Hulu ends their free service, but gives it to Yahoo! And has Apple given up on providing a TV service?
CordKillers: Ep. 132 – No, That’s RedTube
Recorded: August 9 2016
Guest: None
Intro Video
Primary Target
- Time Warner Acquires 10% Stake in Hulu for $583 Million
– Time Warner announced it will invest $583 million in Hulu and receive a 10% stake in the company. It will not bring any additional content to the main Hulu service but its Turner networks will become part of Hulu’s forthcoming live streaming TV service set to launch next year. TimeWarner operates its own on-demand services like HBO Now, DramaFever and the yet-to-be-launched FilmStruck.
– Time Warner gets 10% stake in Hulu
(Joins Disney and 21st Century Fox plus silent partner Comcast who all now own 30%)
– Turner networks will come to Hulu streaming service in 2017
– Time Warner paid $583 million in cash valuing Hulu at $6 billion
– Time warner owns HBO Now and Drama Fever (subtitled programming from 12 non-English countries) as well, launching FilmStruck in fall (rotating collection of art house and indie films managed with Criterion collection)
– Some content deals with current Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime - Hulu ending free service
- Hulu is jettisoning their free tier to Yahoo View, a new free viewing site using Hulu player and ad sales team.
– Yahoo View will launch distributing Hulu shows for free. 5 recent eps from ABC, NBC, Fox, 8 days after air, plus other network shows, clips and full seasons of anime and Korean drama
Signal Intelligence
- YouTube Kids rolls out an ad-free option
– YouTube Kids is now bundled in with the YouTube Red program in Australia, New Zealand and the US. That means if you’re a YouTube Kids user you can upgrade to Red for $10 a month and remove ads from the Kids videos. You also get Red’s ability to save videos for offline viewing.
Gear Up
- Apple looking into digital program guide
– ReCode reported sources say Apple is talking to TV programmers and other video companies about creating a digital TV guide.
– The idea is to surface programming without opening an app and access it with one click
– Single sign on announced at WWDC would aid this.
– TV executives worry it would reduce their ability to promote shows.
– It could also irk cable providers who monetize their own guides.
Front Lines
- NBCUniversal gets exclusive TV rights to Harry Potter films until 2025
– NBCUniversal signed a deal with Warner Bros. giving NBC networks exclusive on-air and digital rights to Wizarding World properties and cable TV rights to to the movies. The agreement runs from 2018 to 2025. It also gives Universal theme parks the rights to “exclusive content and events.” - ABC and Lucasfilm Are in Talks to Potentially Make a Live-Action Star Wars TV Show
– ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey was asked at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills Thursday whether she wants a primetime series based on Star Wars. She said she is a fan and would love to say yes, saying that they have we had conversations with Lucasfilm. - Gwyneth Paltrow joins Apple’s reality TV show ‘Planet of the Apps’
– Apple’s reality show about app developers, called Planet of the Apps, has signed on Gwyneth Paltrow as a mentor for contestants, joining Gary Vanerchuk and will.i.am. Paltrow is a mother of two, author of cookbooks and founder of a fashion-focused startup called Goop.com. - Sky and Amazon team up for Roman Empire drama ‘Britannia’
– UK’s Sky pay TV provider is teaming up with Amazon for a 10-part drama called Britannia written by Jez Butterworth of Spectre/Black Mass/Edge of Tomorrow fame. It will take place in 43 AD and air on Sky 1 in the UK and Ireland and Amazon Prime in the US. - Sling TV will ALSO get the NFL Network and NFL Red Zone channels in time for the 2016 season. Sling did not announce pricing.
Under Surveillance
- HBO will get a nightly news show in September, courtesy of Vice News
– Beginning on September 26 at 7:30 PM ET. - Jon Stewart’s new HBO show will be an animated parody of cable news and premiere sometime in September or October
- Tig Notaro’s semi-autobiographical show One Mississippi – September 9th
- BBC show Fleabag, based on Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s play of the same name, arrives on September 16th.
- Transparent coming back September 23
- Woody Allen’s Amazon series Crisis in Six Scenes arrives September 30th
- Billy Bob Thornton in Goliath arrives on October 14th
- Good Girls Revolt arrives October 28th.
- Norway’s Slow TV is coming to Netflix. Get ready to watch a 7.5 hour train ride, 100 hours of chess or perhaps National Firewood Evening.
- Brian: Mr. Robot (205), Justified (304), more Rick and Morty rewatchin
- Tom: Preacher (110) Mr. Robot (205), Justified (304), Angie Tribeca, Olympics
- On the Lookout: Last Chance U on Netflix. Doc series, 6 hour-long parts.
Dispatches from the Front
Hey Tom and Brian,
Quick question for Tom since he’s the OTA veteran. When you record shows using a Romeo or OTA solutions, are you able to select closed captioning or audio description after recording a show or can you tell the device to record the secondary audio channel? I’m wondering about cutting the cord but i fear losing audio description for the visually impaired as it is the lazy man’s TV experience. I usually record shows like NCIS or Suits on USA. I may just be stuck with Time Warner Cable or dream of the old VCR.
By the way, the NBC coverage of the Olympics is offering “some” audio description, but it mostly seems to start in the prime time blcok of programming.
Thanks,
– Rodney
Raleigh, NC
After listening to your podcast for the last 3 months I’ve been trying to cut out AT&T U-verse television service. This weekend of the Olympics I finally did it.
I’m already a Netflix/Hulu+Showtime subscriber and I hooked up Digital Antennas for the three TVs in my home and use one fourth gen Apple TV in the main room where we watch TV. The other TVs I have two third gen Apple TVs connected as I only watch most tv in the main room.
The main room Apple TV has Sling TV installed and I’ve been enjoying the Orange channel selection works for me so far. I’m a disappointed about the sling interface and lack of pausing and on demand shows but I’m happy so far and I gained channels via digital antenna as I had only basic service for tv before.
All in all I’m much happier than before.
Thanks for you inspiration.
– Jason
With the Olympics starting, I have been watching via my Roku and NBC sports app. The streaming quality has been poor on my fast (150mbps) connection. I have heard rumors that some boxes (apple TV) have better streaming quality through the NBC app. Has anyone done a comparison of this one app between the Roku, apple tv and fire TV?
– Jason N.
Hi Tom and Brian,
Do you think that more streaming services will (or should) offer yearly subscriptions at a small discount in addition to the standard pay-per-month option?
I think Netflix missed an opportunity to say “You want to keep the old monthly price? Fine, here’s a $100 per year (or $8.33/month) subscription.” It reduces the monthly temptation to evaluate whether it’s worth keeping it each month. As we get closer to “subscription fatigue” and with it taking so little time to cancel/renew, I think we’ll see more people choosing their months for each service.
The yearly subscription model seems particularly strong for services with a few major hits (e.g., House of Cards or Game of Thrones). People that want to subscribe for just those services would be more inclined to pay for only a few months and cancel, but if a discounted yearly rate is offered, might stick around to browse the rest of the catalog.
Amazon started with the yearly subscription and only recently added the monthly option, but for me their “major hit” is the 2-day shipping, for which I’m happy to pay a yearly subscription as opposed to month-by-month for just their video catalog.
Your happy boss,
– Tom
Again I would reiterate that Comcast got me back as a corded user when they offered a combined package of basic cable with Showtime or HBO and it cost less than my internet alone was (at least for 12 months). So I am essentially paying for internet and getting Showtime and Streampix for free and they get to tell their stock holders that they are not losing as many subscribers as some of their competitors. It is essentially, semantics or outright lying. I would at least consider myself a cord trimmer and relate more to a cord cutter that is enjoying a few perks from his ISP.
Very Respectfully,
– Gregory
Links