Netflix hits upon revolutionary new concept: Live TV channels

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https://www.avclub.com/netflix-live-tv-channels

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Yesterday I watched Spain - Belgium on a live stream on Prime Video. The same stream was available on Netflix and YouTube.

It was like live TV, but properly enshitified. Instead of professional journalists and commenters, you get streamers reacting to the game, improper comments, like and subscribe notices, publicity every time the ball stops, paid viewer comments overlayed on the broadcast. A complete shitstorm.

I realized that this is what the future of live TV looks like. So I think I’m done with it.

The TV from Idiocracy made manifest. How I miss the 90s.

I know this sounds like a bad thing, but I can’t wait for Ow My Balls.

Go away, im baitin!



That’s pretty much America’s Funniest Videos. About 35% of their videos are guys taking it in the groin.


i’m still waiting for “climbing for dollars”




We had a few shows we liked but in general TV always sucked

For real, watching shows you like on Netflix on demand is far superior to mindlessly scrolling through 70 channels and waiting for commercials to end, like we did in the 90s


True, yet somehow this is even worse. There’s always a deeper level of hell.



I have a friend who keeps telling me I need to watch this movie. However I just realized I don’t need to, I’m living it.

In idiocracy the president realized he was in over his head and needed a smarter person to fix things

So this is worse.


watch it still, unlike reality, it’s funny, until you realise that even idiocracy is better than this

President Camacho at least tried to find the smartest people to solve the problems

the moment that he showed resolts, Camacho, with zero ego, let him take the presidency.

And Camacho really cared for the public and their welfare.






…Wow.

“What if we took early 2000s cable, and added everything bad about YouTube and Twitch to it?”


Sounds like tv from the outer worlds and cyberpunk 2077


I don’t have local live TV channels so I hooked up a coax antenna to my TV and I got the local Fox station so I watched it on there. Free TV!



next thing they’ll think up is a free tier supported by just ads

If only there were some technology where they could then distribute this over the air.

Riiight, then you would only need like a dumb display panel that could receive the signal. Someone should patent this quick!

brilliant! it’s like radio but with pictures, idk if the technology is there yet tho…




Pluto, Plex, Tubi already did that + live tv streaming.



All we need now is to bring the feeds into our home for free. Maybe an antennae device of some sort?



Thanks! I’ll have that song in my head all day now to remind me why I cancelled all my subscriptions!


56, we lost animal planet.


My favorite Springsteen song.




I’ve recently been getting into free IPTV streams. There are 1000s and 1000s and free streams from all over the world in pretty much every language with over 2000 in English alone. Most are not geo blocked. You can find a list here: https://iptv-org.github.io/

Which ones are free? I clicked on a few of the links and they all wanted you to sign up for a subscription

I loaded this list into Dispatcharr and then went through and tested and added what looked interesting to my channel list. Right now I have 60 channels that I can watch via Jellyfin.

These include movie channels, news channels (from several countries). music videos, comedy, documentary. Also streams dedicated to older shows like CSI, Beavis and Butthead, etc.

Mostly I watch music video channels while I’m working or doing chores. News when I want news, and Buzzr because I like old game shows when I just want something chill.

ETA: Here you can find links to all the lists https://github.com/iptv-org/iptv/blob/master/PLAYLISTS.md

The Italian government now has you on a watchlist and wants you dead


Your link in this comment doesn’t seem to be working. The prior one did though.





Believe it or not, a LOT of people really want this. It’s a lot to do with “choice paralysis”. They can’t choose what to watch, but they want to watch something. I’ve gotta admit I’d like to just be able to go to a sci-fi channel and watch something random.

I’ve gotta admit I’d like to just be able to go to a sci-fi channel and watch something random.

I recently discovered that Sling TV has over 500+ live TV free channels. It’s like Pluto or Tubi but way more channels.

https://www.sling.com/freestream

The problem I have with most of these services is that every channel is too hyper-specific, often literally just playing a single show or, at best, 2-3 shows but in multi-hour blocks. Incredibly lazy IMO.

To me, the appeal of linear terrestrial TV is having channels that show a wide variety of things throughout the day. If I wanted to see 24 hours of non-stop Mr. Bean I’d download them and shuffle the folder.

Been meaning to try random Jellyfin plugins that sim tv channels.

https://github.com/binarygeek119/FinTV

https://github.com/DrewThomasson/JellyfinTV

The second one even does custom ads based on channel content. I would love a plugin that queries random retro ads off the internet. Like you’re watching Star Trek and get an ad for the SNES or Supersoaker when shows have scenes designed around commercials, or between episodes.

I’m using Tunarr which hooks up to a Jellyfin or Plex library and lets you customize channels and filler content (ads) with a bunch of different scheduling tools. Definitely a more heavyweight solution than those plugins but a lot more flexible.

You still have to find the filler content yourself but there’s plenty of playlists on YouTube and Tunarr also supports local libraries so you don’t need to clutter up your Jellyfin library with them.




My Samsung TV has a channel dedicated to stargate.

I turn that on after work and just watch what ever episode from whatever iteration while i decompress from work


Seems like it is geo-locked or down.



I’ve been using an app called Coax (Apple only, which will disappoint some) to do this with my Plex library and it’s glorious. Beautiful retro styled schedule grid, automated channel/schedule creation, even has a weather channel with Jazz playing. I’m rediscovering stuff that’s been sitting idle on my server for years because it’s just fun to see what’s “on” and be like, ‘Oh yeah, let’s check that out for a few minutes’ and then I end up watching the whole thing.

Thanks for this, I’ll give it a go on my Apple TV.


i just make genre playlists in jellyfin and shuffle whatever i feel like watching.



Netflix already has (had?) a feature that randomly plays something.



Tell me you want to be a cable service without telling me.


Next week - Live talk shows without video! You can order a special subscription package to your car. Now only currency 9.99


Full circle, except gated off now. I’ll count that as a win for the company.


Y’all, the greatest joy in my media universe is the 24/7 MST3K channel that’s on one of these things. Guaranteed laugh within 2 minutes. I don’t need to select the episode. I don’t want each episode in a row. I want random.


they’ve already had this for a bit with WWE on netflix.

It’s just cable with Tivo. you can pause, rewind, all crap. WWE was the test case (it’s like the TV version of the porn industry) so now they’ll woo over other cable networks and sporting events. And then…oh you got cable without having to buy a tivo box. on the bright side, it’ll make pirating and restreaming live sports a heck of alot easier.


I haven’t seen any live-tv for 30yrs now, I’m baffled they still exist somehow?

On the rare occasion I see live TV, the commercials are a new level of terrible now.

They don’t even try to be entertaining now. Always some bold statement about the proud American tradition read by someone with a gruff voice and it’s a fucking dog food commercial or something

Drugs, lawyers, and AI videos.



I can imagine…and I really really despise commercials or ads. They all try to take you for some dumb troglodyte. I long switched to piracy for movies and series. Enter name, wait 1-2 minutes, watch in 4k with no ads but in peace.



Having tv I don’t watch lowers my internet bill by like $20 a month.

Same. Never watch it but they insist and give us a deal (and then we have to call and threaten to cancel every few months when they try to take the deal away lol)


Lol. My bill is fixed so that wouldn’t change anything. But our TV can only do jellyfin 😁




Comments from other communities

Allow me to draw you a picture of time.

O

it’s a flat circle!


Did they just reinvent it?!




Riding the same wave the best phone companies will propose a revolutionary new smartphone with the handset and the dial

Have we considered that inputting phone numbers could work better with a reduced set of motions? We could have all numbers arranged on a circle and all you have to do is rotate a dial and let go.


never needs charging because it’s stuck to the wall


I still think there was no good reason to remove the home button, id rather have one that is remappable instead of extra screen space. Yeah it breaks, but if anything thats a pro for apple with more ppl replacing their phones earlier.


That’s very infinite jest



This has a funny secondary effect in that in some countries they would definitely need to get a broadcasting license then, when so far they got around it, being a video-on-demand service falling under the same laws as rental places for VHS tapes and such.

Getting a broadcasting license isn’t all that difficult if you are just an entertainment channel. Big German twitch streamers had that problem and while its not cheap, a license costs pretty much nothing compared to all the licensing costs Netflix has.


Oi, You Got A Loicense For That, Mate?



Wow, there are some real geniuses there, or did they possibly pay one of those consulting companies?



how about solve your revolutionary problem that is causing your decline, stop cancelling shows after 1-2 seasons/. besides that the extreme hiatus between seasons of shows, which also plagues other streaming.

Our family’s policy is that we don’t follow a show until it’s completely over, and we know it’s a complete show.

Netflix hates that, but it their own fault, for being so irresponsible with their programming. We wouldn’t go to a movie that we know quits in the middle of the second act.



Astonishing. Absolutely fascinating.


flagging engagement numbers

Have they considered putting literally any description about shows up? I don’t want to have to scroll through a list looking for something interesting and go to a second website to actually see what it is, and nor do I just want to watch ten minutes of stuff different shows too decide because then I’ve already wasted an hour.

That was a major reason we cancelled. Now we have Disney plus (I think someone else pays for that and shares with us - I don’t watch anything on it on my own initiative so it’s not my realm) and BBC, and the seven seas. Two legal services seems like a sensible amount.

Or how about trailers that actually give you some clue, instead of a snippet of a random conversation that has nothing to do with the plot.


best they can do is cancel the show after 1-2 season, rarely 3, and 4 if they are lucky.

I think it’s all part of the same mindset: they want all conclusions to be drawn from watching the show. So they make shit shows that they shouldn’t have started making (or rather: shit by their metrics, not viewers’) and then can them when the experiment says doesn’t meet their requirements.




Ok but I’ve wanted this forever

Everyone knows the joke about spending an hour looking for something to watch, this could be great for discovery

Now if these services would just let us shuffle episodes…

(I know I know jellyfin/ whatever would be better but I’m broke and $10 a month for a shared account is easier than buying the server equipment right now)

Have you heard of cable? Broadcast? Satellite? This already existed. That was the experience. Flip channels to find a show that’s good enough and find something new along the way.

But that’s the real thing that happened. It was never about tech “disrupting” TV any more than it was Uber “disrupting” cabs.

It was just tech going, “hey we want to be in cable, let’s take over and replace cable.”

Swapping one base technology for another, and price-dancing the whole way there, so when your streaming service costs $300/mon, it has been so long that you forgot $80/mon cable used to exist. Read-only services that couldn’t serve you dynamic ads every 3 seconds while profiling your home network and watching your cat through a webcam to figure out what litter coupons to e-mail you next week.

The cable guy screaming in the middle of the street on the streaming service South Park was spot on.

No? I didn’t forget anything. There were things I liked about cable - but the ads and the not being able to watch what you wanted sucked.

Something like tv channels, but with no ads and you can go pick and watch what you want like you always have sounds great. There’s a reason there are so many tutorials to set up that experience on services like plex or jellyfin.

And you can say we are going to slippery slope ourselves up to $300 but people are getting better at saying no to higher prices, look at game pass or doritos for two recent big examples

This just feels like netflix giving users something they have been asking for forever and everyone is making the same OMG THEY REINVENTED CABLE LMAOZ comment and I wanted to point out the other side.




From Netflix to Nutflicks.


You can do that? Live? Like it’s happening RIGHT NOW?

It’s like we’re living in the future.


Hello Jellyfin!


Can I use plastic bags again yet?


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