From Luke: Today, I am very excited to welcome our new Editor-in-Chief, Roger Cheng. I’m thrilled by the opportunity to work with him as we focus on growing Cord Cutters News. Roger is the sixth full-time employee at Cord Cutters News, and we couldn’t be more pleased to have him here. Now please join me in welcoming Roger to the team and hear a little bit from him.
I still remember when consumers ached for a la carte pricing from their cable providers, preferring to pay for the few channels they watched vs. those massive bundles they thought they were overpaying for.
Well, we got what we wanted. Between streaming giants like Netflix or Disney Plus, live TV streamers like YouTube TV or Sling, free ad-supported services like Pluto or Roku TV and user-generated content from YouTube or TikTok, we have all the choices we could ask for – and then some.
But for many, it’s more confusing, complicated and expensive than ever before.
That’s what drew me to Cord Cutters News, where I’ve taken the role of Editor-in-Chief. Cord Cutters News’ mission to help navigate its readers through the complexities of, well, cutting the cord and moving to streaming is more critical than ever. Between the fallout of the “streaming wars,” your favorite shows and films disappearing and reappearing on different services, and even the writers and actors’ strikes, there’s a lot of fear, uncertainty and confusion.
My mission is to continue to make Cord Cutters News a site you can rely on for helpful, accurate and timely information you can use when making some of the key decisions in your life, all while expanding our scope of coverage.
Why should you trust me? I’ve spent nearly a quarter of a century breaking down and explaining complicated topics into information useful for readers. I did it for a decade at The Wall Street Journal, where I covered cord cutting when it still meant scrapping your landline for a cellphone, and chronicled the rise of the smartphone era.
I doubled down on that mission during my next 11 years as an editorial leader at CNET, where I did everything from walking inside a melted down nuclear reactor to operating a real giant excavator in Sweden while wearing a virtual reality helmet in Barcelona, all while managing a team of talented writers and editors. The point of it all was to identify the big trends and themes affecting your lives in the coming years.
Just as the streaming world has changed dramatically, you can expect more changes as Cord Cutters News continues to evolve. There will be an even higher focus on quality and smart stories that offer the news and perspective you need. Founder Luke Bouma has done a good job getting the site running again after returning in January, and I’m keen to help him take Cord Cutters News to the next level.
Until then, here are a few tidbits about me in a feature I like to call Five Random Questions. I’m hoping to turn this into an ongoing thing with the team so you’ll get to know our talented staff a little better.
When did you get started in journalism? I started on my high school newspaper, but really joined because I figured it would be an easy period. I didn’t get bit by the journalism bug until college.
Your best cord-cutting trick? Most of my advice consists of sharing passwords, but unfortunately, services are cracking down on that. In terms of hardware, I prefer a (4K-enabled) Roku stick since it plugs into the back of your TV and keeps your entertainment space clean.
What’s something about you that might surprise people? I’m a pretty dedicated Transformers fan, although I despise the Michael Bay films.
What do you do in your free time? I have two young boys – what free time?
What are you watching now? I just finished Jack Ryan on Prime Video, and I’ve been catching up on Demon Slayer on Crunchyroll. But my favorite current show is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount Plus.