part of Spectrum. We have a couple of old Vizio TVs and a more recent Roku smart TV. We share a Netflix subscription with the kids. Some Amazon Prime shows on a FireStick. We have deliberately not bundled – our internet used to be streamed by Verizon DSL, then its FiOS, now it is by Frontier.
I watch baseball while working when I am not traveling. Some Sunday football. Some historical documentaries. Very little political TV or sitcoms. Margaret watches even less TV. We are not big TV content consumers.
Then our cable company decided to wake us up. They are going all digital and wanted us to get new receivers. So I made a trek to their store. Activate the receiver and many previous channels were no longer available. Called them and they offered a plan for another $ 70 a month. I escalated – the exec could only offer a plan for another $ 50. I told him after two decades they were going to lose us. And by the way I told him it was an awfully sneaky way to try and squeeze more revenues from us.
That started my cord cutting exercise. I bought a Terk digital antenna. Neat design – paper thin to position on a window with a detachable digital signal amplifier. May sound retro but Consumer Reports says one-fifth of U.S. homes with broadband access now use an antenna to get live TV. They recommend you move it around a bit and rescan to get even more channels. If I were a telco executive, I would be embarrassed to see so many consumers regress to rabbit ears.
This antenna recognized 50 channels in our area. Not bad for a one-time $ 50 investment with no monthly fees, but I would like to watch some shows on my electronic devices and on the road. That led to exploring Hulu, Sling and YouTube TV.

Am trying out YouTube. One touch on the smart TV remote allows us to easily compare the YouTube stream for a network compared to that from the Spectrum digital receiver. My daughter says YouTube is far better. I can watch it on several mobile devices. Here is what it looks like on my laptop.

Even better, I can have a game on in background while I am researching and writing on the device. The Spectrum app only streams if you use their hotspots. No thanks. The real game changer - YouTube has a family sharing plan. I have invited my kids to check it out in their cities. Only 3 devices can simultaneously use the service so we will have to occasionally coordinate.
So, I call Spectrum to cancel and they try to upsell, cross-sell and I go “I gave you a shot earlier in the week – should be notated on the account” The rep goes “Yes I see it but don’t you want to hear the specials we just announced today?” Announced today, yeah sure
Anyways, she offers me more channels than what we had for $ 10 a month more.
For now, we have both Spectrum and YouTube. I want to check out how YouTube works on the road. As they say “You can enjoy YouTube TV while traveling in the United States, but what you can see or do in the app may vary based on your location. If you visit an area where YouTube TV hasn't launched, you'll get a notification explaining what you can watch in that specific area. “
I have a feeling Spectrum should have let this sleeping dog lie.
Poignant moments at Inforum in Washington, DC
Infor has over the last few years introduced us to many iconic neighborhoods in New York City – the location of its headquarters and the site of its user event, Inforum. This year Inforum moved to Washington, DC and I asked my wife to join me in the city for the weekend. Our Congresswoman requested tickets for us for a tour of the US Capitol and the White House. Our daughter had a car accident (she’s fine) so we ended up cancelling the weekend, but there was still plenty of Washington pomp and history to enjoy during Inforum.
The event was held at the Walter E. Washington Center, which traces history back to 1874. Over the decades it has seen many Presidential Balls and events.
Inforum kicked off with the famous Howard University marching band – “Showtime”. Infor CEO Charles Phillips told the audience people line up to witness the band play in what he called the “fifth quarter”.
Infor organized for analysts a tour of Washington monuments. Dion, our tour guide and ex-Marine brought Washington to life with lots of tidbits of US history including that of Marian Anderson's historic performance at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939. She inspired a young MLK to make his even more impactful speech there in 1963. Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady, broke through race barriers and helped Marian get that platform. As we walked by Blair House Dion told of the time foreign leaders would stay at the White House. Nocturnal Churchill liked to wake up FDR at awkward hours. Eleanor made sure on future trips such visiting dignitaries had a 'hotel' of their own:)
I spent a couple of hours at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I am a big fan of American history, especially in the 1800s, and I was thrilled to see a replica of the compass Lewis and Clark used on their epic frontier trek; an ingot from the 1849 Gold Rush; Winchester, the majestic horse that Union General Phil Sheridan rode in many a Civil War battle, the replica of the golden spike used to finish the transcontinental railroad in 1869 and many other artifacts.
The final poignant moment for me came during the opening keynote. In these days where it seems like Washington politicians cannot agree on anything, Inforum managed to get two extreme ends of the political spectrum – executives from Koch Brothers (an investor in Infor, and a customer of its products) and Van Jones, the TV commentator - back to back on the same stage
Photo Credit Winchester
September 27, 2018 in Industry Commentary | Permalink | Comments (0)