By Dennis D. McDonald

The small TV in our kitchen is cable-connected but the cable connection has failed. Broadcast reception is spotty. While some local stations that come through over the air have exceptional clarity compared with what Comcast delivers via cable, they have just too many mind-numbing commercials.

Still, I like to watch something when I draw dinner duty. Usually I watch a YouTube video documentary via the Roku attached to the TV. I've also tried the TV news apps available via the Roku but they seem to be spotty, short, and not live. 

One exception seems to be CBSN, CBS' live and anchored streaming real-time TV news service. There are commercials but they do not appear to be at the insipid and frequency levels of normal broadcast.

What I really enjoy about CBSN is that, based on what I have seen so far, and unlike so-called "nightly news" broadcasts from the major networks, CBSN has real news.

For example, I watched a reporter standing in front of the White House the other night respond to a series of questions posed by the studio anchor. What I saw and heard was a real attempt to get at the bottom of a very complex issue of the "who knew what and when" variety. This is something that the rushed talking heads of regular nightly news can't or won't attempt.

Admittedly I have tended in the past to avoid "TV news" because of the dominance of discussion and commercials over hard news. My knowledge of this area of streaming may as a result be quite limited. But so far I have been impressed with CBSN.

Check it out and let me know what you think!.

Copyright (c) 2017 by Dennis D. McDonald