Why cord-cutting will save you money, CW aims at cord-cutters, and the new 4K Rokus are here! With special guest Hammond Chamberlain.

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CordKillers: Ep. 138 – Can’t Beat That With a Roku Stick
Recorded:  September 27 2016
Guest: Hammond Chamberlain

Intro Video

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Primary Target

• Americans are paying 40% more for TV than they were 5 years ago
• Cable TV Bill Hits Average of $103 Per Month
  – Maybe Cordcutting CAN save you money
  – Leichtman Research found pay TV subscription pricces have risen 40% in 5 years
  – 2011 – $73.63 average cable/satellite
  – 2016 – $103.10
  – Subscribership down to 82% of households with a TV
  – SNL Kagan says Pay TV lost 800K subs last quarter

Signal Intelligence

• The CW App: Watch New Seasons Of ‘Arrow,’ ‘The Flash,’ ‘Supergirl’ And ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ For Free
  – CW pulled out of Hulu and is adding more of it’s own apps
  – Expanded app snow cover Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV, Xbox, and Amazon Fire TViOS and Android apps
  – Last 5 episodes free with ads
  – CW rumored to be working on a subscription service of its own
  – most popular series last season digitally were ‘The Flash’ and ‘Jane the Virgin,’”
  (Previously reported Netflix gets past season shows 8 days after season finale) 

Gear Up

• Roku’s new players start at $30, and they make 4K and HDR cheaper
  – Roku announced a new line of players. The Roku Express costs $30 with a faster processer than the previous streaming stick or Roku 1. The Roku Express+ is $40 and includes composite cable inputs. Both have the stick form factor. The Roku Premiere is $80 with 4K support at 60fps, faster quad-core processors and dual-band 802.11ac WiFi. The Premiere+ is $100 and supports HDR, ethernet and microSD. It also has the headphone jack on its remote. The Roku Ultra is $130 with 4K HDR plus optical audio, USB, voice search and a lost remote button on the box. Roku’s universal search works across 100 services now. The models are available for preorder and ship October 9th.

Under Surveillance

• First Details on The Dark Tower’s Companion TV Series, Which Will Include Idris Elba
  – Entertainment Weekly says the Dark Tower TV series which will debut a year after the movie will adapt Wizard and Glass, the 4th book. Idris Elba will play the older Roland. The Man In Black will appear but MCConaughey is not confirmed.
• Yes, There Will Be a New Star Wars Story Film in 2020, But What Will It Be?
  – Disney CEO Bob Iger told investors that Star Wars movies are planned until 2020 when a third Star Wars Story will come out. Kathleen Kennedy and Iger have started talking about what happens in 2021.
• YouTube Gaming to air weekly live show with Geoff Keighley
  – YouTube Gaming will produce a weekly live show hosted by Geoff Keighley Thursdays at 8 PM. Eastern. It’ll have trailers, gameplay footage and developer interviews
• Hulu’s New Horror Series Freakish Teases Its Evil Mutants
  – Hulu original series Freakish, originally created for AwesomenessTV. high schoolers are menaced by mutants spawned after an accident at the local chemical plant—. All 10 eps. Arrive October 10. Or two free new episodes per day on Tumblr.
• Hulu’s VR app is getting new comedy and news programs
  – Hulu has ordered 10 episode of The Big Picture: News in Virtual Reality and five episodes of Virtually Mike and Nora. The shows will arrive this autumn for Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR.
• NBC will stream the debates and other election coverage in VR, starting tonight
  – Facebook will live stream the US Presidential debates in cooperation with ABC and Twitter will do the same in partnership with Bloomberg and of course YouTube will have coverage from Bloomberg, PBS, The Washington Post and Telemundo as well as streams from YouTube Live users. But NBC is partnering with AltspaceR to stream the debates in virtual reality, hosted by Al Roker’s avatar from Virtual Democracy Plaza. NBC will also stream Q&As, analysis and comedy shows and more leading up to election night coverage. The AltspaceVR app is available for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR. 2D versions will stream at altvr.com/nbcnews. Coverage starts Wednesday night.
• Brian: Justified 311, Mr. Robot 212, Atlanta 101-104
• Tom: This is Us, Justified (311), Mr. Robot (212), The Good Place, Star Wars: Rebels
• Hammond: Enterprise, Lucha Underground season 1, Modern Rogue
• On the Lookout: Long Way Round and Long Way Down

Front Lines

• This is the 4K Google Chromecast Ultra
  – VentureBeat has images they say are of a new Chromecast to be announced at a Google hardware event on October 4th. The Chromecast Ultra would be capable of 4K and cost an alleged $69. It would run the 1.21 firmware which is now in beta. 
• Plex partners with Amazon to launch a hardware-free media server, Plex Cloud
  – If running your own PC server has kept you from discovering the joys of Plex, we have good news. Plex Cloud in partnership with Amazon Cloud Drive will let you host your files remotely. You can add files to your Amazon Cloud Drive from any device then stream using the Plex app. You’ll have to pay for the Plex Pass to take advantage of the service which is $60 a year, but that gives you unlimited storage. You can sign up for the beta at https://www.plex.tv/cloud/
• AT&T to launch DirecTV Now streaming video service before 2017
  – AT&T’s Randall Stephenson announced the company’s DirecTV Now service will launch before the end of the year. DirecTV Now will provide more than 100 premium cable TV channels over the Internet in the US. The service will allow two streams per household with more streams possibly available for purchase. AT&T may also bundle wit with wireless or broadband Internet service. No other details were given. Stephensnon says the company is 90% done with deals for content. Bloomberg reports on sources saying AT&T plans for its upcoming streaming TV service, DirecTV Now, to be its primary video platform within 5 years. 
• AT&T to launch DirecTV Now streaming video service before 2017
  – ReCode reports its sources say Verizon is in advanced talks to acquire video startup Vessel. Vessel is run by former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar. Vessel has been allegedly working on a new product described as “Snapchat-like,” with image filters and other features. Recode’s Peter Kafka points out Verizon has listed video among the main reasons for acquiring AOL and soon Yahoo.
• Netflix Targeting 50% of Content to Be Original Programming, CFO Says
  – Netflix CFO David Wells told an audience at the Goldman Sachs conference Tuesday that Netflix is on track for half its content offering to be made up of Netflix originals within the next few years. Wells said not every show needs to be a home run either saying they can live with singles and doubles. This is a baseball metaphor which means not every show has to be a huge hit. Wells also said of customers who cancel Netflix, between 33% and 50% eventually return to subscribe to the service.

Dispatches from the Front

The Canadian streaming service Shomi which was launched officially in 2015 by cable giants Rogers and Shaw will close down on November 30th and Rogers estimated a $100-140 million investment loss on their 3rd quarter earnings.

According to Toronto’s Solutions Research Group (SRG) the services of Shomi and Crave (Bell Media) had one seventh the subscribers of Netflix. As a Rogers Cable Internet customer it was added as part of my tier with no apparent price increases, so I’m sure many of the subscribers they had may not be actively contributing to revenue.

This was the service where I watched shows like Mr. Robot, Last Man on Earth, Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the original seasons of Black Mirror. Not sure if another provider will then pickup the streaming rights to these shows or I will have to look to iTunes for purchasing them.

• Shomi is shutting down

 

 

Hi Tom and Brian,

A few months ago, I sent in my review about Playstation Vue service. I wasn’t thrilled with it at the time, especially the DVR functionality, so I cancelled it after the free trial.

A few weeks ago I decided to give it another shot. In Chicago we now have access to CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox and the DVR functionality has greatly improved and I am thrilled by the progress made in just a few months. Last week I unplugged all my cable boxes in preparation of the conversion and my family was on board.

Today, when cancelling my Comcast service I thought I would do a little research for your show and cancelled using their online chat service. It was easy, I didn’t have to deal with the retention department and it was actually a pleasant experience.

If listeners are looking for a non-stressful Comcast cancellation experience, the chat service is the way to go.

Love the show.

– John from Chicago

 

 

Hey guys, it’s your boss.

I got bored tonight and decided to do the chicken challenge with Directv. My bill had crept over $125/mo (TV only) and I had the family convinced that sling or PlayStation vue were viable. I managed to get $50 off my bill, so I stayed. However, in looking for negotiation leverage I peeked at the intro prices for the various packages and found that they were darn close to the full rates for ongoing customers.

Select $50 new —> $51.99 existing
Entertainment $55 new —> $61.99 existing
Choice $60 new —> $74.99 existing
Xtra $70 new —> $81.99 existing
Utlimate $75 new —> $91.99 existing
Premier $125 new —> $144.99 existing

I find it interesting that the bottom has such a small gap in the new subscriber’s and existing. I have two wild speculations about this: first, cord cutting has made the customers at that price point need ongoing low prices, so the difference has reduced – not the top tier is $20/mo more. Second, I believe that they make up a lot of the price difference in hardware. Part of my agreement was $30/mo off for hardware. So in 2 years, that bill jumps up because of the devices and not the service. This artificially makes all the plans look cheaper, because none of them are possible without the box.

Speaking of boxes, Directv isn’t offering the GenieGo anymore, and my rep said that it was because they were preparing a streaming-only service. He said a lot of things, though, so I would only use random service rep’s word as the basis for wild speculation.

Keep up the good work.

– Joe

 

 

For this fall seasons there are all of the CW shows that I love and I want to show support. I am a cord killer and let’s say I have a system to get TV. However for these shows I want to do the most that I can to show my support. Bryan since you have had a network TV show what things make a difference for TV execs?

– Martin

 

Links

www.patreon.com/cordkillers