I cut the cord with cable a long time ago. It’s been a great experience for me, and an amazing money saver to boot. I wrote about how to cut the cord with cable and how I’m using my Roku and PlayOn TV to watch the shows I want to see. While it isn’t perfect and doesn’t cover every network and every show, it covers everything I care about except some sports. Not anymore. The online streaming of ABC changed on January 6, and now you need to sign in to your cable provider to watch new shows via the ABC app.
I have a major philosophical issue with this, as ABC is network television and meant to be free tv. When you stream ABC on the abc.go app, you have to watch commercials. In fact, you watch a lot of commercials. There are at least six commercial breaks in an hour long show, one before the show starts and five throughout the episode, and you cannot fast forward through them or change apps on your tablet or phone to avoid them. You’re pretty much forced to watch them, unlike when I used to use my VCR to tape show or even my DVR where I could fast forward.
Apparently ABC has decided that they aren’t making enough money from the commercials, and now you have to have an affiliation with an approved cable provider to use the ABC app. Whether it’s because they can’t charge enough per viewing of the commercials online or their shows cost too much to make and license or some other problem altogether, address that root cause. This is not the answer. Within two days, the abc.go app already had over 3,000 one star reviews. They updated it to fix some (not insignificant) bugs, and already there are almost 1,500 1 star reviews compared to 14 five star reviews. That should tell you something there.
My personal opinion aside, this is the reality at the moment. ABC follows the trend set by Fox and CBS in making this change, as Fox has long required you to provide your cable provider to watch recent shows (but I’ll be honest, there aren’t any Fox shows I watch, so I sort of hadn’t cared). CBS has been late to the game in providing online streaming, and again there aren’t any CBS shows I’m interested in watching primarily because they haven’t streamed shows in the past. While CBS doesn’t require you (yet) to have a cable subscription, they simply don’t load shows to their app until a week has passed, which is essentially the same result. NBC, however, still keeps free tv as free tv for all, not just those who are (over?)paying for cable with select providers. For now. You know it’s a matter of time, right?
ABC? If you’re listening, I have a message for you. There are some shows that I’m willing to wait to watch, but not many. And those are only the shows that I currently watch and love, which is down to four (yep, just four) right now. Three I’ll wait to watch, but the fourth? Nope. So that means you just lost a viewer.
When they go off the air, I won’t be searching for new ABC shows to replace them. I’ll find other ways to spend my time, and that’s fewer eyeballs you’ll have anywhere. You can’t stop the tide of change. People simply don’t sit down on a Thursday night to watch live television anymore. More and more of us are cutting the cord with cable for a variety of reasons. If you want to retain a fraction of your viewership, this is a decision you need to seriously revisit.
So what’s up with the new ABC app? I’ve been exploring and testing and playing with it for awhile, and I at least have some answers to what you can and can’t do.
ABC App FAQ – what you can and can’t do with ABC.go
Can I just not update the abc.go app and keep watching my shows?
Nope. When you open the app anytime after January 6, you receive the message that this version of the app is no longer supported and that you have to update the app. You can either choose to not update it and simply not stream ABC anymore, or you can update it with the new restrictions.
If I don’t have cable, can I watch nothing?
Fortunately, no. I have a feeling there would be some regulatory involvement if the networks made all their shows pay only. Shows are available for select cable subscribers the day after they air. They are then available to everyone one week after they air. So if you’re up for watching Grey’s Anatomy seven days after it airs, you can still do so.
How do I know what I can view if I don’t have an approved cable plan?
When you open the app and view the television shows, episodes that are in their “protected period” will have a bar across them “VERIFY TO VIEW.” If you click on one, it will ask you to sign in with an approved cable subscription. These shows will also list how long until the protected period expires so you know when you can come back to watch it without a subscription.
The show I want to watch is expiring soon. That’s not fair!
From what I can see, shows will be uploaded for streaming twice. The protected period upload will have the one week countdown and the verified requirement. Once that period has passed, the episode will be pulled and reuploaded with for streaming accessible to everyone. Those shows will have no notifications on them, and they don’t state when they will expire. Typically, five episodes (including the protected viewing episodes, if any) are available at any given time, but sometimes there are fewer or (rarely) more.
If I have cable, am I set to watch just like I did before?
Only if you are lucky enough to live where the cable provider has partnered with ABC. Right now, only some providers are participating, though this may change going forward. For ABC, if you have a cable subscription with AT&T U-verse, Charter, Cox, Google fiber, Midcontinent Communications, Optimum, Verizon FiOS, or Xfinity, you are set. If you have any other provider, you’re out of luck. That includes major cable providers like Time Warner, as well as Dish and Direct TV.
How do I log in if I have a subscription with one of the participating cable providers?
Click on any episode that has VIEW TO VERIFY on it. That will take you to the list of cable partners. Select your cable provider, which will open a new page where you enter your credentials. Once you’ve signed in, it should take you back to the show you wanted to view and keep you logged in going forward. That said, it doesn’t (yet) work perfectly. You may need to close the app and reopen it before it accepts your login.
If I stream television via Roku or Apple TV, can I watch ABC protected view episodes?
Yes… and no. If you had access to ABC streaming to your television via a third party provider previously, you may be able to. Hulu+ subscribers can still watch the recent episodes part of the subscription, for example. If you watch them using Hulu without upgrading (which I do – or did), you can sign in to your AT&T U-verse, Cox, Optimum, or Verizon and watch current episodes. Not that Comcast’s Xfinity is not on that list, though it is a partner with the Watch ABC app, which means that I’m out of luck. PlayOn TV does not currently have a way to provide a username and password for a cable provider to allow you to access those channels, though that coding may change going forward. There are other channels where PlayOn TV already allows login access.
If I don’t have an approved cable subscription, can I still watch my daily shows?
Here lies a big flaw in the setup. ABC protects daily shows like The View or General Hospital for seven days, just like other shows. And typically, they only retain five episodes at a time. If you don’t have a cable subscription, ABC deletes episodes are completely before the protected period ends, and you simply can’t watch them.
What if I want to watch ABC live on the ABC app?
Do it on your television, or set up your old-fashioned VCR to record. If you want to watch ABC live on your device, you must have a subscription to a cable partner. Otherwise, you’re out of luck.
The message? Television is currently trying to maintain the status quo. They want people to watch shows live. They want the current cable empire to continue as is. That isn’t where the world is moving. ABC’s online streaming is just the latest fallout as networks and other companies navigate the constantly changing landscape. Will this stick? I sincerely hope not, but it’s what we have to deal with today.
Want change? Speak up. Talk to ABC. Email to regulators. Call your cable company. Make noise and make your voice heard. So many people simply deleted the ABC app and won’t watch the network at all. Those actions speak loudest because they affect companies in the pocketbook. When they don’t get ad revenue from the eyeballs that don’t watch their streaming shows, that hurts them.
Yes I think this is BS. IM still cutting out cable ,live streaming is a thing of the pass ,I never watch live tv anyway, but the fact ABC is trying to sale free tv, that sucks.
Livestreaming isn’t something I do often – except for sports, which would be great. Losing access to network tv is still sitting wrong with me though. And I’m very obviously not alone!
I believe if shows are on regular TV networks it should not matter when I watch the show an it should be free. Charging for something that is free should be a crime. I do stream because I can’t afford cable. But I can’t be home to watch the program either.
I’m with you… it “should” be a lot of things. Disappointed that it isn’t, but I’ll tell you that I watch a whole lot fewer shows than I would if they allowed me to stream without a one week delay – or worse.
It makes me angry to think that when I was a kid, tv was free. Then we started having a cable bill. Now we have to have a cable bill, AND pay for Internet. We cut our cable bill long ago too, when we realized that we were paying for 100 channels but only watched about 6. We started using Hulu, PlayOn, and Netflix to watch nearly everything we were interested in. Now Hulu requires a monthly subscription, certain stations, like Comedy Central and CW, are not streaming well through PlayOn, and there are still networks that require cable in order to stream. I do not watch many new shows because I don’t even know about them. We’ve stopped trying to watch The Daily Show and @Midnight and are ready to give up on Supernatural. We even have a Google tv, but still can’t stream many shows. It is so annoying that we often just wait for shows like Orphan Black to come out on DVD and borrow it from our library, or wait for it on Netflix. We are pleased, however, that AMC now works with PlayOn and we can watch The Walking Dead the day after it airs!
I feel your pain. I’m in the exact same place… but I’m glad to hear that AMC now works with PlayOn, which is one of my favorite ways to stream!
Ridiculous. I have watched General Hospital for 50 years. I work thru the day and relied on TV Shows on demand to watch it the next night. ABC and Xfinity GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER AND QUIT TRYING TO MAKE A BUCK OFF SENIORS CITIZENS THAT HAVE BEEN LOYAL TO YOUR NETWORK AND YOUR SERVICE. SICK OF THIS!!!!!
In the end, ABC and the other networks will regret tying themselves to a dying dinosaur. The bottom line is more of us are cutting cable each day. There are two reasons for this: The first is that we only watch specific shows, which are more convenient to stream from a service or the network’s website. I cut the cord because I got sick of paying nearly $200/month when most of my viewing is Fox News and streaming movies that I still have to pay to stream. The other reason is we are tired of cable companies giving it to us in the pants. Even now with record numbers of subscribers leaving to cut the cord, cable continues to raise their already ridiculously high rates and they continue to be an arrogant bureaucracy when you call them on the phone.
The entire attraction of cable in the first place was that you paid for commercial free viewing. Now, you pay through the nose and watch more commercials than ever before. Okay, so cable subscriptions are dropping and networks won’t let you stream their content without a cable provider. Therefore, those of us who cut the cord won’t be watching these networks and their commercials will get less viewership – resulting in the networks selling the commercials for less and having a harder job selling them in the first place. This is a suicidal business model and the networks are crazy enough to commit suicide to protect the cable companies.
Streaming services aren’t the answer either. If the networks want to survive, then we must return to a broadcast model. However, the new broadcast model would be web based and on demand. It’s time for the networks to cut the cord with cable providers and offer their content (sign-in free) on the websites, if they want the commercial viewership that will pay the bills in the future. Otherwise, they will die right alongside the cable parasite t is attached to them.
I completely agree with you on everything. The reason the cable companies are being backed by the studios is because they have skin in that game. The studios in most cases own parts or all of the cable companies…. even though legally it doesn’t appear that way on paper. Joe might own ABC and Bob might own X big cable company…. but Joe and Bob are in dealings together on each other’s companies both personally and professionally from board to board.
In addition, the REAL reason cable is still alive is sports. People actually think that they can’t watch sports online or through other avenues other than cable/dish. Up until about 4 years ago that would be true. But people continually pay $2,400 PER YEAR for cable just because they want to watch sports. If you gave the NFL $2,400 per year to watch sports they would give you an online all access pass (which you can watch 4 games simultaneously) and potentially a season pass to your home team AND a free back massage.
Not to sound rude or anything, but people are retarded. They go with loyalty and only what they know (in the past) to be true and the cable companies love them for it.
About the commercials… I was at my dad’s house and I am pretty sure I watched more commercial than actual show. It was a HORENDOUS experience… and PEOPLE PAY FOR THIS UTTER RIDICULOUSNESS. Haha. I just don’t get it. Why are people so dumb?
So yeah, streaming is the way of the future and this signing on with your TV provider crap is honestly just a thorn in the side of the studios. The amount of support and coding it takes to maintain that system eats at their pocket books… but… then again… the dummies in our country (consumers) pay for it.
I can’t even get it to start anymore ? Won’t even give me a chance to put in my provider. I’ve deleted the app and reinstalled and still the same thing logo only ?
I was able to get my ABC app on my iPhone to start yesterday, but I can’t get it to start today. When I click on the ABC app, only the fancy logo appears (with the moving wavy lines at the bottom). Nothing happens after that. I restarted my phone twice (that has worked in the past when occasionally the ABC app has stopped working), but still no luck. What is going ON???
Update: I fixed the problem. I deleted the ABC app from my iPhone, and then downloaded it again from the App Store. The ABC app is now (magically) working.
Perfect – I was going to suggest that, as I’ve found that oddly uninstalling and reinstalling fixes problems. So glad it’s working for you now!
This ABC nonsense of not letting me see the Scandal episode of two weeks ago on their site is crazy. I have an xfinity subscription (and thinking of getting rid of it due to cost), and it still won’t unlock for me when signed in, I’m done with all this. I will just wait till this summer and watch the whole season 7 on Netflix. I forgot to DVR one week of Scandal and this is what happens. Somehow the recurring taping of this show was deleted.
My local ABC affiliate screwed up the order of Scandal episodes, big time (completely different season, possibly); they air 2 reruns episodes late night on weekends . You can’t watch old seasons online ANYWHERE, and someone on another forum gave me a great idea: THEY HAVE EVERY SEASON AT YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY!! (mine does, anyway) FREE! I actually considered buying the screwed up season on Amazon, but talk about an unnecessary expense. I think you can watch on Amazon Prime, but they wanted $1.99 per ep, and they are currently getting $119 per year out of me (another unnecessary expense, maybe?)for my “membership” mainly for free shipping, on stuff not guaranteed to be lowest available price. Why aren’t old tv eps available as part of my Prime membership? Anyway, try the library; i can’t watch ABC online either as i have DirecTV, SO FRUSTRATING!! Maybe I’ll shop for a rooftop antenna, get rid of the DVR, and go back to life like the olden days, when you had to be in front of the TV when program started, and if you couldnt run and go pee in a minute or two (REALLY olden days, LoL), you were SOL!
My library has them, too, and we often watch older seasons that way. With ABC, you should be able to watch online, just not until after a week has passed from the date the episode airs. They’re unlocked for me after that point!
Just tried to watch streaming ABC network in my las Angeles are. 22 commercials, a screen that said we’ll be “back in a moment” then 16 more commercials. I watched something else instead.
I don’t blame you in the least. It shouldn’t be this hard!
so ABC saying it does live stream, while most cities do NOT have the privilege to have it, this is called “liar”. ABC = liar, period.
Fascinating – I obviously only live in one place, so I only have experienced what we have here, and thankfully(?) I’m able to livestream. That’s no bueno.
I’ve had the exact same problems and I’m so tired of it!!!! Why can’t ABC just let us watch tv?