Would you pay $50 to see a brand new movie in your house? And why PlayStation Vue is not what you think it is. With special guest Ben Howard.
CordKillers: 112 – DVD Swingers Club
Recorded: March 14 2016
Guest: Ben Howard
Intro Video
Primary Target
- New system to let you rent movies from home while still in theaters
- Hollywood’s biggest directors want to bring new movies straight to your living room
– The Screening Room
– Same day as theaters in home movies
– Set-top box costs $150
– $50 per movie (48-hour window)
– Two free tickets to theater
– Exhibitors cut in on revenue (as much as 20%)
– Supposedly finalizing a deal with AMC theaters
– Universal Fox and Sony all interested
– Screening Room wants to be exclusive partner
– Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, and Peter Jackson support the idea
– Backed by Sean Parker
Signal Intelligence
- PlayStation Vue service goes nationwide in US
– PS Vue added outside New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, and Miami without local channels
– Packages are cheaper $30, $35 and $45
– New packages offer ABC, FOX and NBC on demand with CBS to be added “at a later date”
– PS4, PS3, Amazon Fire TV, and Fire TV Stick, iPad and iPhone Google Chromecast on iOS
Gear Up
- 4K Roku TV from Best Buy starts at $400
– Best Buy’s Insignia brand beat TCL to the punch to become the first 4K TV with Roku built-in to hit the shelves. 43, 50 and 55-inch models run $400, $500 and $650 respectively. Online now and in stores in April.
Front Lines
- Comic-Con will launch a streaming service on May 7th
– The company Comic-Con International is teaming up with Lionsgate to offer a streaming service of classic SciFi and Fantasy as well as live streams of select panels from conferences like San Diego Comic-Con. The service called Comic-Con HQ soft launches on Free Comic Book Day May 7th for free with a formal launch (and likely a fee) in June. Adam Sessler will host an interview series and Kevin Pereira will executive produce a talk show, also Impossible Science, Her Universe (Geek fashion) and Kings of Con (scripted) - Vimeo unveils its next set of Originals, including its first-ever feature film and concert
– Vimeo announced Thursday its second slate of original programming. Vimeo’s first feature-length film is a documentary called “Wizard Mode” about one of the world’s greatest pinball players. its first concert film features indie “chillwave pioneer” Toro y Moi. CollegeHumor’s Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld (“Jake and Amir”) bring a series called “Lonely and Horny. “Garfunkel and Oates: Trying to be Special,” features Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci. All four premier this year at various times starting in April. - YouTube Gaming expands to 4 new countries alongside new pop-out player feature
– YouTube Gaming announced it’s iOS and Android apps are now available in Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and Australia. The app also got some changes, removing the sidebar for a simplified homepage and adding a Live tab. The Android app gets a pop-out player for watching video while using other apps as well as adding in DVR and 60fps playback support. - Following YouTube Red, video subscription service Vessel goes ad-free for paying subscribers
– Vessel is now ad free for all paying subscribers and there’s a new subscription plan where you can choose to pay$19.99 for a year instead of the normal $2.99 a month.
Vessel also announced plans to offer year-long exclusives on some shows from creators like Linus Media Group, Brittani Louise Taylor and JeromeASF. - Another Vote for Sports on the Web: Fox, Sky Invest in Streaming Soccer Startup FuboTV
– 21st Century Fox and Sky are investing in soccer subscription service FuboTV. 40,000 subscribers pay $10 a month for a mix of matches from La Liga, the MLS and others.
Under Surveillance
- Game of Thrones Season 6 starts April 24
- Captain America; Civil War comes May 6
- Amazon’s first live show debuts online tonight
– Amazon launched a live daily 30-minute show called “Style Code Live.” It will stream M-F at 9 PM Eastern. There’s no advertising but viewers can purchase beauty projects mentioned in the show through a gallery located below the video player. And there’s a chat room. - Yahoo, NHL enter pact to stream four live games a week
– Starting LAST Friday, Yahoo began streaming live hockey matches four times a week under a deal with the NHL. The streams will be free to viewers outside the competing teams’ home markets. Yahoo has a separate deal with NBC Sports to stream two additional games a week. Yahoo also has deals with MLB and the PGA and is bidding on rights to NFL streams. - Netflix’s Luke Cage will premiere on September 30th
- The New Voltron Cartoon on Netflix Is Being Headed Up by Legend of Korra Alums
– Netflix’s reboot of Voltron have named Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos as showrunners. Dos Santos directed and produced for Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra and Montgomery was a producer and storyboard artist for Korra. - Netflix Buying Will Smith-David Ayer Supernatural Cop Movie ‘Bright’
– The Hollywood Reporter says Netflix is the top bidder for a movie called Bright about a magic-infused cop starring Wil Smith and Joel Edgerton with David Ayer directing. Max Landis wrote the script. The deal has not been completed yet. - Brian: 10 cloverfield ln, Justified, 11.22.63, more House of Cards, Great Minds with Dan Harmon
- Tom: Better Call Saul, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Justified, 11.22.63 (105)
- Ben: Vinyl, People Vs OJ Simpson, Love
- On the Lookout: You’re The Worst
Dispatches from the Front
Hey Cordkillers,
Wanted to share my experience when I called Charter to ask about their internet only TV package called Spectrum TV Stream. The first part of the call was a combination of the customer service person not knowing what I was talking about, and then being transferred several times. The person who finally know something about what I was talking about had to look it up. Bottom line is that it is $13/month for a bunch of crappy channels (i.e. HSN), and ‘local’ 3 network channels. Its $19 if you want anything decent. I took a pass.
Hi Tom and Brian,
Any chance of getting Tom’s cord cutting guide in iBook or PDF format for us non-kindle users?
Love the show and I just became a Patreon or as you all like to say, I am now one of you bosses. 🙂
– Jimmy
Long time supporter here to chime in about your recent conversation about HBO and how it’s performing.
While I think Tom and Brian have both brought up good points, you may be overlooking one thing. You may recall when HBO launched a year ago it did so only on the Apple TV when the new season of Game of Thrones started. It wasn’t until after the season concluded they launched on other devices including the device with the most penetration in the market, that being the Roku.
This combined with HBO making the recent season available for purchase around the same time they launched their service on these other devices, in my opinion led to the masses choosing to purchase the season as opposed to the service.
I think once the new season of GOT comes and goes we’ll have a much better idea of how HBO is doing as many people, including myself, won’t be trying the service until that new season is aired. If I like HBO enough I might just stay for more.
– Gary
Fan TV, after telling it I was interested in this show many moons ago, just notified me that Don’t Trust Andrew Maine is now available on Amazon instant video. I’m watching it now, finally.
– Ben
Hey Dudes!
This kickstarter is intended to share physical dvds over the internet. It reminds me of some odd mix of Napster and Aereo.
So, they’re screwed right?
Or is it saved by the European/French court system?
Rock and Roll!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1151191861/movieswap-join-us-to-freethemovies
– Ryan
Links