Every week we hold a Cord Cutting Q&A on YouTube answering your cord cutting questions. We understand not everyone can make our weekly Q&A, so we want to answer some of the most popular questions we have been getting.
Today we talk about Amazon or Apple buying Roku, how to save money on the home internet, and Sling TV adding ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC, and more.
Will Apple or Amazon Buy Roku?
This question has been popping up for years. Will Apple, Amazon, or some other company buy Roku? Roku is by far the leader in streaming with over half of the streaming players in the United States being Roku players and one in four smart TVs sold in the United States being powered by Roku. Yet Roku is a smaller company than Apple and Amazon. This size difference has led many to wonder whether one of the bigger companies would to play catchup to Roku in market share or just buy Roku.
So, let’s look at Apple first. Apple clearly has the cash they would need to buy Roku. Yet you would have to wonder why they would buy Roku. Apple already has a streaming player. Apple typically focuses on high-end premium priced products. Apple also makes most of their money from sales of physical goods like phones and sales of digital goods like music. Roku makes most of their money from ads and subscription fees through Roku players.
From the looks of it, you would think Apple buying Roku would be a bad fit. The two business models are different. I wouldn’t count on Apple buying Roku because there just seems to be no good fit for the two companies.
This does leave Amazon as an option. Amazon already has their Fire TV that is selling well and seeing their market share increase. Buying Roku does not offer them much. Amazon could buy Roku players and build Amazon into it, but for less money, they could just keep pouring money into their current Fire TV player that is already a great cord cutting option.
So, I don’t see Amazon or Apple buying Roku. With that said I could easily see Roku sold to a long list of companies including Google. Yet I could also see Roku continuing to go it on their own.
Will Sling TV Add Locals?
I often get asked when Sling TV will add local channels. The funny thing is Sling TV was one of the first streaming services to offer live locals. Later they walked away from locals to keep costs down.
According to reports, local channels cost about $12 a month and that price will likely be going up to $16 a month soon. With costs like that to add locals to Sling TV you would have to raise the cost to about $40 a month. If you look at most streaming services with locals, you will see they are already charging about $40 a month.
Sling TV wants to be a cheaper option that people with antennas can get if they want to add ESPN, for example. With all the other services offering locals it looks as if Sling TV wants to promote antennas and skip the costs of locals. Sling TV seems to have found a market.
So, for now, don’t plan on locals being added to Sling TV.
How to Save Money on Home Internet
Nothing is more annoying than being a loyal customer and never missing a monthly payment. Yet you find out someone who just joined is paying less than you are. Well, welcome to the world of cable TV.
What can you do if you want to save money on home internet? You have a few options to help keep the cost of home internet down.
The first thing you want to do is shop around. Most Americans have at least two internet options: DSL and cable. (Yes, I know some people live in areas with only one options. Hopefully, the rollout of 5G internet speeds up, but most Americans have at least two options.) Make sure you know what both DSL and cable are charging. I often find if I call my current provider and tell them about an offer from a competitor they will match it. If they won’t match it, it is time to switch providers.
Also, make sure you are not overpaying for speed you do not need. According to Netflix, you only need 5 Mbps down per HD stream of Netflix. So, 25 Mbps down will stream five HD streams on Netflix. When I cut the cord I only had 10 Mbps down and was able to easily stream two HD streams of Netflix.
Don’t let internet companies talk you into crazy fast internet plans. Start small because they will always let you upgrade. Getting them to let you downgrade to a cheaper, slower plan can be difficult.
Do your research. Don’t let them talk you into paying for crazy fast internet you do not need. Be willing to switch services to get new customer pricing.
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