How To Stream NBC on an Internet Only TV in your Cable TV Home

Let's say you have your main TV hooked up to Xfinity in your Great Room, but then you have a second TV in your bedroom that doesn't have a cable TV box, and you want to watch NBC TV shows like The Today Show on it. 

Here are three solutions to allow you to watch NBC broadcast TV on a TV where you've 'cut the cord'.

• 1. Use an Antenna

If you within a good range of a broadcast antenna, you can hook up a fairly inexpensive antenna to your TV and watch live broadcast TV, just like they did back in the old days.

2. Link Your TV Provider to the NBC and NBCU Family of Apps

With this solution, you need to have an account with a cable provider like Xfinity.

"If you have an account with a participating cable/satellite/digital TV provider, you can link it to the NBC and NBCU family of apps to unlock all episodes in the library and access a live stream of your local station."

Once you connect your app to your cable TV provider, you can watch NBC shows with an NBC app. 

3. Use the Xfinity Stream App.

Just like the Xfinity Stream App on iOS, you can use the Xfinity Stream App on your supported smart TV, like the TCL Roku TV. 

This gives you access to the full range of channels that you are subscribed to on your main account, along with the cloud DVR service, if that's part of your package. 

Xfinity Stream App on Xfinity TV Partner Devices FAQs:

"We work with equipment manufacturers to bring the Xfinity Stream app to compatible Amazon Fire TV devices, LG Smart TVs, Roku devices and other Partner Devices. The Xfinity Stream app offers live broadcast channels, linear cable channels, cloud recordings and video on demand, all without having to rent an Xfinity TV Box from us.

The Xfinity Stream app for Partner Devices is currently offered in a "beta" version that doesn't include the full set of features and functionality that comes with the Xfinity Stream app or the web portal. Future releases of the app will include additional features and functionality, as well as improved stability and optimization. When using the "beta" app, you won't be charged an "additional outlet" service charge. Pricing may change in the future.

Please note that Xfinity X1 is the best way to watch Xfinity TV, and not all features of X1 are available if you choose to use a Partner Device. See below for more information."

[Video] Interacting with the Television Audience in Real Time

Click to watch: [Video] Interacting with the Television Audience in Real Time

Gavin Purcell (@gavinpurcell) - Producer, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Rick Borutta (@CBSborutta) - Producer, CBS Backstage LIVE Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) - Author, Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business (Moderator)

Watch more videos from the 140conf.

American Idol Jordin Sparks in Ghana

Jim Long is in Ghana with the president as a cameraman for NBC News.

Jim says on his blog:

In nine days we will have traveled to Israel, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. My job with NBC News allows me unique access to history and I take advantage of these moments to share what we’re covering with friends on Twitter.

This morning I saw a post from him that points us to what was a live video stream using QIk of American Idol Jordin Sparks in Ghana.

Check it out.

Stay with the video until the end for a short tune from Jordin Sparks.

Jim is showing us the future... I'm excited by all the possibilities.


Jordin “Sparks” an Interest in Fighting Malaria in Africa:

American Idol Winner Jordin Sparks will make an appearance during the President and Mrs. Bush’s trip to Ghana tomorrow, in an effort to highlight malaria’s devastating effect on mothers and children throughout Africa. Last year’s Idol Gives Back charity special educated tens of millions of Americans about the malaria crisis in Africa and raised more than $17 million to fight malaria in Africa.

Visit: MalariaNoMore.org - Help Save Lives.

More:
Jeff Pulver: The Qik PSA: American Idol winner Jorin Sparks in Ghana Speaking out Against Malaria

Content exists to attract passive viewers who will sit still for advertisements

You Don't Understand Our Audience
What I learned about network television at Dateline NBC.
By John Hockenberry:

Networks are built on the assumption that audience size is what matters most. Content is secondary; it exists to attract passive viewers who will sit still for advertisements. For a while, that assumption served the industry well. But the TV news business has been blind to the revolution that made the viewer blink: the digital organization of communities that are anything but passive. Traditional market-driven media always attempt to treat devices, audiences, and content as bulk commodities, while users instead view all three as ways of creating and maintaining smaller-scale communities. As users acquire the means of producing and distributing content, the authority and profit potential of large traditional networks are directly challenged.

In the years since my departure from network television, I have acquired a certain detachment about how an institution so central to American culture could shift so quickly to the margins. Going from being a correspondent at Dateline--a rich source of material for The Daily Show--to working at the MIT Media Lab, where most students have no interest in or even knowledge of traditional networks, was a shock. It has given me some hard-won wisdom about the future of journalism, but it is still a mystery to me why television news remains so dissatisfying, so superficial, and so irrelevant. Disappointed veterans like Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather blame the moral failure of ratings-obsessed executives, but it's not that simple. I can say with confidence that Murrow would be outraged not so much by the networks' greed (Murrow was one of the first news personalities to hire a talent agent) as by the missed opportunity to use technology to help create a nation of engaged citizens bent on preserving their freedom and their connections to the broader world.

Great read.

via [ Ron Watson ]

New England Patriots: Best TV Coverage

I felt bad for Channel 5 (ABC) in Boston. They signed a deal for exclusive coverage of last night's Partiots/Giants game, and the NFL broke the contract and gave the game to 4 (CBS) and 7 (NBC).

The NFL ended up giving Channel 5 three playoff tickets and exclusive access for their pre-game and post-game shows. Those exclusives didn't end up being so valuable.

Pre Game
When game time came, I watched the Channel 5 pre-game for their exclusive on field interviews. Not that exciting.

Game Time
When game time arrived, I flipped over to the other stations to check them out, and found that Channel 4 had the best sound. Much better than 5 or 7.

Post Game
When it was time for the exclusive post-game coverage, Mike Lynch of Channel 5 was left alone standing in the corridor, looking in vain for players to interview. Sad. I flipped over to Channel 4, and there was Bill Belichick's press conference, LIVE.

Watch the post game press conference footage at the Official Website of the New England Patriots.