The Best Live TV Streaming Services

Cord cutting has always been about saving money – it has never been about going without great entertainment! But, for a while there, it was pretty tough to get your hands on some of your favorite shows, news programming, live sports and other cable “exclusives.” That’s all in the past, now, though: live TV streaming services, or skinny bundles, have changed the way we watch TV as cord cutters. If you’ve spent much time on Cordcutting.com, you probably already know about live TV streaming services and how much we like them. But there are a lot of these services out there. Which are the best live TV streaming services? Which skinny bundles actually deserve your hard-earned money? That’s what we’re here to discuss today, in our biggest post yet on the relative virtues of our favorite skinny bundles. Let’s go!

Spotlight

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.

Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a leading developer, publisher and marketer of interactive entertainment for consumers around the globe. The Company develops and publishes products principally through its wholly-owned labels Rockstar Games and 2K, as well as its new Private Division label. In addition, Take-Two owns Social Point, a leading developer of mobile games.

OTHER ARTICLES
Technologies, Virtualization

B2B Movie Placements: What to Expect?

Article | July 27, 2022

As films evolved into the popular medium that they are today, brands followed suit. They took advantage of a large network of new ways to market, from print media to radio to television. Product placement, a part of branded entertainment marketing, became more common from the 1980s. Today, every moviegoer is familiar – sometimes painfully – with paid product placements. And every marketer has heard commentary on both good and bad B2C product placements. But what about B2B movie placements? Ever heard of those? If you are a B2B enterprise looking to try it out, here are some major differences between B2C and B2B movie placements: Impress the producers Create an enticing pitch for the producers, which can influence them enough to bring them to the creative department. Sell your brand or product to them (indirectly) to help them understand how it will improve the realism of their scene or set. Make them realize how your product or service can help them. Placement isn’t always ‘placement’ Prospective B2B buyers aren’t going to squint their eyes to find your product while watching a movie. However, they might actually remember your brand if you host pre-opening events around the world for them and their families to watch a popular movie. If they enjoy the movie and establish an emotional connection with it, they will definitely think of you while making any kind of purchase decision. Things might not work out No matter how hard you try to show your brand in a good light in a certain scene or situation, sometimes things happen that you can't control or ignore. In such cases, you might have to get all the branding out instead of settling for negative publicity, which could be a viable option for a B2C brand. B2B Movie Placement: A Success Story FLIR, a client of Hollywood Branded, is the leading provider of thermal military camera equipment. It co-starred in one of Warner Brothers' biggest hits of 2018, Rampage. FLIR connected with the right member of the production team and ensured that the brand was pictured in a positive light. FLIR shared its technology with the filmmakers and got advertised to its business customers, mostly film-loving decision-makers, through the movie and the way it was shot. The film earned $427M at the worldwide box office.

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Business

Branded Entertainment in B2B: Why is it Important?

Article | July 11, 2022

Global B2B companies churn out content pieces such as infographics, case studies, assessments, and other forms of thought leadership content to create brand awareness. But is this content enough to engage the customers and the market? Not really. Marketers like you need to look into branded entertainment to get more customer engagement and brand loyalty. What is Branded Entertainment? Adweek loosely describes “branded entertainment” as any content that starts a positive conversation around a product, service, or set of values. This content builds a story around your product or services, showing it in a positive light and getting the audience to engage in your content as much as a film or a TV show. As opposed to other marketing endeavors, branded entertainment doesn’t focus on your products and their features but on entertaining the audience. Incorporating Branded Entertainment into Your Marketing Strategy Here are some ways to get it done without much hassle: Web Series Original programming, such as web series published on the brand’s social media channels, can help you raise awareness through stories that share your brand’s values instead of directly marketing your product or services. PR Stunts Create social media brand content that is entertaining and exciting enough for the audience to make it viral. Such PR brings positive media attention to your brand and creates mass awareness for your brand or product. Videos Volvo's entertaining video of Van Damme's split stunt on YouTube has 114.5 million views. The video didn't need a call-to-action because it wasn’t to convert leads. Instead, it was meant to showcase a piece of business-use truck technology and get engagement. Podcasting GE used podcasting for advertising twice, once with its show ‘The Message’ and again with its new series ‘LifeAfter.’ Neither show discusses GE's products. Instead, they were "GE-presented" and were received well. Summing It Up People are less likely to comment on or share brand posts directly, but they are more likely to tweet or share them on their Instagram stories. This way you can measure the impact of branded entertainment. B2B marketers should consider branded entertainment as a way to build trust and start conversations between their brands and their audience to get a long-term ROI.

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Technologies, Virtualization

Music and podcasts are competing for the same time

Article | August 2, 2022

The pandemic changed media consumption.Consumers acquired an extra 12% of entertainment timeand though everything was up, some categories grew much faster than others. One of the biggest gainers was spoken word audio, with podcasts and audiobooks seeing dramatic rises and while music hours grew too, the increase was below 12%, which means that music lost share. In the current entertainment environment of plenty this may be an academic concern, but when life returns to some form of normality (commutes, going out, gyms etc.) some or all of that extra 12% of entertainment time will go, which means that growing by less than the market average could translate into decline.

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New Doom VR Mod Releasing Soon For Oculus Quest

Article | May 4, 2020

The release will feature 5 sets of VR weapons and a launcher that will allow you to mix and match different Doom mods with ease. There’s support for smooth locomotion and teleport movement options, plus you’ll be able to switch between a couple of different walking speeds for the former. The person behind the mod is DrBeef, who has previously completed a number of well-known Quest ports and VR projects. He was behind the Lambda1VR mod for Oculus Quest, as well as QuakeQuest and many others.

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Spotlight

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.

Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a leading developer, publisher and marketer of interactive entertainment for consumers around the globe. The Company develops and publishes products principally through its wholly-owned labels Rockstar Games and 2K, as well as its new Private Division label. In addition, Take-Two owns Social Point, a leading developer of mobile games.

Related News

Technologies, Solutions

Varnish Software Achieves 1.3 Tbps Per Server Throughput at 1.17 Gbps Per Watt

Varnish Software | February 23, 2023

On February 22, 2023, Varnish Software, a leader in video streaming, online caching, and content delivery software, revealed new performance benchmarks for content delivery that set new records. With the help of Intel and Supermicro, a single 1,120-watt Edge server could handle more than 1.3 Tbps of throughput, equivalent to 1.17 Gbps per watt. Varnish Enterprise 6.0 was deployed on a Supermicro 2U CloudDC server powered by 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors without the need for additional-cost SSL offload cards. Supermicro's 1U and 2U CloudDC servers are optimized for private and public clouds and come with single or dual processors, an all-inclusive server with the best cost-to-optimized-performance ratio. These servers are optimized for balancing CPU, memory, storage, expansion, and networking. In addition, each server offers PCI-Express Gen 5 x8 and x16 expansion slots for the latest PCI cards. "Achieving over 1 Tbps in a single Edge server is a major leap forward for the industry, and critical for delivering the next generation of video and digital experiences," said Frank Miller, CTO of Varnish Software. (Source –Cision PRWeb) Michael McNerney, Vice President, Marketing and Network Security at Supermicro, added, "We deliver first-to-market innovations and IT Solutions that are environmentally friendly and fit every organization's objectives and budget." (Source –Cision PRWeb) Notably, this benchmark's throughput and energy efficiency can be used with different servers, depending on what the customers want. Varnish anticipates collaborating with key partners - Intel and Supermicro on systems that support a broad range of video and content delivery workloads by leveraging cost-effective system footprints and energy efficiency. About Varnish Software Varnish Software is a pioneer in high-performance content delivery. Its powerful caching technology helps the world's biggest content providers deliver lightning-fast web and streaming experiences for huge audiences without downtime or loss of performance. With over 10 million deployments, the technology is relied on by millions of websites worldwide across every industry, including Hulu, Emirates, and Tesla. Powered by uniquely flexible caching technology, its solutions are the common denominator among the world's most popular brands.

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Warner Bros hails 5G entertainment potential

mobileworldlive | October 24, 2019

Warner Bros. Entertainment’s chief digital officer spotlighted the growing role of mobile as a means of consuming content, tipping 5G to fan the flames by opening new avenues for users to stream media. During the closing keynote, Thomas Gewecke (pictured, right), said “mobile is becoming an incredibly important platform for video consumption,” not only for short-form content, but increasingly also long-form.

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How Netflix is changing the way we consume entertainment

livemint | December 31, 2018

Recently, at a gathering of friends, during a lull in the conversation, someone asked: “So, what have you been watching lately on Netflix?” And someone else laughed and said: “This is the question that has replaced ‘What have you been reading lately?’”Everyone present subscribed to Netflix and Amazon Prime. Everyone had one or two shows to recommend that they had watched in the last week or two, and the next evening, when my wife and I sat down for our daily entertainment fix, the conversation was: “What was that French serial X was talking about? About that serial killer?” “No, we’ve seen too many serial killers in the last few weeks. Let’s watch that new science-fiction show that Y was recommending.” The conversations would have been similar in the homes of several of my friends.I cannot remember the last time I turned on an Indian television channel for entertainment. It has been video streaming services or over-the-top (OTT) media for the last year-and-a-half, ever since Netflix launched in India.

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Technologies, Solutions

Varnish Software Achieves 1.3 Tbps Per Server Throughput at 1.17 Gbps Per Watt

Varnish Software | February 23, 2023

On February 22, 2023, Varnish Software, a leader in video streaming, online caching, and content delivery software, revealed new performance benchmarks for content delivery that set new records. With the help of Intel and Supermicro, a single 1,120-watt Edge server could handle more than 1.3 Tbps of throughput, equivalent to 1.17 Gbps per watt. Varnish Enterprise 6.0 was deployed on a Supermicro 2U CloudDC server powered by 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors without the need for additional-cost SSL offload cards. Supermicro's 1U and 2U CloudDC servers are optimized for private and public clouds and come with single or dual processors, an all-inclusive server with the best cost-to-optimized-performance ratio. These servers are optimized for balancing CPU, memory, storage, expansion, and networking. In addition, each server offers PCI-Express Gen 5 x8 and x16 expansion slots for the latest PCI cards. "Achieving over 1 Tbps in a single Edge server is a major leap forward for the industry, and critical for delivering the next generation of video and digital experiences," said Frank Miller, CTO of Varnish Software. (Source –Cision PRWeb) Michael McNerney, Vice President, Marketing and Network Security at Supermicro, added, "We deliver first-to-market innovations and IT Solutions that are environmentally friendly and fit every organization's objectives and budget." (Source –Cision PRWeb) Notably, this benchmark's throughput and energy efficiency can be used with different servers, depending on what the customers want. Varnish anticipates collaborating with key partners - Intel and Supermicro on systems that support a broad range of video and content delivery workloads by leveraging cost-effective system footprints and energy efficiency. About Varnish Software Varnish Software is a pioneer in high-performance content delivery. Its powerful caching technology helps the world's biggest content providers deliver lightning-fast web and streaming experiences for huge audiences without downtime or loss of performance. With over 10 million deployments, the technology is relied on by millions of websites worldwide across every industry, including Hulu, Emirates, and Tesla. Powered by uniquely flexible caching technology, its solutions are the common denominator among the world's most popular brands.

Read More

Warner Bros hails 5G entertainment potential

mobileworldlive | October 24, 2019

Warner Bros. Entertainment’s chief digital officer spotlighted the growing role of mobile as a means of consuming content, tipping 5G to fan the flames by opening new avenues for users to stream media. During the closing keynote, Thomas Gewecke (pictured, right), said “mobile is becoming an incredibly important platform for video consumption,” not only for short-form content, but increasingly also long-form.

Read More

How Netflix is changing the way we consume entertainment

livemint | December 31, 2018

Recently, at a gathering of friends, during a lull in the conversation, someone asked: “So, what have you been watching lately on Netflix?” And someone else laughed and said: “This is the question that has replaced ‘What have you been reading lately?’”Everyone present subscribed to Netflix and Amazon Prime. Everyone had one or two shows to recommend that they had watched in the last week or two, and the next evening, when my wife and I sat down for our daily entertainment fix, the conversation was: “What was that French serial X was talking about? About that serial killer?” “No, we’ve seen too many serial killers in the last few weeks. Let’s watch that new science-fiction show that Y was recommending.” The conversations would have been similar in the homes of several of my friends.I cannot remember the last time I turned on an Indian television channel for entertainment. It has been video streaming services or over-the-top (OTT) media for the last year-and-a-half, ever since Netflix launched in India.

Read More

Events