Want to understand why HBO won’t go Internet only and Comcast will? We have a camel and fig metaphor for you.
CordKillers: Ep. My mother is part camel
Recorded: August 24, 2014
Guests: Jeff Cannata, Anthony Carboni
Intro Video
Primary Target
- Wall Street Estimates for HBO Broadband-Only Revenue, Profits
- – Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar.
– HBO “windows” all of its new programming for digital-only subscribers. That is, you could stream “Game of Thrones” or “True Detective” on your iPad, but you’d have to wait for six months or a year to get the new seasons. Venkateshwar figures HBO could sell these wait-a-while subscriptions for $11 a month, a discount from the $15 a month the average cable TV subscriber pays for HBO.
– Sell the real-deal version of HBO over the Web, but charge a premium for it, like $18 a month. The theory here is that there are several million people with broadband who don’t pay for TV right now, and it seems unlikely they ever will. So why not turn some of them into paying customers?
– Could generate up to $600 million in new earnings, Venkateshwar estimates.
Signal Intelligence
- Comcast launches internet-delivered cable TV at MIT and several other schools
- – Bridgewater College, Drexel University, Emerson College, Lasell College and the University of Delaware. T
– Included with room and board and can only be used on campu (althoughh HBO Go Watch ESPN, etc.)
– Comcast hopes to add other universities soon.
– A company called Philo provides similar service to Harvard, Stanford and Yale.
Gear Up
- Will Roku bring smart TVs into the cool crowd?
- Roku integration in TCL and HiSense TVs
– TCL on preorder at Amazon and in retail in next few weeks
– HiSense hit stores late September
– 32-inch TCL set $229, $649 for 55-inch
– NPD est. 2/3 of N. A. TVs are ‘dumb’
Under surveillance
- BitTorrent’s Science Fiction Series Looks Like an American Apparel Ad
- Children Of The Machine Facebook
- BitTorrent, ‘ConTV and Rapid Eye Studios making “Children of the Machine”
– First extended clip
– “Implants” and “jolting”
– Once the 60-minute pilot is completed, it will be available to everyone for free on all platforms at the end of 2014
– If enough people sign up for the flat rate of $9.95, the series will continue.
Front Lines 2014
- ChannelMaster introduced a Leaf-like antenna called Flatenna which they’re selling for $10 with free shipping.
- Simple.TV owners can set up guest passes to stream shows on Web, mobile and Roku.
- -Guests can’t watch live TV or schedule recordings, only access previously recorded shows. Up to 5 users can access a Simple.TV at once without performance hit, they say.
- Firefox for Android got Chromecast support this week.
- –At the same time the Abitcool website started referring to something called “Matchstick” which is likely the Firefox OS powered streaming stick they’ve been working on.
- The good news? A revised online viewing agreement means local games may not be blacked out for online viewing next season?
- -The bad news, you’d still probably need a cable TV plan in order to be able to watch them.
- Steven Spielberg is apparently developing a Minority Report television series.
- -It would supposedly follow the pre-crime unit as they prevent crimes. Godzilla writer Max Borenstein has allegedly been hired to write the pilot.
- Nimble TV has reinvented itself again. It now lets pay TV subscribers in New York or Chicago watch some channels on a Web-connected device for free.
- -Want all your channels and a cloud DVR? You pay from $5 to $30 a month. It’s essentially slingbox/DVR service in the cloud.
On Our Radar
On Screen
- Brian: The Leftovers
- Tom: Doctor Who, The Leftovers, The Shield (302)
- Jeff: Last Week Tonight, Magic in the Moonlight
- Anthony: Doctor Who, The Leftovers, Last Week Tonight
Dispatches from the Front
Hey Brian and Tom
i have been catching up on the show and was watching episode 32 “cord apathetics” when i heard Brian say something that finally made me disagree with him, as i usually see things from both host points of view. when Brian said we need to get rid of the over the air signals i was taken aback by this. my 86 year old grandmother wants to cut the comcast cord and only have phone service (she needs it for lifealert as much like r.l. stine she lives alone) and she told me that she only wants to get the local (35 miles away) Lansing stations. to make a long story short i am searching for an outdoor antenna as all the indoor ones can not penetrate the walls of her living room and she also refuses to get internet.
Thanks love the show
Greg
Brian and Tom,
Just thought I’d mention something for the guy who was disappointed with the lack of content he wanted to watch on Netflix. Canistream.it is a great website that has a mobile web version and even mobile phone apps. It allows you to search for pretty much any TV show or movie and it will tell you what services it is available on for streaming or renting or digital purchase or even DVD rental/purchase. I use it all the time and it’s great for those us trying to cut the cord!
Chris
Hey Tom & Brian,
Love the show, yada yada yada. Regarding the Movie Draft at Box Office Draft.com. What, who or where is the source for the movie listings for the next draft ? When would it be coming out ? And will the spreadsheet template be available to copy and paste into the league I would like to create ? Need some nitty and gritty on this, as I would like our family who it spread out over much of the country to join in on the fun.
Thanks,
Dave
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