Paramount Plus Super Bowl fail proves why sports is so big problem for cord-cutters

[MULTIZ321]

Paramount Plus Super Bowl fail proves why sports is so big problem for cord-cutters

Paramount Plus Super Bowl fail proves why sports is a big problem for cord-cutters

Lag time and other issues are not okay for streaming live sports

www.tomsguide.com

Richard

 

[Brett]

"antennas are making a comeback in 2024 as people get sick of the lag time and issues inherent in streaming live sports"

 

[emeryjre]

The streaming channels are at a disadvantage when broadcasting live sports

If you streamed the game on Paramount plus on Sunday, the image has to travel over the internet to a data center serving your regional area

The image is received at the data center, stored on a server, and then retransmitted to your local Internet Service Provider to be transmitted to your home

This all takes more time and computing horsepower than you can imagine

The rate of growth of the internet is continuing daily

There are several major hubs that are consistently overloaded in the US

I have been using a small antenna to watch local channels OTA (Over The Air)

This is what most of us grew up with. Broadcasts from TV towers. Most TV channels are now broadcast in digital format and provide great pictures

Highly recommend you look into depending on where you are located in relationship to the broadcast towers

 

[SteveinHNL]

I haven't been able to receive over the air broadcasts because antenna placement has been issue. They are ugly. I have had good luck watching the NFL all year using Sling TV, which covered the network games. I supplemented that with occasional sports bar visits.

 

[ScoopKona]

I haven't been able to receive over the air broadcasts because antenna placement has been issue. They are ugly. I have had good luck watching the NFL all year using Sling TV, which covered the network games. I supplemented that with occasional sports bar visits.

I brought an ugly antenna from the mainland and installed it on Big Island, hoping I could pick up signal from Maui or Oahu. Nope. I don't have enough elevation and the inverse-square law is killing my chances.

It's a shame. Because over here on the Ninth Island, I have 40+ channels of crystal-clear HD digital signal. Granted, I only watch five channels. (The rest are rubbish. Prayer TV and the Home Abuelita Shopping Network.) But those five takes care of 90% of all the television I ever watch. I'm going to miss free OTA live sports. I'd be happy with just that and nothing else.

So many people complained about "I just want to pay for the channels I want to watch." Well, be careful what you wish for. Because that's what we have -- 90 different "plus" streaming services. Each $20 a month. (Or whatever they charge. I won't do it. I'm buying Blu Rays of my favorite movies because at least I only have to buy those once.

 

[davidvel]

The streaming channels are at a disadvantage when broadcasting live sports

If you streamed the game on Paramount plus on Sunday, the image has to travel over the internet to a data center serving your regional area

The image is received at the data center, stored on a server, and then retransmitted to your local Internet Service Provider to be transmitted to your home

This all takes more time and computing horsepower than you can imagine

The rate of growth of the internet is continuing daily

There are several major hubs that are consistently overloaded in the US

I have been using a small antenna to watch local channels OTA (Over The Air)

This is what most of us grew up with. Broadcasts from TV towers. Most TV channels are now broadcast in digital format and provide great pictures

Highly recommend you look into depending on where you are located in relationship to the broadcast towers

This is correct. Also, they compress the stream then have to decompress it on your device. Lots of people weren't lucky to get crappy quality, they couldn't connect at all or with lots of buffering.

We tried Youtube TV before and NFL was unwatchable (we have TB+ internet speeds with low latency.) Unfortunately, the radio towers in SD are on a mountain in La Jolla, and we have a 1000' hill of rock in direct line of sight, blocking the signal.

 

[emeryjre]

A lot of people signed up for a trial to Paramount plus just to watch 58

This put an additional load on the infrastructure for Paramount plus

The cost of the server farm infrastructure is a sizeable component of why streaming services are losing money

There is another big load coming online to strain the backbone of the Internet

Star Link uses cluster of satellite arrays to beam data to and from the Star Link Satellites

One of these arrays sites in a northern tier state is expected to move 5 TB per second up and down.

This data is being moved across internet backbones

The backbones are being expanded to accommodate this additional data movement, but not as fast as the demand is growing

The gentleman I was discussing this with decided he had already said to much and stopped the interchange

Bottom line

Do not expect great things from major sporting events on streaming

Next up is March Madness

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

We still have an Xfinity cable connection. Worked wonderfully. Alternatively, we can open the Xfinity app and stream directly. (For other reasons we still haven't cut the cable connection and move strictly to the Xfinity app.)

One member of our household streamed the game, while others watched through the box. Neither of had any connectivity issues. But as we have often noted in the past, the cable broadcast runs 30 sec to 60 sec behind the Xfinity app stream.

 

[mentalbreak]

I was frustrated when the NFL playoff game was only available on Peacock outside of the local market, but that was easy to “boycott-with-my-wallet”. I expected it would be the same for Big Ten women’s basketball Iowa vs. Michigan, but that one offered no local market exemption.
So we broke down and ponied up the $5.99. We took the show on the road to our parents assisted living apartment tonight, and it was the best $6 we have spent in a long time. The talk in their community all day was that they would not be able to watch the game. I think we made my Father-in-Law’s night, and we will remember the experience for a long time.

 

[davidvel]

We still have an Xfinity cable connection. Worked wonderfully. Alternatively, we can open the Xfinity app and stream directly. (For other reasons we still haven't cut the cable connection and move strictly to the Xfinity app.)

One member of our household streamed the game, while others watched through the box. Neither of had any connectivity issues. But as we have often noted in the past, the cable broadcast runs 30 sec to 60 sec behind the Xfinity app stream.

What type of device was the person who was watching the game through the app using? A phone or tablet? Were they using mobile data or wifi from your cable internet connection?

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

What type of device was the person who was watching the game through the app using? A phone or tablet? Were they using mobile data or wifi from your cable internet connection?

PC laptop with WiFi connection to our home router. Since I work out of a home office we have a high speed internet connection >800 Mbps download. Both cable and internet come through the same feed to a four-way splitter. The splitter feeds three cable boxes plus the router. We also have a wi-fi range extender linked to the router. The laptop connection was to the router via the range extender.

 

[davidvel]

PC laptop with WiFi connection to our home router. Since I work out of a home office we have a high speed internet connection >800 Mbps download. Both cable and internet come through the same feed to a four-way splitter. The splitter feeds three cable boxes plus the router. We also have a wi-fi range extender linked to the router. The laptop connection was to the router via the range extender.

Makes sense. At those speeds everything should be good if the back end is responsive. Sounds like Xfinity's cable and streaming platform infrastructure worked well. Ultimately everything was being viewed/streamed through your cable connection, which has high bandwidth.

Also, just a small correction: the coax that comes into the house goes to the 3 cable boxes and into a modem, which then creates the internet connection. This modem may be behind the cover of a combo modem/router device.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Makes sense. At those speeds everything should be good if the back end is responsive. Sounds like Xfinity's cable and streaming platform infrastructure worked well. Ultimately everything was being viewed/streamed through your cable connection, which has high bandwidth.

Also, just a small correction: the coax that comes into the house goes to the 3 cable boxes and into a modem, which then creates the internet connection. This modem may be behind the cover of a combo modem/router device.

You correct. The splitter feeds three cable boxes and a cable modem. The modem then feeds the router. My primary and backup work stations have LAN connections to the router. Other work devices are connected to the router WiFi. The router WiFi also serves the range extender.

I could also have used one of the splits to feed a second router instead of a cable box. Or I could resplit one of feeds to serve both a cable box and another router. I have enough bandwidth to make that viable.

 

[youppi]

You correct. The splitter feeds three cable boxes and a cable modem. The modem then feeds the router. My primary and backup work stations have LAN connections to the router. Other work devices are connected to the router WiFi. The router WiFi also serves the range extender.

I could also have used one of the splits to feed a second router instead of a cable box. Or I could resplit one of feeds to serve both a cable box and another router. I have enough bandwidth to make that viable.

I don't think your internet provider will let you put a second cable modem on the same account. You will probably need to pay for a second internet account if you do that.

If you want to segment your network, the easiest way is using multiple routers connected like this with a single cable modem