Don't pirate content, folks. Even if someone else does, it's best not to get addicted to it. It's bad, illegal, and will never be as good as the paid service. That's lesson number 1. Follow lesson number 2.
The news that Dan and Eugene Levy would be hosting the 2024 Emmy Awards was met with some excitement in my house. We are all very excited. Schitt's Creek Fans of the series were hooked when we watched the entire five seasons on Netflix (ironic) at least twice. But when it came time to watch the Emmys, which were set to air on September 15, 2024 on ABC in the US, we forgot to take into account one small detail: we no longer have cable TV and live shows are often difficult or impossible to watch.
Live but not for yourself
The best live streaming networks are constantly making deals to host live events, like football and baseball games. Sometimes, networks have their own live streaming platforms where they show these events in their entirety. I watched the entire Summer Olympics on Peacock and loved the Gold Zone they created to help you catch the best of all the medal-worthy live events.
However, not everything can be found on these streaming platforms. The ABC network seems to have more than one dark spot and the Emmy Awards, which reward the best of open television, cable and, yes, streaming, are one of them.
At first, everything seemed to be going well. Roku TV, which I get for free as part of my TCL Roku TV, was streaming the Emmys live from the red carpet. We all watched in blissful silence until 8 p.m. EST, when the screen went black and then switched to endless promos for other Roku TV shows. We all looked at each other and then back at the TV in horror, silently wishing it would show us Dan and Eugene Levy’s commercial-free opening.
Soon we were all searching the internet for who might offer a live stream. FuboTV was on the list and that was it. But I had already used my fuboTV Live free trial to watch the Oscars. I wasn't about to shell out $98 a month just to watch the Emmys.
After searching Hulu, Netflix, and other streaming options for a stream that wasn't a Red Carpet rerun, I opened the YouTube app on my Roku TV.
Above was a live stream of the Emmys. It looked real.
It wasn't.
The crime
I started the stream and saw that it was, in fact, the Emmys live. The hosts were there, but they were behind a poorly rendered black box that said “EMMYS” at the top and then explained, “Sorry, we can’t show you the full stream because YouTube will remove it.” Below that, it encouraged you to click a link in the chat and “send a donation if you want to watch the full show.”
Apparently, someone was using “XSplit Broadcaster” to pull a feed from their computer and then put it on YouTube. The show was somewhat watchable despite the set-top box, which would disappear for various periods of time, seemingly at random. One time, it disappeared for 40 minutes, but then it disappeared for only five minutes. I noticed in the YouTube channel chat that people were begging the “broadcaster” to take down the set-top box. It was as if they didn't understand that this was illegal and the guy couldn't take it down during that time without being found out.
A quick search on YouTube revealed a few different illegal streamers, all using various apps to live stream, likely their cable streams or another streaming platform.
At one point, the stream, which was running about two minutes behind the live stream, went into glitch mode and we were able to see the entire desktop of the hacker's computer. Yes, it was comical.
What's not funny, however, is that I can no longer deny the inescapable fact that there is still one form of cable or broadcast television that is worth paying for: live television and commercial-free television.
As more and more streaming service providers introduce ad-supported versions or reduce what was once affordable and ad-free to nearly affordable but ad-riddled, paying for some of these premium packages that remove the ads and bring your local, broadcast and live cable channels is starting to look more and more worthwhile.
It's frustrating though. I dropped cable for all the channels I paid for and never watched. Turns out there are still a few that I do want, that I now miss, and that I might be willing to pay for.
As for the pirated Emmys, they continued until the end, but increasingly with the box fixed in place. I guess you get what you pay for.
