Cord-cutting is dead! So why do Hulu’s owners want to make an OTT service? Also FullScreen launches another service and TiVo finally courts cordcutters. But it’s dead you guys! With special guest Brian Ibbott.
It’s Spoilerin’ Time 118 (w/ Jaime Ruiz-Avila)
Summer Movie Draft, Triage, Game of Thrones (601) Better Call Saul (210), Justified (202). With special guest Jaime Ruiz-Avila.
01:37 – Summer Movie Draft
05:20 – Better Call Saul (210)
13:17 – Game of Thrones (601)
31:01 – Justified (202)
Cordkillers 118 – Steam’s Stream Dream (w/ Jaime Ruiz-Avila)
How the FCC helped cablecos explain why they resist innovation, Apple might make its own original TV shows, HBO NOW FINALLY gets popular.
CordKillers: Ep. 118 – Steam’s Stream Dream
Recorded: April 25 2016
Guest: Jaime Ruiz-Avila
Intro Video
Primary Target
- Comcast will bring its Xfinity app to Roku and Samsung Smart TVs this year
– Comcast announced its HTML5 Xfinity app is coming to Samsung Smart TVs
– A custom app is coming to Roku.
– Subscribers to Comcast’s Xfinity cable service can access the channel guide, cloud DVR, and live and on -demand TV.
Comcast believes this shows the FCC does not need to mandate set-top box compatibility.
– The FCC told the Verge the new app does not “integrate or search across Comcast content as well as other content consumers subscribe to.” - Disney, CBS, Viacom worry FCC cable box proposal would do to TV what iTunes did to music
– Several companies inl. Disney, CBS, Fox, A&E, Time Warner, Scripps and Viacom filed feedback to the FCC’s proposed rules to require MVNOs to support third-party cable boxes
– Companies object that they would lose revenue if they can no longer control the order in which channels appear
– particularly concerned that these new set-top boxes will offer up shows individually, instead of presenting entire channels as cable boxes
– Worry about “commitments to secure and protect content”
– Comcast made a separate filing
– Added arguments are technical burdens to support the new boxes, might require more bandwidth
– “In any event, at a minimum, the [FCC’s proposal] vastly understates the level of work, and associated costs, that would be necessary to implement its Set-Top Box Mandate,” it writes.
Signal Intelligence
- Apple talking original content
– Feature by Nicole Laporte on Fast Company
– Apple held a private dinner at Sundance and heard pitches in LA in the weeks that followed.
– Fast Company says it would be for an “exclusives” app on Apple TV
– Two “lanes”
– 1. Beats-driven programming meant to promote music
– 2. Multiple original series.
– Alibaba Pictures set up in Pasadena.
– Run by Zhang Wei, former talk show host and Harvard MBA
Gear Up
- HBO Now comes to the Xbox One
- New HBO Now users are bugged and can’t get their ‘Game of Thrones’ fix
- HBO NOW surges in poularity despite complaints
– HBO Now comes to Xbox One and Samsung Smart TVs
– Samsung’s been getting a lot of apps.
– Is Xbox now a complete replacement in the US?
Front Lines
- Comedy Central, BET, MTV, and more are coming to Sling TV
– Viacom and Dish settled their negotiations not only by avoiding an outage but also agreeing to add channels to Sling TV. Comedy Central, BET, Spike, MTV and Nick Jr. will be among the new networks , but NOT Nickelodeon. They’ll show up in the coming months. - Comcast to Launch Sony’s Crackle on Xfinity On Demand
– Meanwhile Crackle is now available through Comcast’s Xfinity on demand offering both on TV and Comcast’s app. Select titles are available at launch with additional programming added over the coming months. - 12 Netflix Originals That Will Be Streaming With HDR Video
– 12 Netflix properties were officially announced as coming in HDR although not timeline was given. They are A Series of Unfortunate Events, Bloodline, Chef’s Table, Hibana, Knights of Sidonia, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Defenders, The Do-Over, and The Ridiculous Six. - Lionsgate Launches Distribution Through Steam, Includes ‘Hunger Games’
– Video game store Steam is now renting movies from Lionsgate. More than 100 films will be available including Hunger Games movies, Saw, Divergent and Twilight.
Under Surveillance
- The full cast list for Twin Peaks, which comes to Showtime in 2017, has been released: Eddie Vedder, Trent Reznor
- Peabody Awards Recognize Jessica Jones, Mr. Robot, and The Leftovers as Damn Good Shows
– Mr. Robot, The Leftovers and Jessica Jones won Peabodys for excellence in broadcasting.
– Jones “unpopular questions about power and consent, while constructing vivid and compelling characters”
– Leftovers – “challenging, deeply philosophical, boldly imagined drama.” - Redband Trailer for The Do-Over (sandler, Spade) coming May 27 to Netflix.
- New trailer for season 2 of Chef’s Table coming May 27.
- Mr. Robot’s second season is coming July 13th (Sam Esmail directing all 10 episodes)
- Stephen King’s It comes to theaters Sep. 18, 2017
- Game of Thrones renewed for seventh season to air in 2017
- Brian: Better Call Saul, Game of Thrones, Justified 202
- Tom: Better Call Saul, Lemonade on HBO, Orphan Black, Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley, Justified (202)
- Jaime: Better Call Saul, Silicon Valley, Game of Thrones, Outlander season 2, Legends of Tomorrow Space 1999 Story of Maths on Netflix
- On the Lookout: Deadbeat, Thunderbirds
Dispatches from the Front
Hey guys,
Just listened to last week’s show and was wondering if either of you have tried the Xbox One for its media options.
I am not sure how common this set up is for everybody but an Xbox with kinect, HDMI pass through for a cable box and a harmony remote let’s me easily access anything I want using the Xbox – One Guide.
The One Guide lays out suggestions for movies to rent or purchase, what is popular in most video apps like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube or if you chose to look at your cable provider’s channel guide will list categories such as live TV shows trending on Twitter.
What has really surprised me is that I recently realized how easy it is to be able to say “”””Xbox on”””” which will wake it up and turn on the TV and follow it with “”””watch ESPN”””” and it just finds the channel for me. (No need to memorize #s) Or I can use a remote, a game pad or cell phone to control everything.
I know one of the features (that admittedly might bother some) is that the kinect will recognize when I’m sitting in front of the TV and have favorites/suggestions loaded based on my profile and the same based on my wife’s profile if she is watching TV.
If you guys have tried it out would love to hear your thoughts.
Cheers!
– Byron
Hi Brian, Tom, Bryce and guest,
I know they are several months away but I was thinking about how I was going to be able to watch this summer’s Olympics. Since I cut the cord I have found ways to get some of the live TV I was missing but sports has been the hardest to find. This will be the first Olympics since ditching cable TV so I was wondering if you know if NBC makes the Olympics available to those of us without a cable box.
Thank you for making my commute enjoyable and educational. I’m happy to say I am one of your bosses.
– Jennifer, Stuck in traffic on the Mass Pike
Hey gentlemen got to say something……. YOU JJEERRRRKKKKKSSSSS. You guys just had to say Animaniacs was on Netflix didn’t ya. I was dumb enough to watch the first episode AND NOW I CANT GET THE DAM ANIMANIACS THEME OUT OF MY HEAD AND WANT TO BINGE ON EVERY EPISODE phffft 😛 Jerks 😉 . Even after all these years I remembered the theme word for word, I missed that show. Keep up the awesome work
– Robert E from Oklahoma
The love affair is over. The sling streaming beta blacked out the blues Blackhawks game. I had to prove where I lived to get the channel. Sling is saying they are subject to the same blackout rules as everyone else. This is a lie since local dish and cable subscribers can watch. I got to watch the game earlier this week on Fox sports Midwest without issue. Maybe Playstation view is right for me.
– Sean
Bryce asked about netflix country availability:
That will do more than what you want, but it will do what you were talking about.
– Kurt
It’s Spoilerin’ Time 117 (w/ Roberto Villegas)
Summer Movie Draft, Triage, Jungle Book, spoiler-free Batman v. Superman impressions, Better Call Saul (209), Justified (201)
01:13 – Summer Movie Draft
05:13 – Triage
09:16 – Jungle Book
20:22 – Spoiler-free impressions of Batman vs. Superman
21:34 – Better Call Saul (209)
29:55 – Justified (201)
Cordkillers 117 – They Form Voltron! (w/ Roberto Villegas)
Sling TV’s crazy gamble, Amazon undercuts Netflix, and the movie business keeps booming. With special guest Roberto Villegas.
It’s Spoilerin’ Time 116
Summer Movie Draft, Better Call Saul (208), Justified (113)
01:55 – Summer Movie Draft
05:23 – Better Call Saul (208)
13:09 – Justified (113)
Cordkillers 116 – The Moose in the Room (w/ Chris Mancini and Fraser Cain)
Canada cuts the cord because its cable is cheaper, NFL comes to Twitter, and is Tom Waits a stunt casting? With special guests Chris Mancini and Fraser Cain.
CordKillers: Ep. 116 – The Moose in the Room
Recorded: April 11 2016
Guests: Fraser Cain, Chris Mancini
Intro Video
Primary Target
- Cord-cutting soars in Canada
– Convergence Consulting Group report
– 190,000 Canadians dropped traditional TV in 2015 +80% yoy
– Cable subs last grew in Canada in 2012
– Canada decline 1.5% bigger than 1% decline in US
– Majority HH still subscribe ti TV (11 mm)
– Netflix subs in Canada rose 58% from 2013-2015 (4.9 mm)
– Canadians pay less on average for cable but more for Internet than US
Signal Intelligence
- Twitter reportedly wins streaming rights for NFL’s Thursday Night Football
– Twitter will stream 10 Thursday Night Football games “to a global audience” in 2016 for free without authentication.
– Paid around $10 million acc. Bloomberg’s source (beating out Verizon, Yahoo, Amazon)
– NFL evp media said didn’t take highest bidder.
– Twitter gets a small portion of ad inventory
– CBS and NBC paid $225mm for 5 Thursday games each — Verizon has rights to stream to wireless phones
– Twitter video will be embeddable. Include pregame Periscope streams from players and teams
– Available on Xbox app and possibly partnered w/ Google and Yahoo
– Twitter CFO Anthony Noto (formerly of the NFL) told Bloomberg wants to do other sports, politics and entertainment.
– Twitter claims 800mm audience when counting non0logged-in people
– Thursday night games attracted 17 million viewers last season.
– NFL’s biggest broadcast contracts end in 2021
– Yahoo streamed Oct. 25 game from London (paid $20mm)
Gear Up
- Roku’s new $50 stick fits a quad-core CPU in a smaller frame
– Roku introduced an updated $50 Streaming Stick.
– Quad-core CPU, dual-band MIMO antenna, and the ability to stream audio over Wi-Fi to a smartphone.
– Does not support 4k video only 1080p.
– The stick is available for purchase and will ship near the end of the month.
– Roku is also rolling out OS 7.1 today available on all devices within 6 to 8 weeks.
Front Lines
- It’s going to cost you more to ‘Netflix and Chill’ from next month
– Netflix will raise all subscribers prices to $9.99. Netflix guaranteed the original pricing plan for customers in May 2014. Netflix users in the UK will begin to see an increase of 50p later this month, with prices going up to £7.49. - Starz launches $8.99 per month streaming service
– Starz is making an app for iOS and Android and selling access for $8.99 a month. The same app will be accessible to existing subscribers. Users can get “virtually unlimited” downloads of shows and movies. The premiere of Outlander will come on the app April 7 two days before the premiere. - Hulu is now a channel on Optimum cable boxes
– Cablevision’s Optimum TV service has added Hulu to channel 605. Customers can subscribe through Hulu or Cablevision. - Layer3 TV’s Crazy Plan to Take on Comcast and Reinvent Cable
– A company called Layer3 plans to compete with cable companies by offering traditional cable but with better tech. The company will deliver a better picture by using fiber and HEVC (H.265) video, and one hour appointment windows. It’s set-top box will be simple to install and include Internet options like Amazon and Netflix. The channel guide prioritizes channels based on your interests not channel numbers. Level3 is coming to Chicago first in the next few months for $80-$150. - Verizon Buys More Mobile Video by Investing in DreamWorks’ AwesomenessTV
– Verizon has purchased a 24.5% stake in Awesomeness TV, which is majority owned by Dreamworks. Hearst also owns 24.5%. It looks like Verizon will use Awesomeness content for its G090 mobile video service in a new subscription tier. AwesomenessTV runs YouTube channels for itself, Dreamworks and Seventeen magazine, and produces a sketch comedy series on Nickelodeon. Parents ask your kids. - Plex on the web gets smarter with media searches
– Plex updated its Web interface. Search finds everything across multiple categories as you type. Improved navigation includes more prominent discovery features and better mouse and touch controls. - HDR is TV’s next big format war, and Samsung and Sony could find themselves on the losing side
– CNET has a great explainer up on the latest video format war. This time its two implentation of High Dynamic Range or HDR video in 4K. Here’s the short version. There are two HDR implementations, HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Samsung and Sony support HDR10. LG and Vizio support both. Amazon and Netflix stream in both.
Under Surveillance
- Tom Waits Joins Cast of Hulu’s Mysterious Hero Origin Story, Citizen
– Hulu’s original Citizen, a hero origin story set in a supernaturalized New York has cast Tom Waits as Cesar, an anti-authoritarian priest. Cesar, runs a guerrilla humanitarian outfit with questionable legality from his church in Boyle Heights. - New Game of Thrones trailer – premieres April 24
- Netflix’s first UK show, ‘The Crown,’ arrives November 4
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them Trailer (Nov. 18)
- Star Wars: Rogue One
- Brian: Better Call Saul 208, Justified 113
- Tom: Better Call Saul (208) Daredevil (8-13) Justified (113) American Idol Series Finale, Vinyl
- Chris: Daredevil, Pee-Wee Herman, Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, Mad Men
- Fraser: Daredevil, Better Call Saul, YouTube Let’s Plays
- On the Lookout: The Path
Dispatches from the Front
HighTechBill tweeted us about this excellent Cord-cutting guide from ChannelMaster!
Before Star Wars Episode VII came out to own, I decided I would just buy it digitally until the new box set comes out after episode 9. There wasn’t a need to have a physical DVD when I could own it through Amazon or Google. However, I recently replaced my laptop and iPad with a Surface Pro 4. I love to watch movies on the plane when traveling. However, what I found is that neither Amazon nor Google will let me download a movie I own onto my Surface, because it is a computer and they don’t have apps like they do for the iPad where they can control the content. This being said, I opted to buy the physical DVD + Blue Ray + Digital HD version of the movie. I wanted to share this story because this was a rare occasion for me where the physical DVD was the better option for me and fortunately it comes with a digital copy. I am getting to watch what I want, where I want, and sort of on the device I want – but it’s not completely there yet. Would love to hear of any better suggestions for this scenario or any similar frustrations!
Love listening to the show every week!
-Kristen
Hi,
I have the feeling that I emailed you about this before but possibly not for this podcast.
Anytime people talk about users agents, bots or digital butlers automatically doing useful things for you, I am reminded about Hyperland an early 90s TV show written and presented by the late great Douglas Adams.
It is a bit too pre-internet and there’s too much “CD-Roms will fix everything!” which makes it feel out of date. However Douglas Adams makes some interesting predictions especially about how you will be able to get additional information about shows and skip between interesting things.
He is joined in the show by a digital assistant played by Tom Baker. They previously worked together when Douglas Adams wrote for the classic series of Doctor Who (the Douglas Adams co-written story, City of Death is a wonderful intro to classic series).
You can find Hyperland on YouTube (Tom’s wife works for YouTube) and while you are there look up the South Bank Show profile of Douglas Adams from 1992 and feel sad.
– Tim
re: redbox: Think you guys might have missed the point about them going digital. If they bring the same price wars to digital as they did against brick and mortar it could shake things up quite a bit.
Brian seems to think that the reason redbox customers use them is for the physical content. I use them for the incredible price point. Why spend 5$ on Google play when redbox costs a buck? I recently spent 5$ on a YouTube rental for Spotlight because the vending machine only has so many titles. I’m guessing digital could erase that problem as well.
Thanks for the show!!
– Erick
Links
It’s Spoilerin’ Time 115
Summer Movie Draft, 11.22.63 (108), Better Call Saul (207), Justified (112)
00:42 – Summer Movie Draft
05:24 – 11.22.63 (108)
17:00 – Better Call Saul (207)
22:15 – Justified (112)
Cordkillers 115 – Strike While the Corpse is Hot (w/ Christina Warren)
Buying tickets to your couch, streaming fatigue, TiVo complains when their own ads get skipped. With special guest Christina Warren.
CordKillers: Ep. 115 – Strike While the Corpse is Hot
Recorded: April 4 2016
Guest: Christina Warren
Intro Video
Primary Target
- Flix Premiere tries to apply theatre distribution model to streaming service
– Curated movies (good indie films that haven’t found an audience)
– Only platform exclusives
– Promote movies online, trailers, interviews, behind-the-scenes to release date
– 8 titles each week
– pay a couple bucks for the “ticket”
– Can still see what was playing in previous weeks. 12-month exclusive on all films
-ios and Android more to follow
– US and UK now in testing, end of May after Cannes Film Festival expand to Australia, Canada, France, Germany and Spain.
Signal Intelligence
- Fullscreen targets the YouTube generation with new streaming service launching in April
– Fullscreen – ad-free streaming service April 26, iOS, Android, Chromecast (more to follow)
– Free 30-day trial
– Originals from its YouTube stars plus curated acquisitions
– “Dawson’s Creek,” “Saved by the Bell,” and more
– Electra-woman and DynaGirl comes June 7 - Electra-woman and DynaGirl comes out June 7
- Lionsgate and Kevin Hart team up for a comedy-only streaming service
– Lionsgate partnering with Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat Digital to launch Laugh Out Loud, comedy streamign channel
– Hart undercover driver for Lyft, Vine Star Logan Paul
– Lionsgate, Comic-Con HQ on May 7 - Streaming movie service Tribeca Shortlist comes to Apple TV
– Tribeca Shortlist – streaming movie service ($4.99 a month now available on Apple TV in addition to Roku, Fire TV, iOS)
– Smaller catalog of movies handpicked by actors, filmmakers and other industry insiders.
Gear Up
- TiVo: TV Nets Refusing to Run ‘Bolt’ Ads
– TiVo claims networks won’t take ads for Bolt DVR because of skip mode
– SkipMode-enabled channels include ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, AMC, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, TBS, FX, TLC, History, TNT, CW, Food Network, USA Network, Bravo, ABC Family (now Freeform), Syfy, Lifetime, and HGTV. - Why the networks won’t run ads for the TiVo Bolt
Front Lines
- Sony is launching its 4K streaming service on April 4th
– Sony’s 4K streaming service is launching today, April 4th in the US. Ultra is exclusively on Sony HDR 4K sets. Titles cost around $30 each. You get 4 free titles when you sign up. Ultra is part of Ultraviolet for that far-off day when multiple ultraviolet stores have 4K movies for sale. - Bloomberg: Facebook rejects NFL Thursday night live streams
– Bloomberg says the rumors of Facebook discussing purchasing rights to stream NFL games are rumored to have ended. The NFL is still talking to Verizon and others. - Channel 4 now lets you watch live shows on Android devices
– Good news for UK viewers of Channel 4, you can now watch the live feed of the channel on Android devices. Bad news UK viewers of Channel 4, Black Mirror will not come to Channel 4 next season. Good news UK viewers of Netflix. Black Mirror will come to Netflix in the UK and everywhere else in the world. - Jill Soloway told the Associated Press that Caitlyn Jenner will appear in season 3 of Amazon’s Transparent.
Under Surveillance
- MythBusters is coming back as a reality TV show to find the next MythBusters
– Science Channel will air a reality series called Search for the Next Mythbusters in order to find new hosts for a new version of the series. - Tech journalist Will Smith launches a talk show in VR
– Will Smith, formerly of Tested, will host a talk show filmed in VR called The FOO Show. the first episode —currently in early access on Oculus Home— features Firewatch, developer Campo Santo, and Smith exploring a location from the game. Regular production starts this summer. - Always Sunny renewed on FXX for 13th and 14th seasons, will tie Ozzy and Harriet for longest running live action comedy series
- Brian: Better call Saul (207), Justified (112), 11.22.63 (108)
- Tom: Supergirl, Better Call Saul (207), The Magicians, Agents of SHIELD, Justified (112), The Hateful Eight, The Walking Dead, The Force Awakens Digital Extras, 11.22.63 (108)
- Christina: The Americans, People vs. OJ Simpson, The OC (Hulu)
- On the Lookout: Graceland
Dispatches from the Front
You were ruminating on Redbox creating a digital rental service and speculating on whether they would be able to maintain their price advantage over iTunes/Amazon et al rentals with that move; it made me wonder if either of you had heard of or used the service VidAngel. (vidangel.com). They have an interesting ‘purchase-and-return’ loophole scheme going on that allows you to ‘rent’ movies digitally for $1-2 (SD/HD). Pretty wild, but as far as I can tell, completely legit… I’ve heard them advertise on nationally syndicated radio shows, so I don’t think they’re trying to fly under the radar. They’re also interesting because they support filtering objectionable content in the video for families, and they rent some HBO/Netflix shows as well (Game of Thrones, House of Cards). They even have filters for Jar-Jar Binks scenes and ‘new edits’ in Star Wars… so they have a sense of humor about it. And they have apps on all the devices you’d want… If you haven’t checked them out, you might want to.
Anyway, great show guys!
– Gabriel
Check this one out. They are offering me cable for 10 bucks a month! Last one was for 30 bucks with HBO and Showtime. The next one will probably be for free. They won’t get me! Gladly, my wife Teresa agrees.
Thanks,
– Steven
Cedar Park, Texas
Dear Cordkillers,
As one of your bosses, I wanted to point out some interesting numbers that recently came out about TV viewing.
“1,004 hours were spent watching live TV, up from 936 hours a year ago, and time spent watching programs on DVRs up to 15 days after they originally aired rose to 356 hours from 332 hours.”
“Among millennials, time spent viewing live TV has been eclipsed by use of desktop computers and phones. Live TV still accounts for 47% of time spent.”
…comScore/Rentrak use electronic devices to register TV viewing in all their markets not just the top 50 or so…. Rentrak uses equipment like cable boxes and other electronic means to get the their numbers.
– Jay
KEY POINTS from report
– comScore also says that the largest digital media properties can reach as big an audience as the Big 4 broadcasters in primetime. Google websites reach 247 million people per month, compared to 228 million for the top broadcast network.
– The TV landscape continued its shifting of time and space, with more delayed, on-demand and digital viewing of TV programming than ever before.
– Digital media usage continued to grow at a fast rate, driven by smartphone app usage which is inching closer and closer to 50 percent of all digital media time spent.”
- 2016 U.S. Cross-Platform Future in Focus
- Nielesen getting access to Dish Set-top box data
– “The competitive pressure on Nielsen also got ratcheted up when two of its competitors in the measurement space—Rentrak and comScore—merged in a $770 million deal that was announced last year and closed in February. Rentrak already has deals with a number of cable and satellite companies like Dish to get data from their set-top boxes, and comScore specializes in online measurement.”
I think that there are many ways to kill the cord and it seams your show dismisses physical media and TV antenna viewing when you should be embracing both “”old”” technologies as another way to kill the cord (unless you consider the cord from my antenna to my TV and the cord to my Blu-Ray player to be the enemy also).
Thank you and keep fighting the good fight.
Sincerely,
– Richard
Links
It’s Spoilerin’ Time 114
Summer Movie Draft starts, 11.22.63 (107), Better Call Saul (206), Zootopia, Justified (111)
00:32 – Summer Movie Draft
07:17 – 11.22.63 (107)
11:26 – Better Call Saul (206)
22:04 – Zootopia
29:37 – Justified (111)