Podcast #1122: Matter Supports New Devices and are you a Quiet quitter?

On this week's show we look at the new devices supported by Matter 1.2 and we ask you if you are a Quiet Quitter of your pay TV service. We also read your emails and take a look at the week's news.

News:

• Netflix Adds Nearly 9 Million Subscribers in Q3; Streamer Says Ad-Supported Plans Up Nearly 70% From Q2
• Hulu, Max and Peacock are introducing a 'pause ads' feature
• DIRECTV Stream Finally Rolls Out Unlimited DVR to Legacy Subscribers
• Google Fiber Set To Roll Out Lightning Fast 20 Gig Internet by the End of the Year
• NextGen TV Devices to Top 10M by Year's End

Other:

• Fix your remote buttons with ButtonWorx
• Find on-line content with reelgood.com.

Matter 1.2

The new device types supported in Matter 1.2 include:

1. Refrigerators – Beyond basic temperature control and monitoring, this device type is also applicable to other related devices like deep freezers and even wine and kimchi fridges.
2. Room Air Conditioners – While HVAC and thermostats were already part of Matter 1.0, stand alone Room Air Conditioners with temperature and fan mode control are now supported.
3. Dishwashers – Basic functionality is included, like remote start and progress notifications. Dishwasher alarms are also supported, covering operational errors such as water supply and drain, temperature, and door lock errors.
4. Laundry Washers – Progress notifications, such as cycle completion, can be sent via Matter. Dryers will be supported in a future Matter release.
5. Robotic Vacuums – Beyond the basic features like remote start and progress notifications, there is support for key features like cleaning modes (dry vacuum vs wet mopping) and additional status details (brush status, error reporting, charging status).
6. Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarms – These alarms will support notifications and audio and visual alarm signaling. Additionally, there is support for alerts about battery status and end-of-life notifications. These alarms also support self-testing. Carbon monoxide alarms support concentration sensing, as an additional data point.
7. Air Quality Sensors – Supported sensors can capture and report on: PM1, PM 2.5, PM 10, CO2, NO2, VOC, CO, Ozone, Radon, and Formaldehyde. Furthermore, the addition of the Air Quality Cluster enables Matter devices to provide AQI information based on the device's location.
8. Air Purifiers – Purifiers utilize the Air Quality Sensor device type to provide sensing information and also include functionality from other device types like Fans (required) and Thermostats (optional). Air purifiers also include consumable resource monitoring, enabling notifications on filter status (both HEPA and activated carbon filters are supported in 1.2).
9. Fans –Matter 1.2 includes support for fans as a separate, certifiable device type. Fans now support movements like rock/oscillation and new modes like natural wind and sleep wind. Additional enhancements include the ability to change the airflow direction (forward and reverse) and step commands to change the speed of airflow.

Are you a quiet Quitter?

We received an email from long time listener Mike LaBorde with a link to an article at TV Tech titled The `Quiet Quitters' of Pay TV Continue to Grow. Mike suggests that he is one and as I thought about my situation I decided I am one as well. So what is a Quiet Quitter and are you one of us?

A Quiet Quitter is someone who has largely stopped viewing pay TV programming but hasn't dropped their pay TV subscription or "cut-the-cord."

According to Inscape's recent Q2 2023 TV Market Trends report, about 5% of U.S. cable/satellite households have outright quit viewing content via their satellite and cable TV options in the second quarter of the year.

Inscape found that 9% reduced their cable/satellite viewing by 75% or more from Q2 2022 to Q2 2023 (to account for viewing seasonality), but didn't fully quit. Additionally, 8.4% of U.S. cable/satellite households had a drop of 50-75% in cable/satellite viewing time in Q2 2023 from Q2 2022.

I did some analysis on my own viewing habits and here are the numbers. Back in 2000 I spent one hour in the morning watching TV, mostly news, and four hours in the evening from 6:00 - 10:00 Monday through Friday. That is a total of five hours a day. I now listen to podcasts as I get ready in the morning which by itself reduces my pay TV usage by 20%. In the evening I watch Youtube for about 30 minutes and then I may turn to linear television for about 30 minutes to an hour while I wait for the family to assemble and watch TV. At this point I've already cut 1 ½ hours of my normal viewing.

Once we've settled in to watch TV for the evening it's not from the live TV or the DVR but rather from Hulu, Peacock, Paramount, Max, or Netflix. On a non-sports evening I have cut my linear TV by as much as 90%. So why do I keep my subscription?

It's those pesky sports teams that I follow. It's no fun watching delayed. You have to watch them live. The Dodgers, Kings, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and to a lesser degree Tennessee Volunteers keep me paying for DirecTV Stream. We also will record Hallmark Christmas movies and watch them during the holiday season. I count DVR's programming a pay TV. You really have to ask yourself, is it worth it to pay $90 a month just to watch 25% of what you used to on a pay TV service. Unfortunately being a big sports fan has it's costs!

According to Inscape data, while streaming commands 56.5% of overall TV viewing time, that falls to 23.1% for sports and 14.7% for news. Cable/satellite/antenna, meanwhile, accounts for 43.5% of overall TV viewing time, but dominates in sports (76.9%) and news (85.3%).

Alternatively I can find a way to get my sporting fix through add-on services like "At Bat" for baseball and "Sunday Ticket" for Football but when you add everything up it more or less costs the same amount as having a pay TV service. So you may as well just pay for pay TV on the odd chance you have nothing to watch and all you have is Nick at Nite or TV Land!