Family Tech Blog

Tag: television

What the heck is a Quibi?

We’ve all seen ads for Quibi and it has officially launched. So what the heck is a Quibi? I first heard about Quibi at CES in 2019. I wasn’t sure what it was all about except that a lot of celebrities from different genres were endorsing (and likely investing) in the app. Turns out Quibi is a video streaming app designed for use on your mobile device. It was founded by Jefferey Katzenberg, of Disney productions fame, and features short, high-quality television shows news reports, sports features, and movies.

Right now, the content on Quibi seems to be 100% original. In fact. A lot of the shows on Quibi are produced by and starring the celebrity backers that you see in the commercials. Shows star the likes of Chance the Rapper, Lebron James, Liam Hemsworth, and Chrissy Teigen.

What the Heck Is a Quibi?

Quibi features short-form content or normal length content split into short-form episodes. You can usually watch an episode in five to ten minutes and with episodes releasing daily it doesn’t take too long to get to the end of a series. I found myself interested in a show called Murder House Flip, a blend of true crime and home improvement. The first story, renovating a house where a gruesome murder took place thirty years ago, took three episodes to complete. Total running time was similar to that of a half-hour show on TV if you account for ad breaks.

image: Quibi

Watching Murder House Flip is where it clicked for me. Quibi isn’t all that different than television except for being formatted for your mobile device. It is a new concept for high definition, highly produced shows, and movies to flip to verticle mode when you tilt your phone but that’s about where the innovation stops in my opinion. Television has always been featured in short bits, split up by advertising. The difference here is that the content is a bit shorter overall, including the advertising content. I think Quibi is more of a tv channel than a world-changing app.

What Parents Should Know

There is currently no content on Quibi for children. The shows on Quibi, like most streaming services, are rated 14+ up to Mature. You will hear adult language and see some adult themes as well. Most content wouldn’t even be very entertaining for most younger viewers. I would rate the app 16+. As I mentioned above, the idea that Quibi is innovative is only partly accurate. Younger digital natives will see this concept as new. One show being split into several parts separated by ads is pretty new to young ones who are used to clicking play and binging, ad-free, and interruption-free with whole seasons of shows being released all at once. Those of us who lived through Saturday morning cartoons and TGIF every week aren’t so impressed.

I will remind you that the content on Quibi is considered rated teen or higher. Many of the shows feature adult language, extreme violence, and some sexual content. While you may enjoy Quibi, since the shows are new and feature some celebrities that we all love, I wouldn’t recommend it for your kids.

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April 10, 2020
Original TV Content in Snapchat is a Sign of the State of Social Media

Have we come full circle? Maybe, because live-TV is becoming the trend. Well, it is now that television companies are bringing programming to social networks. Snapchat is the latest platform to announce that they’re bringing content from traditional TV to their feed. The shows will take the form of short-form supplemental episodes to direct Snapchat users to the shows on their networks. Snap has announced that Turner, A&E, ABC, the NFL, Vice Media, Discovery, and Fox are already signed on to produce this original content. Many of these companies are larger networks that can promote content from a large group of TV channels.

Apparently Snap isn’t interested in advertising disguised as a show. They are after “true original content.” While the hope of the networks is to move users from their short-form shows on Snapchat’s stories to their programming on Television or their streaming services, Snap is hoping to provide more income from these companies. Especially since their first report after taking the company public showed some major losses. (They say most of the losses were due to paying shareholders after going public.) There is already data to support that social media content by TV networks improves their viewership:

Nielson reports that media companies that publish Snapchat content see “notable audience growth” on TV and other platforms, and that the app delivered a 16-percent boost to the average monthly reach. – Digital Trends

This means they shouldn’t have any trouble filling the Snapchat stories and discovery section with more of these shows. These short episodes will have ads that play before, during, or after. That’s where the income for Snapchat will come from.

What Parents Should Know

I think there are two things parents need to take into account as our social media becomes more inundated with traditional media and advertising. First of all, some parents are concerned with overexposure to media and entertainment. Setting restrictions on what content your child can see is getting harder and harder to do. Adding this content to their social media apps just makes it even more difficult. Moms and dads need to keep an eye on what shows and ads are showing up in these apps and take action if they see something that they’re not comfortable with.

The second issue is time. Many of us are learning how important it is to watch the amount of time our kids are spending online or consuming TV, games, and movies. With Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, and now Snapchat moving towards more original TV style content we are seeing social media become more about the entertainment and less about communication and sharing with friends. It’s important for parents to understand that social media platforms now count as entertainment. If you have a time restriction set on Netflix, Youtube, or Hulu, you should have it on Snapchat and Instagram too. That’s just where we are now. Social Media isn’t a trend. It’s basically the state of the internet in this culture. We have to treat it as such.

May 12, 2017
QUICK! Go Set Up a Kids’ Profile on Your HULU Account

The benefits of having a kids’ profile on your video streaming services are many. Keeping their eyes off of some of the obviously adult oriented content, collecting all of their favorite shows in one place so they’re easy to access, and most importantly (not really) keeping your recommended shows list clear of Daniel Tiger and Lalaloopsy. While the convenience of these profiles has been known for a while, some streaming services have yet to offer the option. Well, today Hulu has been added to the list of streaming options that will make it easier to protect your kids while they watch.

While Kids profiles aren’t meant to be parental controls, they are a place for children to browse Hulu without accidentally running into mature content. A user with a Kids profile won’t be able to access Watchlist, search, recommendations, and auto-resume functions. – HULU Help Center

Profiles will be available right away on hulu.com and soon on their mobile apps, smart tv, and media player apps. Just select the “Add a Profile” on the welcome screen or from the “Account” dropdown on the website then follow the steps to create your account. You can create up to six profiles and you will receive the option to label them “Kids” accounts. This will, as mentioned in the quote above, allow your kids to watch their favorite shows on HULU without the chance of running into adult oriented programs and suggestions. Some other features, including auto-resume (which is a bummer,) will be disabled but you’ll have a bit more peace of mind.

Hulu is a monthly subscription streaming service that has many HBO and NBC shows as well as movies and original programming. Similar to Netflix, HULU has been creating their own shows for a little while now and have exclusive rights to become the only place to view some shows and movies. Hulu is allowing new users to sign up and receive a month for free, after the first thirty days they will be charged $7.99 per month for access with “Limited Commercials” or $11.99 for a commercial free account. Why not go create an account and a few profiles and take the next thirty days to see what you think about it. We’re just happy more services are jumping on the “Kid Profile’s bandwagon.”

January 18, 2017
The Past and Future Combine with PBS Kids’ New 24hr Kids Channel

Our Young Kids are Learning from Screens

The number of children who are viewing educational entertainment broadcasted to their home television grew by two percent over the past year. Most of those families are in lower income homes. PBS has always catered to that demographic with their free television content and now they’re extending that privilege to children. Starting today, January 16 2016, PBSKids will have it’s own 24/7 channel.

Yes, Daniel Tiger, Peg + Cat, and Sesame Street will all be aired on a single PBS channel dedicated to children’s programming. The best part is that it isn’t just a channel, the content will be streaming on the PBSKids app that you probably already have. The online streaming content will also be free.

PBS has said that they understand the need for educational television for those who can’t afford cable or satellite TV, while they also understand that the majority of children are watching their shows on smaller screens these days. The free broadcast/streaming content is unprecedented in a world where everyone is trying to convince you to pay this or that for their content. PBS is sticking to their model of educational entertainment for all.

The plan is to roll out the channel on 73 stations across the United States first and have 107 of the US PBS stations carrying the channel later this year. This will mean that free 24 hour children’s education content will be available to ninety percent of the homes in the united states. The streaming content on their app will increase the audience even further.

Finally the plans include a Family Movie Night and integrating games into the show content. Characters will prompt the young viewers to further their educational experience by taking part in games and activities on the app that will correlate with what they are viewing. PBS says that research on children’s education has inspired this feature and that the feature will increase the opportunity to learn while consuming their content.

What Parents Should Know.

If you don’t already have the PBS App I recommend it for your younger children. The shows on the app are safe and educational and there are no ads or anything that would cause them to click away from the app. The games on the app are clean, safe, and fun. Learning is obviously the first focus of every show and game and short of a few annoying characters, you’ll feel totally glad your kids are getting their entertainment from the PBS App.

January 16, 2017
DirecTV NOW is Not Family Friendly Yet

It’s the future! I have been saying for years that paying for cable tv service is ridiculous. What if I could just stream the channels I want and not have to buy a whole package of useless Home Improvement and Movie Channels? Well, they aren’t exactly there yet but DirecTV is getting closer with DirecTV NOW. AT&T announced yesterday that they’re offering a television streaming service called DirecTV NOW; it’s available for purchase in bundles starting today, November 30th.

Yes! It’s exciting to see that our TV options are expanding and even keeping up with the times a bit more. With ChromeCast, Apple TV, RoKu, and mobile access available we are finally being offered a version the tv service we wanted. Unfortunately, however, after some time with my free trial I have noticed that there is absolutely no parental control options built in for DirecTV NOW. I looked at the menus and in my account settings (there’s no option to create separate profiles, i.e. a kid profile, either.) I also tried to find a “block” option per channel to no avail. Then, a search for “parental controls” on the support and FAQ page led to no results and that was pretty much my final clue. There is currently no way to protect your kids from unwanted content on DirecTV NOW.

That’s a deal breaker for me, especially with so much of what has become acceptable on cable television lately. Sexual activity, language, and increasing violence are mainstays in both broadcast and cable television shows. Even the commercials seem to highlight all of the features we would like to protect our young children from. I guess “keeping up with the times” comes with its costs as well.

What’s a Parent to Do?

I would say wait. Just wait for a while and I’m betting we will see parental controls rolled out on DirecTV NOW before too long. In fact, a quick search on the AT&T Community Forums showed several concerned parents had already begun asking about this feature and it’s in development.

DirecTV NOW looks to be a great way to save some money while still getting the entertainment content we want. Thankfully parental controls and content restrictions are becoming commonplace these days and this will be no exception. It is literally “day one” for this service so we’ll give them some time and the benefit of the doubt. You can join the future too if you’d like, I would just recommend keeping your kids off of it until you can set up some restrictions.

November 30, 2016