I just read that Viacom brought Pluto TV this week. That's the most horrible news I ever heard of. The way they treated our favorite channels like Nick At Nite and TVland, also MTV and VH1. They way they wreck them with off the clock times and horrible schedules, I hope I'm wrong, but It's messed up.

Link (https://www.engadget.com/2019/01/23/viacom-buys-pluto-tv/)

Cable giant Viacom is buying the ad-supported streaming startup Pluto TV for $340 million in cash, with plans to turn it into the home for its slew of programmes. Expect shows and films from Viacom's properties -- including Paramount Pictures, MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central -- to hit Pluto TV as part of the buyout.

In its current form, Pluto TV presents internet video in a television-style format complete with live channel feeds and video ad breaks. Though the platform has previously struck content deals with Hulu and Warner Bros., its real strength lies in its access to smart TVs and digital set-top boxes. Pluto TV says that of its 12 million viewers, 7.5 million are watching on their televisions. Those eyeballs combined with the company's advertising data -- it currently splits ad revenue with the networks -- may have sealed the deal for Viacom.

Of course, the acquisition also sees Viacom playing catch up with its media rivals. With cord-cutting on the rise, the industry's biggest players have resorted to consolidations to scale up content for their big streaming bets. Last year, AT&T gobbled up Time Warner for $85.4 billion, while Disney beat out Comcast for Rupert Murdoch's Fox media empire in a deal worth $71.3 billion.

Viacom, on the other hand, has thus far played a supporting role to other streaming platforms -- its properties producing content for everyone from Netflix to Facebook Watch -- without launching a full-fledged service of its own. Last year, the company promised a streaming launch crammed with "tens of thousands of hours of content" in 2019.

Meanwhile others are also experimenting with ad-supported services to capture more customers. Amazon recently announced a free IMDB video service replete with ads and YouTube quietly started showing movies with ad breaks in November. In fact, if reports are to be believed, the humble ad break could be about to invade subscription services like Hulu and AT&T's DirecTV, too.

As for Pluto TV, it will operate as an independent subsidiary under its new owner, with its co-founder Tom Ryan continuing as CEO.

PlutoTV is an interesting concept.

It's free, so it's hard to complain about it's issues.

I was watching the NBC News channel on it and during primetime, and it was airing the Morning Joe program from MSNBC but it made it look like it was live MSNBC, with Live actually displayed. (No Previously recorded anywhere). When I tuned to actual MSNBC from Sling, it was airing Rachel Maddow. I will have to check if the CNBC is the same on free PlutoTV vs. Sling (which actually has CNBC put in a News package where you have to pay extra for it). It should be as Pluto markets it as CNBC.

I went back to Pluto and I tuned to Roseanne on TV Sitcoms channel. It was an early season 1 episode. They cut off a scene in a random point for an insert of commercials. Then the show resumed, but the skipped back a few seconds to where it was cut originally.

While it has it's quirks, it's free and there are actually a number of nice things about Pluto. It's easy to change channels, and I like that they number the channels, and provide so many channels. I think the music listening is commercial free too.

I wonder if Viacom is buying it up and will add a pay version of the service. And hopefully not remove the free version or downgrade it.

PlutoTV is an interesting concept.

It's free, so it's hard to complain about it's issues.

I was watching the NBC News channel on it and during primetime, and it was airing the Morning Joe program from MSNBC but it made it look like it was live MSNBC, with Live actually displayed. (No Previously recorded anywhere). When I tuned to actual MSNBC from Sling, it was airing Rachel Maddow. I will have to check if the CNBC is the same on free PlutoTV vs. Sling (which actually has CNBC put in a News package where you have to pay extra for it). It should be as Pluto markets it as CNBC.

I went back to Pluto and I tuned to Roseanne on TV Sitcoms channel. It was an early season 1 episode. They cut off a scene in a random point for an insert of commercials. Then the show resumed, but the skipped back a few seconds to where it was cut originally.

While it has it's quirks, it's free and there are actually a number of nice things about Pluto. It's easy to change channels, and I like that they number the channels, and provide so many channels. I think the music listening is commercial free too.

I wonder if Viacom is buying it up and will add a pay version of the service. And hopefully not remove the free version or downgrade it.

I'm not complaining, I love Pluto Tv, but we all know what Viacom is all about, and I wouldnt be surprised that they take the free version away. Time will tell. I guess the good thing is they will have more stuff on it. We will see.

I'm not complaining, I love Pluto Tv, but we all know what Viacom is all about, and I wouldnt be surprised that they take the free version away. Time will tell. I guess the good thing is they will have more stuff on it. We will see.

I agree about what Viacom might do it might not be all good. (sorry, I didn't mean to imply you were complaining about PlutoTV in it's current form.).

Its cool, you're good. I think its the best start for college students and people in general to cut the cord.