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Philo, revisited: Last November, a new steaming TV bundle called Philo arrived, offering roughly 40 cable channels for just $16 per month. It accomplished this primarily by omitting major broadcast networks and expensive sports channels, instead working only with non-sports programmers such as AMC, Discovery, and Viacom.
This week, Philo expanded its reach by releasing new apps for Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, joining existing ones for Roku, iOS, and Google's Chrome browser. The startup has also raised $40 million, mainly from the networks that supply most of its channels, and is now planning a bigger marketing push.
I hope Philo does well, because it provides a necessary counterweight to the trend of ever-larger and more expensive streaming TV bundles, which I wrote about last week. If Philo can establish an audience for smaller, cheaper TV packages, maybe other networks will curb the kinds of contractual obligations that are making most streaming bundles as inflexible as cable. For more on all that, check out my interview with Philo CEO Andrew McCollum at Fast Company.
The overblown antenna: As more people look into cutting the cord, some unscrupulous antenna vendors have been trying to push their products through misleading or outright false advertising. Stop The Cap has a great story on this phenomenon, looking at puffed-up marketing from products like ClearView, OctaAir, and The Fox. Some of these vendors exaggerate about how much programming you can get with an antenna, while others use scare tactics to dissuade customers from buying cheaper (but equally effective) products. I did some poking around myself, and found several antennas on Amazon that listed ESPN and Fox Business in their product images, even though neither channel is available over-the-air.
Antennas can be a useful tool for cord-cutters, but they are limited to the five major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and CW), public broadcasting channels like PBS, and lesser-known digital subnets like MeTV. And while some antennas are more powerful than others, your location, surroundings, and antenna placement often matter more than the hardware itself. My advice is to use TVFool's lookup tool to see what channels are available at what mile ranges, then getting an antenna from a reputable brand like Antennas Direct, Channel Master, Mohu, or Winegard, rather than one that tries to mislead consumers.
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