TV Talk: How to watch the Super Bowl without cable
Share this post:
Whether you’re tuning in for the commercials or because you actually want to see who wins in the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles matchup, there are plenty of ways to catch Fox’s presentation of “Super Bowl LVII” (6:30 p.m. Sunday) even if you have cut the cable cord.
The easiest method, of course, is the most old-fashioned: Tune into WPGH-TV, Channel 53, via antenna. But Western Pennsylvania’s hilly terrain doesn’t always allow for that in the digital TV era where signals either reach you or they don’t (there’s rarely that static-y in-between of the analog age).
Another option is to tune in to the game online at FoxSports.com on a computer or via the free Fox Sports app which is available for internet-connected devices — such as phones and smart TVs using iOs, Android, Roku, Google TV (or Chromecast), Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and XBox.
The Fox network is also carried on subscription streaming services, including YouTube with live TV, fuboTV, DirecTV Stream and Hulu + live TV.
Whither Hulu and FX?
This week, Disney CEO Bob Iger beat back a proxy fight from activist investor Nelson Peltz, announced movie sequels to Disney hits “Toy Story,” “Frozen” and “Zootopia” and warmed the hearts of Disney theme park fans by talking about increasing capacity while maintaining guest satisfaction and adding attractions, including an unspecified “Avatar” experience at Disneyland in California.
But what Iger wouldn’t say is what he plans to do with Hulu. Disney owns the majority share of that streaming service with Comcast a minority owner. The expectation had been that Disney would buy out Comcast by the end of 2024, but this week Iger said he wouldn’t commit to that. If he leaned in any direction, it was more toward selling Hulu. But was that sincere or just the extremely optics-concious Iger saying what he knew Peltz wanted to hear to make Peltz go away before Disney’s annual meeting in April?
Related
• TV Talk: Pittsburgher competes on post-Super Bowl premiere of ‘Next Level Chef’
• TV Talk: Why do Super Bowl ads feel less super these days?
• TV Talk: Mt. Lebanon native Joe Manganiello surprised in PBS’s ‘Finding Your Roots’
“Hulu, by the way, is a very successful platform and I think a good consumer proposition,” Iger said in a CNBC interview Thursday. “But everything’s on the table right now. So I’m not going to speculate about whether we’re a buyer or seller of it, but I obviously have suggested that I’m concerned about undifferentiated general entertainment, and particularly in the competitive landscape that we’re operating in. And we’re going to look at it very objectively and expansively.”
So what does Iger consider “undifferentiated general entertainment”? In the same interview, he cites “seven or eight platforms in the streaming business alone that are in general entertainment,” so that would seem to suggest most of the big services, including Netflix, HBO Max, Paramount+ and, yes, Hulu, services that have a little bit of everything for everyone.
If that translation of Hollywood-speak is accurate and Hulu is potentially on the chopping block, what would that mean for FX, purveyor of some of the best TV/streaming series outside of HBO?
“Look, I like general entertainment in the sense that there’s a lot of quality there and in fact, we make a lot,” Iger said on CNBC. “’The Bear’ is a great example of that or ‘Old Man,’ what FX makes for us, what Searchlight makes for us … We want to curate that more aggressively. … In order for us to be more profitable as a company in this business, we have to reduce our expenses. … In order to do that you have to make some choices. I happen to believe because general entertainment is not as differentiated … that’s a tough business to be in competitively and it’s not our strongest suit.”
My guess is Iger sees the FX brand as differentiated, but if he were to sell Hulu and bring FX under Disney+ as a tile, expanding the Disney+ brand, wouldn’t that then just make Disney+ an undifferentiated service? If he’s intent on keeping Disney+ differentiated, then where does that leave FX?
A request for comment from the head of FX Networks publicity was not returned.
‘Accent’ changes channels
The Diocese of Greensburg’s quarterly program “The Catholic Accent” relocates from WTAE-TV to WPXI-TV but will retain its 11:30 a.m. time slot effective Feb. 19 with a “Faith and Food” episode that highlights the official diocesan fish fry guide.
Kept/revived
Apple TV+ renewed spy thriller “Tehran” for a third season with Hugh Laurie joining the cast.
Amazon’s Prime Video will bring back “The Peripheral” for a second season.
Starz will develop a sequel series to its 2010-13 show “Spartacus,” set after the events of that series — and by Steven S. DeKnight, writer of the original series.
Channel surfing
The Wall Street Journal reports that while Warner Bros. Discovery still plans to add most discovery+ content to HBO Max sometime this year, the company will maintain a separate discovery+ app to avoid losing discovery+ subscribers who won’t want to pay the higher price point of the combined streaming service. … Pittsburgh-based Fred Rogers Productions’ “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” releases a new digital game, “Daniel Tiger: At the Dentist,” on Feb. 17 at pbskids.org/daniel timed to February as National Children’s Dental Month.