How to cut the cable cord and watch TV now

By Mitch Lipka – For a total of about $15 a month the family gets shows and films via streaming services Hulu and Netflix. Roku, a $90 device, sends them wirelessly.

Not every cable or broadcast show is readily available via streaming. Access to most live programming on stations like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News is restricted to those who subscribe to a cable, satellite or telecom service that includes those channels. more> http://tinyurl.com/m27zect

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• Why Apple TV Is a Cord-Cutter’s Gateway Drug (allthingsd.com)
• Cutting the Cord: Inexpensive Streaming Video Alternatives to Cable and Satellite TV (livinglavishlyforless.wordpress.com)
• “Cord Cutting Used to Be a Myth. It Isn’t Anymore.” (allthingsd.com)
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Comcast and Verizon’s Phony Free-Speech Claim

By Susan Crawford – Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit wrote this week that the First Amendment shields Comcast Corp. from Congress’s authority to ensure the free flow of information across the basic network connections it provides.

The court should resist this reasoning, or risk trivializing the freedom of speech that the First Amendment truly protects.

Congress, though, has long distinguished basic information transmission facilities from newspapers; there is a sharp difference between a facility that allows someone else’s speech to be transmitted, and expression itself. Indeed, all of American communications policy is based on this premise. more> http://tinyurl.com/oy654m2

Will Aereo strike the Death Knell of Cable Television?

By Braden Kelley – Imagine a roof antenna or rabbit ears on your TV that happened to be somewhere you never had to see them. Aereo makes that possible. Here’s how:

• They’ve made the TV antenna unbelievably small
• They’ve connect those antennas to the Internet
• They give you control of your own antenna

more> http://bwbx.io/edhz

Intel Working On TV Set-Top Box

By Peter Svensson – Intel Corp. said Tuesday that it will sell a set-top box that brings Internet-delivered movies and shows to a TV set this year.

Erik Huggers, general manager of Intel Media, said the company plans to sell a box that will offer “a vastly superior experience” to today’s cable boxes.

There are various boxes today that bring Internet content to TV sets, with popular ones made by Roku and Apple. But Intel wants to go further and make its box and streaming service a replacement for cable. more> http://tinyurl.com/anbgmw9

Related>

• Intel confirms plans to build TV set-top box, Associated Press, USA TODAY

Google To Sell Part Of Motorola For $2.35B

Google Campus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Michael Liedtke – The cash-and-stock deal announced late Wednesday (Dec 19) will turn over Motorola‘s set-top division to Arris Group Inc., a relatively small provider of high-speed Internet equipment that is looking to become a bigger player in the delivery of video. Investors applauded the move, driving up Arris’ stock by nearly 17 percent.

Google‘s decision to jettison the set-top boxes comes seven months after the Mountain View, Calif., company took control of Motorola Mobility Holdings in a $12.4 billion purchase. more> http://tinyurl.com/cb7rsb3

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