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