[NashGuy]

Yes you can watch The Blacklist on the cable-authenticated NBC app next day but you are forced to watch ads. Pretty sure it was early last fall season where I wanted to watch a specific episode of dateline but it didn't get to Peacock for a week but it was on the cable-authenticated NBC app next day with forced ads just like The Blacklist. That might have changed in the last year though. I canceled Peacock a few months ago anyway because there just isn't much on NBC that I watch and I found their other stuff didn't really interest me.

Hmm, maybe that episode of Dateline not showing up next-day was a fluke or maybe you were on the free tier of Peacock at that point. To the extent that current NBC shows are available on the free tier of Peacock, I think they're on a one-week lag, whereas they show up next-day on the paid premium tier (same as they do on Hulu). This article had the run-down for last year's 2020-21 NBC season.

I get Peacock Premium for free via Comcast broadband. I wouldn't pay for it but I have found a few things on there to watch. The ad breaks are mercifully short. As for NBC itself, the last primetime series I watched on it was Superstore, which is now done. Only stuff I care about on NBC now is SNL, the evening news, and occasionally Meet the Press. I DVR all three from my OTA antenna. At times when I have Hulu ad-free (like now), if I don't catch SNL as it airs live, then I watch it next-day on Hulu since it has much better HD picture quality than NBC OTA, plus there are no ads to FF through as in the DVR recording.

 

[the2130]

Most of the NBC primetime shows are still streaming the next day on Hulu, including new shows this fall. That deal will change eventually, but it's still in place at this time.

 

[b4pjoe]

Hmm, maybe that episode of Dateline not showing up next-day was a fluke or maybe you were on the free tier of Peacock at that point. To the extent that current NBC shows are available on the free tier of Peacock, I think they're on a one-week lag, whereas they show up next-day on the paid premium tier (same as they do on Hulu). This article had the run-down for last year's 2020-21 NBC season.

I get Peacock Premium for free via Comcast broadband. I wouldn't pay for it but I have found a few things on there to watch. The ad breaks are mercifully short. As for NBC itself, the last primetime series I watched on it was Superstore, which is now done. Only stuff I care about on NBC now is SNL, the evening news, and occasionally Meet the Press. I DVR all three from my OTA antenna. At times when I have Hulu ad-free (like now), if I don't catch SNL as it airs live, then I watch it next-day on Hulu since it has much better HD picture quality than NBC OTA, plus there are no ads to FF through as in the DVR recording.

No I was on the premium tier at that time. I just let that expire about a month or two ago.

 

[NashGuy]

Most of the NBC primetime shows are still streaming the next day on Hulu, including new shows this fall. That deal will change eventually, but it's still in place at this time.

Yeah. When Comcast/NBCU and Disney struck their deal to give full control of Hulu to the latter, Variety reported that "by 2022, NBCUniversal will have the right to cancel most of its content-licensing agreements with Hulu." Given that most of what NBCU licenses to Hulu is next-day access to the five most recent eps of their shows, it sounds like we might see that disappear around this time next year, when the 2022-23 broadcast TV season begins. Although, just because they can do that doesn't mean they will. (It'll come down to whether they want more licensing money from Hulu/Disney or want to make Peacock Premium more competitive by making it the exclusive streaming home of current NBC shows.) I certainly expect next-day NBC shows to exit Hulu by the end of 2024, though, because that's when all current licensing deals between NBCU and Hulu expire. Comcast will likely have sold out their remaining stake in Hulu to Disney by that point too.

 

[the2130]

Yes you can watch The Blacklist on the cable-authenticated NBC app next day but you are forced to watch ads.

There's an easy workaround for that. You could use Playon or a similar app to record the stream with a web browser and then skip the commercials when you watch it.

 

[James Long]

As long as the solution does not take more time and effort than the problem.

 

[the2130]

Yes, you have to weigh the time and effort to record the programs against the time wasted (and aggravation involved) in sitting through commercials, but in most cases it's not even a close call. I've recorded entire seasons of shows with Playon with minimal effort.

 

[James Long]

Peacock makes it easy with the circle on the screen counting down the number of seconds until the interruption ends. I just hit mute at the beginning of each break and wait for the counter to hit zero. Knowing exactly how long the break will be at the beginning I may take the opportunity to stretch my legs, empty my bladder or get a refill of my drink or food. A lot better than the ad breaks of unknown length seen on regular TV (is this a three minute break or four ... skip forward a few times AHH it was a two minute break ... skip back a few times). Recording and editing on another device before viewing is a step that takes more time than I'm willing to give.

As long as the commercials are inserted at "good points" in the programming (generally where the show's writer knows that the audience will be leaving for a minute or more and writes the break into the action) I don't find commercials to be extremely intrusive and the mute option works well. Breaks where no break was written in are more intrusive. I was watching a TV show produced for ad supported TV on an "ad free" binge a couple days ago and was thrown off by the immediate return to the show after a build up to the commercial break. I almost NEEDED a commercial as part of enjoying the show. Almost. I was happy not to need to use the mute or skip buttons. But there were a couple of times that after the big build up to the break I hit pause and took my own break, regardless of the availability of commercials.

 

[NashGuy]

No I was on the premium tier at that time. I just let that expire about a month or two ago.

Well, FWIW, just as a follow-up, I checked Peacock Premium yesterday (Sat.) morning for the new episode of Dateline, which had aired on NBC the night before (Fri). It wasn't there, even though it was available to stream from NBC's cable-authenticated site. Normally new NBC episodes are available on Peacock next-day. But I checked again just now (Sunday afternoon, so less than 48 hours after the new Dateline episode aired) and it's now available on Peacock.

So IDK, maybe Dateline is a special exception and its eps don't appear on Peacock until 24 hours, or maybe 36 hours, after airing on NBC? No idea why they'd do that given that no outside company is involved in the ownership, production or distribution of the show. So NBCU can do whatever they want with it on their own platforms.

I also checked Hulu and it looks like Dateline isn't available at all on that service, unless you have the Hulu live cable TV add-on, which incorporates the NBC cable-authenticated on-demand platform.

 

[b4pjoe]

I guess I am looking for the network streaming holy grail. If I could get all 4 major networks via streaming like Paramount Plus does it I could cut the cord easily. They have their shows available same night in addition to the fact they have the local channel live. I still have DirecTV so I can record and ff through commercials but Paramount+ has spoiled me. I watch all of the CBS shows I care about via Paramount+ just because there are no commercials that I have to ff through. With the other 3 networks I have to record and ff through the commercials. The horror...

 

[NashGuy]

I guess I am looking for the network streaming holy grail. If I could get all 4 major networks via streaming like Paramount Plus does it I could cut the cord easily. They have their shows available same night in addition to the fact they have the local channel live. I still have DirecTV so I can record and ff through commercials but Paramount+ has spoiled me. I watch all of the CBS shows I care about via Paramount+ just because there are no commercials that I have to ff through. With the other 3 networks I have to record and ff through the commercials. The horror...

I assume that you can't get good reception of your local stations with an OTA antenna, which you could pair with a DVR solution (e.g. Channels, Plex, Tablo, TiVo)? I do have an OTA DVR but honestly find little worth watching on the broadcast networks any more. But aside from that, a combo of ad-free Hulu, ad-free Paramount+, and the free PBS app covers nearly everything from the major nets and without ads. I don't see the big deal in waiting a day or so after something airs in order to stream it.

 

[b4pjoe]

Correct. OTA is not an option. Locals are 80 miles away. I don't have an issue waiting a day. I work nights so I catch up on the weekend. But the wife wants no part of waiting for a day unless it is something she records on the DVR.

 

[the2130]

I guess I am looking for the network streaming holy grail. If I could get all 4 major networks via streaming like Paramount Plus does it I could cut the cord easily. They have their shows available same night in addition to the fact they have the local channel live. I still have DirecTV so I can record and ff through commercials but Paramount+ has spoiled me. I watch all of the CBS shows I care about via Paramount+ just because there are no commercials that I have to ff through. With the other 3 networks I have to record and ff through the commercials. The horror...

CBS primetime shows are not available the same night on Paramount+. They stream the next day.

 

[James Long]

CBS primetime shows are not available the same night on Paramount+. They stream the next day.

I thought they offered the local channel via live linear streaming in select markets? Not my market, of course.

 

[the2130]

I thought they offered the local channel via live linear streaming in select markets? Not my market, of course.

Yes, that's true. But then you are watching the live feed of the local CBS affiliate. You not only get all the commercials, but also the on-screen graphics promoting the local news and other stuff like that. And you have to watch it on the linear schedule.

 

[b4pjoe]

CBS primetime shows are not available the same night on Paramount+. They stream the next day.

Well when the Primetime shows are on CBS by the time I get home at 11:00 pm Central time they are on Paramount+. They are on there about 4 hours after the shows air. For example the 60 Minutes that aired at 6:00 pm Central time tonight is available on Paramount+ right now.

 

[NashGuy]

I thought they offered the local channel via live linear streaming in select markets? Not my market, of course.

You're in one of the unlucky few markets, I guess. Paramount+ (the premium tier) carries the live local CBS station "in 99% of the United States" per their support site. Looks like they've got 206 local affiliates on board.

Paramount+ Help Center

 

[billsharpe]

I've been watching Sunday Morning on Paramount+ for sometime now on Sunday afternoon. It's nice to get through this 90-minute show in a little over an hour without having to fast forward. The nature feature at the end of the show is sometimes shortened, but Paramount+ offers a full 2 minutes or more of it in the "extras" list for the program.

We had previously recorded Sunday Morning on VCR tapes back in the Charles Kuralt days and DVR recordings before signing up with CBS All Access.

 

[James Long]

You're in one of the unlucky few markets, I guess. Paramount+ (the premium tier) carries the live local CBS station "in 99% of the United States" per their support site. Looks like they've got 206 local affiliates on board.

Paramount+ Help Center

It looks like they added my market when I wasn't looking.

 

[the2130]

Peacock makes it easy with the circle on the screen counting down the number of seconds until the interruption ends. I just hit mute at the beginning of each break and wait for the counter to hit zero. Knowing exactly how long the break will be at the beginning I may take the opportunity to stretch my legs, empty my bladder or get a refill of my drink or food. A lot better than the ad breaks of unknown length seen on regular TV (is this a three minute break or four ... skip forward a few times AHH it was a two minute break ... skip back a few times). Recording and editing on another device before viewing is a step that takes more time than I'm willing to give.

Yes, it's nice to know how long a commercial is going to run. Paramount+ does that with the promo spots that run before shows, and Hulu's ads that run in before and after shows are only 15 seconds. I really just don't like paying extra for an ad-free tier and having ads that interrupt the programs. It may not be as bad as I first thought on Peacock - it appears that there are no commercial breaks in the NBC shows that stream next-day, or in the Peacock originals. I also checked a few other shows like "The Office" and didn't find any commercials. On the other hand, there are a ton of older movies that have ads, and there doesn't appear to be any way to know which ones have ads without launching them and checking the progress bar for break points, after which they will be in the "Continue Watching" section with no easy way to remove them. I really didn't sign up for Peacock to watch older movies, so that isn't a huge deal, but they really should label them as "free with ads" to make it easy to identify those movies and shows that have ads.

As to your comment about recording and editing on another device, editing isn't really necessary. When I record shows with Playon, I just copy the files to one of the Plex folders on my PC (or record directly to a Plex folder) and it's ready to view on any of my devices, including my TV. Plex handles the episode naming and numbering and imports program details from online databases. And if there are commercial breaks, I use the 30-second skip in the Plex client app to bypass them. Since most commercial breaks are in increments of 30 seconds, it's pretty simple to skip the ads. And if you overshoot the point where the program resumes, you can skip back in 10-second increments. All things considered, it's only slightly more trouble than recording with a DVR. I once recorded all 1225 episodes of "Dark Shadows" and put them on my Plex server for later viewing.