Cordkillers 134 – Deeply Regret Button (w/ Mulango Akpo-Esambe)

Cordkillers / August 23rd, 2016

We now know the lifetime of a TiVo, Netflix comes to your hotel, a wireless antenna with fewer wires. With special guest Mulango Akpo-Esambe.

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CordKillers: Ep. 134 – Deeply Regret Button
Recorded:  August 22 2016
Guest: Mulango Akpo-Esambe

Intro Video

Primary Target

  • TiVo is cutting off support for its original DVR in September
    – TiVo will deliver a last download of guide data for its 1999 model TiVos on September 15th. Customers will get a $75 Visa gift card. The boxes will continue to work but will not have any guide data after September 29th. TiVo says there are still 3,200 Series 1 TiVos in active use

Signal Intelligence

  • Netflix is coming to more hotel rooms worldwide
    – Netflix partnering with Enseo (in-room entertainment for hotels)
    – Partnership expanded to any hotel under contract in a country with Netflix
    – Beyond pre-approved brands
    – Netflix app on TV or Netflix button on remote
    – Sign in with Netflix account, no Internet fees
    – Promises to wipe out login at checkout
    – Most-used channels in 19 hotel brands today (Marriott, Hilton La Quinta)
    – Hotels like it as a perk, and frees up wifi for other uses
    – Enseo’s system can also provide marketing messages

Gear Up

  • This wireless antenna may make cord cutting easier
    – WatchAir antenna streams to Smart TV (WebOS, Tizen, Android TV, Vizio), smartphone, tablet (ios, Android), Roku, Apple TV and Fire TV
    – Sends OTA signal over WiFi then to apps
    – Has a TV guide and 5 hours of recording (25 with SD Card)
    – Kickstarter promotion $149
    – Hopes to ship in October for $249

Under Surveillance

Front Lines

  • Here’s TV Networks’ Latest Scheme to Limit ‘Cord-Cutting’
    – Reuters has a story about how more networks are doing what they call “stacking” by making all previous episodes of a series available on demand to cable subscribers. 54% of people in one survey said they would not start watching a show unless they could watch all previous episodes. Comcast will offer full-season stacks of 60% of original scripted series up from 41% two seasons ago. A source told Reuters one network saw a 3-11% rise in ratings after offering stacked shows. 
  • How to see everything you’ve ever watched on Netflix and Amazon
    – Engadget’s Matt Brian has written up instructions for seeing your viewing history on Netflix and Amazon. Netflix history can be found in a section of Your Account called Viewing History. You can delete items to remove their impact on recommendations. Amazon buries it in Your Account under Personalization where you click Improve Your Recommendations and then choose Videos You’ve Watched. You can then rate shows to fine tune recommendations. 
  • Univision buys Gawker Media for $135 million
    – Univision doesn’t just run the top spanish-language channel in the US it also owns The Onion and The Root. And it has provisionally acquired Gawker Media pending the decision of the bankruptcy court. Gawker runs Gizmodo, Lifehacker and io9 among other sites.
  • Amazon brings free episodes of its Original Series to YouTube & Facebook
    – Amazon has begun posting pilot episodes from 10 of its shows on YouTube and Facebook Live. Shows include Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, Bosch, Red Oaks, and The Man in the High Castle.
  • HDHomeRun’s DVR app is ready for the Xbox One
    – HDHomeRun’s DVR software is a big hit with people looking for a replacement for Windows Media Center. It can now help folks who wish their Xbox could act as a DVR. You’ll still need HDHomeRun on a PC, Android TV box or NAS, but there is now an app for HDHomeRun on the Xbox One. 

Dispatches from the Front
Hi Tom and Brian

Take a listen / look at this: https://www.dr.dk/tv/se/dr-k-live-fra-koncertsalen/dr-k-live-fra-koncertsalen-serier-serier-serier

It’s 80 min of TV themes performed by the Danish public service station’s classical band.

There is some Danish talking in between, but most series covered are ones I’ve heard you talk about on the show.

Maybe something for the cold open? Or as a link to the listeners.

BTW – this is why I’m happy that we in sunny Denmark have the license fee that everybody with a TV, radio or access to the internet has to pay!

Thanks for always great shows!
Your boss,
– Eric

 

 

Hi guys.

I’ve now watched Jon-Claude Van Johnson and The Tick.I will watch I love Dick after work tonight.

My frustration with these pilots is not the content or format.I just don’t recall Amazon ever asking in there survey on what are your favorite shows ever? Then ask why these pilots are greater or worse then your favorite shows.

It just seems this kind of questioning sets these pilots up for failure as each one I’ve seen is slightly worse then say Battlestar Galactica. But it’s really unfair compairing a 30 minute pilot to a 4.5 season show for example.

I’m hoping somebody can reply and let me know if Amazon has asked this kind of question before in there pilot survey?

Long time Patreon Boss:
– David from Fond Du Lac,Wisconsin asking

 

 

I was talking with a girl who works at Hulu.
She said they get to see the first preview of what they are doing for the Hulu Streaming Channel today.
She said that currently she knows it will have an online DVR, but doesn’t have the details yet as to if it will be any restrictions on what can be recorded or if time limits or such. But if it isn’t all easily integrated it would seem a non starter.

She was pretty open about this as there is so many press leaks…but just in case don’t mention my name if you say anything on the air. Not sure if she was speaking out of turn. 

 

 

Tom and Brian,

I am constantly scouring the net to find interesting tidbits on cord cutting and specifically OTT live streaming services. To compare the channels available I put the linked spreadsheet together. It needs a little more refining (cannot make out what networks some of SFN’s Faith based offerings are) but your viewers may find it useful. The link is public.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iqAW6FzYfSUyRMe6zTHTWnCSkVUVxVrm-zEL765UYFk/edit?usp=sharing

This is strictly a channel availability chart not a comparison of services

PlayStation Vue is still the best by nearly every metric I care about except mobility and the name (and lack of a desktop app). It is ridiculous they launched nationally with PlayStation in the name. Nearly everyone I speak too about it says “I might try it but I don’t have a PlayStation”. How about Sony Vue or just Vue? Or Sony Live Stream (SLS for short)? Or Sony Dream Stream? Anything without PlayStation in the name. Plus the integration into the PlayStation website makes it more confusing to the average user.

Very Respectfully,
– Gregory

 

 

Tom and Brian,
Comcast upped my rate again so it was time to go for the chicken challenge again. Long story short, I was successful but not in the way I imagined.
I started out calling Comcast and had no luck getting my deal back to what it was before. So, I did what any reasonable person would do in 2016… complain on Twitter about my bill going up. Imagine my surprise when the Comcast Cares account at replied me and asked I follow them so we could exchange DMs. Using an exchange of DMs I was able to get back to my previous deal and lock it in for 2 years. That included free HBO for another 2 years and then to top it off they added 2 years of Showtime for free as well.
Comcast justifiably gets a bad rap in regards to customer service at times, but their social media team was fantastic to work with. I just wanted to share another path for all your listeners to take to try and get a better deal via the Chicken Challenge. Twitter, who would have thought that would work so well?

– Chris

 

 

Hi,

When I decided to cut the cord, I called Cox cable and told them I was cancelling in favor of HBOGo and Hulu. They made me a deal in which I pay for a “starter pack” cable plus HBO and Starz, at $12/month, which made it cheaper for me to keep it than to have HBO alone.

The end result is that I never bothered to connect my cable box – by using mobile apps to stream the network shows (using my cable login), I get all of the current shows offered by Hulu and was able to cancel that as well.

Definitely worth the phone call. 
 

Links

www.patreon.com/cordkillers

2016 Summer Movie Draft
 

Cordkillers 133 – Big Fig Leaf for That Package

Cordkillers / August 16th, 2016

Cable subs are falling. Now what? ESPN’s online-only service is not what you thought. With special guest Andrew Zarian.

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CordKillers: Ep. 133 – Big Fig Leaf for That Package
Recorded:  August 15, 2016
Guest: Andrew Zarian

Intro Video

Primary Target

  • Cable TV Revenue to Drop by $2.7 Billion in Next 10 Years
    – Cable falling
    – SNL Kagan forecasts cable revenue will drop 4.7% ($2.7 Bn) by 2026 from 57.7 Bn to 55 Bn.
    – Basic video subscriptions are projected to drop from about 53 million today to 45.4 million
    – Cable prices will rise. revenue per user from $90.84 to $100.02
    – Net advertising revenue is expected to grow at a 4.3% compound annual growth rate
    – Q2 2016
    – Estimate total loss 812,000 subs, down 1.4 mn. (1.4%) yoy
    – Cable TV penetration is at an all-time low of 78.6% in US
    – ISPs rising
    – The $2.7 bn. drop will be made up for in a rise of $11 bn. in broadband revenue (+13%) (subs increase 8m mn. to 71 mn.)
  • Every major cable TV company lost subscribers last quarter
    – The 11 biggest pay TV providers in the US lost 665,000 subscribers in Q2 according to Leichtman Research
    – That’s more than the 545,000 in 2015 and twice the losses of two years ago
    – DirecTV gained 342,000 but ATT’s U-Verse lost 391,000 for an ATT net loss
    – Q2 is always the worse quarter because students and snowbirds move
    – In May the 17 largest ISPs in the US, representing 95 percent of the market, gained nearly 1.1 million Internet subscribers in Q1

Signal Intelligence

  • Disney is making an ESPN streaming service without ESPN’s best content
    – The rumors were true, Disney announced Tuesday that it has made a $1 billion investment in BAM Tech. BAM Tech powers streaming services from MLB to HBO to the WWE. The deal also lets Disney acquire a majority stake in BAM if it wishes. Disney also confirmed that BAM Tech on an ESPN-branded sports streaming service to launch sometimes before the end of 2016. The service would uses sports ESPN has licensed but does not air on its main channels. 

Gear Up

Front Lines

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front
Hey guys!

A few weeks back you did me a huuuuuuge favor, by relaying my call for help with starting a Streaming hardware show…

Well, the community responded, and The VOD Squad was born.

We will be streaming our first episode this Wednesday at 9pm CST.
Come check us out live on diamondclub.tv

Thanks again for everything you do for the community
I can only hope, to someday have bosses as awesome as yours!

– Clyde

 

 

Enjoy the podcast. For me so-called “skinny” bundles are a non-starter because they include channels i have no interest in. if I can pick the channels in the bundle so that i get only the channels i want … then maybe. we cut the cord over a year ago and now are are very selective about what we watch. for us the paradigm has shifted and the old, traditional model is dead. the “new” way is far superior – no commercials, bingeing entire seasons, no long contracts, more reliable equipment, and lower cost rules. skinny bundles, as currently implemented, are just not gonna make us interested in the services that offer them.

– Dave T.

 

 

I would like to recommend a show called BrainDead. It’s a goofy little show about alien space bugs that eat brains and are trying to take over DC. It stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead of 10 Cloverfield lane. It seems like a show that should be on syfy not cbs. It is also streaming on Amazon prime. This is the first time I have seen a prime time show available on prime. [[Similar to CBS/amazon deal on Under the Dome]] Check it out. One of the best part of the show is the musical previously on before each episode.

– Dave  E.

 

 

(Hey Brian, I’m going to make it easier for you and write this in 3rd person!)

And here’s an email from Andy . . .

He thought they had killed the cord for good, but last week it was revived. When they went off cable, they added Hulu, CBS all-access, and also started buying some TV episodes. All that added up to about $25 a month in costs they didn’t have while on cable.

Here’s the trick AT&T used to get them back. They offered DirecTv for $50 a month (only a $25 increase after they cancel those subscriptions) guaranteed for the entire 2 year contract, a $200 reward card, and they now get UNLIMITED DATA on their AT&T cell phone service.

The cool thing was, they don’t even have to wait until the dish gets installed to start authenticating apps and watching live TV on their phones. That was all working the same day he called to order. Andy’s kinda considering calling and asking if they can just indefinitely delay actually installing the satellite dish!

Andy also submits the term Cord Reviver to those who bring their cord back to life.

-And that’s from Andy in Taylor, TX

 

 

 

Hi guys! Check out this Harrus poll on brand recognition, etc.
Netflix #1. Amazon #2. Hulu # 5. RC cola- oh how far you’ve come!
————————-
2016 Harris Poll EquiTrend® Rankings

Using an academically vetted brand equity model with elements like familiarity, quality, and consideration, brands create powerful connections with consumers.

The stronger the brand, the greater the bond. The Harris Poll EquiTrend® study benchmarks how deep those bonds go and honors the highest ranked brands in each award category.

2016 Harris Poll EquiTrend®
Video Streaming Subscription Brand of the Year

1. Netflix
2. Amazon Prime Instant Video
3. Twitch.tv
4. HBO GO
5. Hulu Plus
6. Vevo
Other Video Streaming Subscription brands in study ranked below category average (alphabetically): CBS All Access, Crackle, Funny or Die, HBO NOW, MLB.TV, NFL Game Pass, Playstation Vue, Redbox Instant, Showtime (Subscription Streaming TV Service), Sling TV, The Blaze, WWE Network, You Tube Red

– Scott in CT

Links

www.patreon.com/cordkillers

2016 Summer Movie Draft

Cordkillers 132 – No, That’s RedTube

Cordkillers / August 8th, 2016

Hulu ends their free service, but gives it to Yahoo! And has Apple given up on providing a TV service?

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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

Under Surveillance

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

www.patreon.com/cordkillers

2016 Summer Movie Draft

Cordkillers 130 – Subscribe, Binge, Unsub, Repeat

Cordkillers / July 25th, 2016

Cord-cutting conquers Comic-Con, Netflix finds out people don’t like price raises, and Twitter becomes a sports network.

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CordKillers: Ep. 130 – Subscribe, Binge, Unsub, Repeat
Recorded: July 25 2016
Guest: None

Intro Video

Primary Target

Signal Intelligence

  • Netflix price rises prompt subscribers to turn off
  • Netflix Added Way Fewer US Subscribers Than Anyone Expected
    – Netflix announced it earned $0.09 per share in Q2 with revenue of $2.11 billion. Analysts had expected earnings per share of $0.03 at the same level of revenue.
    – Netflix also announced it now has 83.18 million subscribers worldwide.
    – Of concern to investors, the company missed its subscriber growth projections, adding only 160,000 subscribers domestically, and 1.52 million abroad. Previous guidance expected 500,000 and 2 million, respectively.
    – Netflix CEO Reed Hastings cited increases in subscription prices as driving increased subscriber churn, resulting in the lower overall subscription numbers, however Hastings remained confident stating: “in terms of new members, which is most of what drives growth, the new pricing is working great.”

Gear Up

  • NCTA’s final counter-offer on setttop boxes
    – The National Cable and Telecommunications Association filed 33 pages reponding to FCC questions about setttop boxes
    – Will not pledge to make DVR, FF, REW functions standard
    – Will not charge extra for third-party apps or boxee
    – Proposed HTML5 apps for third-party devices w/ all liner and on-demand programming
    – NOT managed over the Internet

Front Lines

  • Twitter will livestream weekly games from MLB and the NHL
    – Twitter seems to be becoming a sports network for cordcutters. It will stream a weekly MLB game worldwide, and a weekly NHL game plus a nightly sports highlights show called the Rally in the US. The NBA will create two original weekly live pregame shows for Twitter. Twitter is partnering with Campus Insiders to stream over 300 “live college events” from Mountain West Conference, Patriot League and West Coast Conference. Yes, that includes live games and competitions spanning football, basketball,and more. Twitter is also getting news and highlights from the ACC. 
  • NFL Network and NFL RedZone Coming Soon to PlayStation Vue
    – Sony announced the NFL Network and the NFL RedZone will be available on PlayStation Vue in time for the 2016 season. Pricing and packaging were not announced but users will be able to authenticate on NFL apps and websites.
  • Redbox is testing its second attempt at a streaming service
    – A Redbox spokesperson told Variety Thursday that it has started testing its own streaming service called Redbox Digital. Redbox published an iPad app for the service which will sell and rent video on demand. A cast button shown in the app store listing suggests it will work with Chromecast. Variety says Redbox is also looking at Roku. Redbox launched a Netflix-like streaming service with Verizon in 2013 and shut it down 18 months later. Redbox’s parent company Outerwall reports earnings this Thursday.
  • Netflix orders more episodes of true-crime doc series ‘Making a Murderer’
    – Netflix has ordered more episodes (we don’t know how many) of Making a Murderer which explores the defense of convicted murderer Steven Avery and his co-defendant, Brendan Dassey. AND Netflix is getting the global rights to stream season one of FX’s American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson in 2017. 
  • Comcast to offer prepaid TV and internet service
    – Comcast will offer prepaid Internet and TV service in its markets in the US, starting in Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Florida and Indiana. TV subscribers will pay $80 for a starter kit then refill their subscription every 7 to 30 days for $15 or $45. No contracts no credit checks.
  • Amazon to invest $300 million in India to make original Prime Video content, says report
    – Amazon plans to launch it’s Prime Video service in India this year and will invest $300 million to make original content for the market. Amazon hired veteran film producer Aparna Purohit as Head of Creative development last January. Netflix announced last month it is partnering with India’s Phantom Films to make a series based on the gangster thriller novel Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra. 

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front

I am a long time listener, recent cord cutter. Before the fall season starts up, I want to get myself set up with a DVR, because I have great OTA reception where I live, BUT I want to be able to watch those recordings on my home computer sometimes too. It looks like Tivo recently stopped selling its software for this, and Channelmaster’s transfer of randomly-named files sounds odious. What solution am I missing?

Your boss,
– Andrew

 

 

Brian, I too am a fan of having closed captioning on. I’ve come to notice another benefit to closed captioning. In Preacher, in the scene when young Tulip over hears the Jessie’s dad talking on the phone. It just sounds like murmuring, but CC spells it out for you. Also, there was a movie where the tv was on in the background with no sound, but CC showed what the Reporter was saying, which was pertinent to the show.

– Chris

 

 

I’m in the process of cutting the cord. The main problem is that my wife likes the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies Channel. Is there a place to stream these without a cable/satellite subscription? Thanks love the information you provide.

 

– Robert

 

 

 

It is a sad day. No more VCR. 🙁 I guess i can finally throw away that box of Disney movies I have.

 

– Shawn

 

 

Links

www.patreon.com/cordkillers

2016 Summer Movie Draft