Cordkillers 67 – You’re Excited for a Prequel

Cordkillers / April 20th, 2015

Why HBO needn’t worry about piracy, why Netflix wants to kill TV, and new news about the Star Wars. 

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CordKillers: Ep. 67 – You’re Excited for a Prequel
Recorded: April 20, 2015
Guest: Ron Richards

Intro Video 

Primary Target

Signal Intelligence

Gear Up

Front Lines

  • Verizon’s ‘customizable’ FiOS TV packages violate contract, says ESPN
    –Verizon announced plans to offer new FIOS TV packages that gave users basic channels and two channel bundles of their choice for $55 a month or $65 with Internet. Additional bundles can be added for $10 a month extra. Late Friday Disney released a statement that the bundles were not authorized under existing agreements that don’t allow ESPN or ESPN2 to be distributed in separate sports packages. 
  • HBO renews Silicon Valley for third season
    –HBO will not only bring Silicon Valley back for a third season but announced it has acquired the rights to Vimeo show High Maintenance. HBO will air 6 new episodes of the series and make previous episodes available as well. Thanks to sporknpork on Twitter for the tipoff on High Maintenance.
  • Netflix creating 4K successor to Planet Earth
    –Here’s a roundup of Netflix show announcements. Silverback Films, the creators of Planet Earth are doing an 8-episode 4K series called Our Planet set to arrive in 2019. Orange is the New Black got the green light for a fourth season in 2016. Season 3 is coming June 12. And Dragons: Race to the Edge from Dreamworks will appear on Netflix June 26. 
  • Sony’s Crackle To Introduce Scheduled Programs In Addition To VOD Offerings
    –Sony’s Crackle is adding an “Always On” channel; that will start playing as soon as you launch the app, starting on Roku in May. Also coming to the channel Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser, with David Spade and Christopher Walken, on July 16 a new season of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee on June 4 and a stop-motion animated series called Supermansion featuring the voice of Bryan Cranston coming in autumn.

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front

 Hey Tom & Brian,

I’ve given up writing this review of CBS All Access a few times now because there were just so many problems with the service. But I’m happy to report that with a few recent updates, they’ve moved from “terrible” to “more than tolerable”!

Previously, you could only watch in a browser, on iOS, or on Android. And with iOS, AirPlay isn’t natively supported in the app. This meant no easy big screen viewing. Additionally, your position in an episode wasn’t saved. Want to switch devices, or just come back and finish later? Be prepared to watch a bunch of ads while searching for the spot you left off.

Thankfully, a brand new CBS All Access channel just launched on Roku! And coupled with the recently added per device remembering of playback position in episodes, I’m happy to say this $6 a month service is finally tolerable enough to use for all the cord killing Elementary fans out there.

Now, if they can just get some more diversity in their ads, they can be upgraded from “more than tolerable” to “not actually that bad at all”.

Love the show!

–Tom

Hey guys,
Just listened to the spoiler n time ep when you talked about the season finally of Better Call Saul. Funny thing that I picked up because I have been watching along with my wife as she works her way through Breaking Bad. I just watch an episode with my wife in BB where Saul says “I once convinced a girl that I was Kevin Kostner” and then thought, wow, I just saw him do that on BCS.. It was a cool moment that had I not been watching BB at the time I’m sure I would have never picked up. I will say that as my wife has been exposed to Saul in BB she is a bit how she was when she met Tyrion Lanester for the first time. “Why do you like him, he’s kind of a dick, and why did they make a show about Saul” I just told her, Saul grows on you like the imp did, and hang in there. so maybe my email will get read because I provided a great transition from last week’s show to next week’s spoils of gold for the season premere of Game of Throwns. Love the show. Love you guys, listen so much you feel like friends. Keep it up, as my summer picks up in real estate, I will become a BOSS..

–Jeff

 

 

Just watched episode 64 where you talk about the Amazon Fire TV Stick and how it now has the convenience of logging in through pesky hotel login pages. I travel two weeks a month just for work (three with personal travel included), so a Chromecast is always in my bag. Streaming content (e.g. Netflix, Youtube) over crappy hotel internet has never been an issue for me. A few of the hotels that I stay at don’t require you to use to web browser login page, so Chromecast works great for those trips, but I have yet to find a work around for the places that do have that ridiculousness. Knowing that the Fire TV Stick has a simple solution to this makes it very appealing just for travel purposes alone, which means that I could leave the Chromecast plugged into one of the Home TV’s 24/7.

Hope this gives a small insight to us traveling plenty and how we try to consume our content on the road. Love the show. Keep delivering the goodness.

–Nick 
 

 

 

Just wanted to bring up a quick point about the YouTube subscriptions that are paid by time spent viewing. I understand details are few, but I would like to know how they handle playlist and gaming the ‘time spent viewing’. What prevents me from starting a playlist of cordkillers and leaving for work? Do they implement the Pandora style ‘are you still listening/watching ?’

Again details are vague and let wild speculation rule the land. Just interested in your thoughts as creators.

–woogi

 

 

A couple of things:

First, CNet has an article about how those of us outside of the Apple eco-system can get HBO Now via the PlayOn service. Here’s the article — http://www.cnet.com/how-to/watch-hbo-now-on-android-and-roku-right-now/

Second, I’m sure you’ve been corrected a thousand times about this, but the pronunciation of Hauppauge is not “how-pudge”, it’s “hop-ogg” or “hop-pog”.

Third, I took a few months off from Cordkillers so I could read all 5 of the Game of Thrones books, but I’m back and have resumed my patronage.

–Chris

 

2015 Winter Movie Draft
draft.diamondclub.tv

  1. GFQ: $318,273,110
  2. Cordkillers: $23,681,298
  3. Frogpants: $15,845,115
  4. Night Attack: $0
  5. DTNS: $0
  6. Amtrekker: $0

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers
Dog House Systems Cordkiller box

Cordkillers 66 – HBO Now or Later?

Cordkillers / April 13th, 2015

HBO launches on Apple, Cablevision and Sling TV, and YouTube to sell subscriptions.

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CordKillers: Ep. HBO Now or Later?
Recorded: April 11, 2015
Guest: None

Intro Video 

Primary Target

Signal Intelligence

  • YouTube planning subscription service for ad-free videos
    –    YouTube sent creators an email about subscription service
    – YouTube subscription service becomes available in the next few months
    – Ad-free videos and offline storage around $10 a month (could be lower for specific categories)
    – Ability to put some videos behind paywall
    – Same % split as ads. 55% to creator
    – Sub money apportioned based on TSV
    – Partners must participate or have videos set to private

Gear Up

Front Lines

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front

You guys were talking about how the Tivo Romio was the ultimate cord cutters box because it combined OTA DVR with apps. Well sirs! I submit to you that now that Microsoft is finally getting around to supporting an OTA tuner for the Xbox One here in the US, I saw they just went and beat Tivo and Channel Master to the punch! Just hold on and let me explain my case:

Before you say the price difference to too much it would take you about two years to pay the same amount of money you gave Tivo for the subscription that you spend to get the Xbox. Yes, the initial cost would be higher, but the Tivo option just spreads that out over two years. And over that two years, the Xbox One will continue to get more updates and capabilities, the Tivo will be just as slow and frustrating as it was on day one and you just keep giving them more money!

–Dustin

 

  • Tivo Romio – $49.99
    -OTA Recording
    -Slow outdated apps
    -Subscription Fee Required – $14.99/month
  • Xbox One – $349.99 + $79.99 Tuner from Hauppauge or $59.99 Official Adapter in a few months
    –OTA (NOT RECORDING)
    –All the apps you need up-to-date and fast
    –No Subscription — Xbox Gold is NOT required for media apps or recording 
    –    Xbox tuner is not a DVR 

 

Hey Employees. Quick question here.

I’d like to get into the Breaking Bad universe and I’m wondering as someone thats only ever seen the pilot of Breaking Bad should I watch Breaking Bad first or since Better Call Saul is a prequel should I watch that first?

-From your boss, Nik.

 

 

Given the recent news regarding Sling TVs hiccups during the final four basketball games, I’m curious as to what expectations for downtime for live internet-delivered TV are?

No downtime is certainly best, however I know personally I have held higher expectations for traditional broadcast methods compared to internet-streamed video. Although always annoying when streams fail / buffer / etc., I always expected it at times as it was new technology and/or rarely time sensitive material to watch. Sling TV is new tech itself and still maturing, but will viewers (from tech savvy to my grandparents) be expecting ‘traditional broadcast stability’ or ‘internet broadcast stability’?

Of course there have always been technical issues with the ‘old’ methods as well. However I cannot remember the last time a major live TV event went down for more than a few seconds over traditional broadcast methods (perhaps I’ve been lucky). At the moment, these major live TV events, and high viewer counts, must be massive quality concerns for IP-delivered TV streams. Quality and stability are even more vital given the events themselves are a major reason for purchasing services like Sling TV in the first place.

This will hopefully become a non issue as tech improves of course.

Keep up the fine work!

Your boss down under,
–Steve

 

 

I thought I was the only one! After paying and seeing a terrible movie in 2007 (REDACTED) sitting through an hour and half to find out that he still dies (ohh yeah spoiler alert, but it doesn’t even matter it’s so terrible Do Not Watch It!) I seek out every movie and TV show plot before I invest my time watching it. I have sympathy for the spoiler-phobic and try not to spoil things for my friends and family but personally I’m not paying for something if I know I won’t like the end.

You guys are great, I love your show, and I’m thrilled to be a patron! 🙂

Thanks,

Steve B.

 

Hey guys,

Just thought I would chime in on the spoiler discussion.

I would have to admit I am definitely closer to the Andrew Zarian spectrum when it come to spoilers (maybe its a Queens thing).

I tend to enjoy spoilers and never try to avoid them unless I know I am about to see something soon anyway, and would of course not seek out a show called spoilerin time if I was afraid of possible spoilers.

I will admit, if it wasn’t for you guys spoiling Breaking Bad every week on Frame Rate, I probably would not have taken the plunge to binge watch it all. And I still greatly enjoyed it, despite knowing *blank* is blown up using *blank*

By the way Brian, if you do read this on the show it might need to be in spoilerin time. Despite the blanks people will still get upset.

Cheers!
–Byron

 

 

Employees, fellow owners, stop complaining about spoilers if you don’t like them don’t listen! I get tired of hearing about should we have spoilers, shouldn’t we have spoilers, oh my God we need to do this about spoilers no no we need to do this. I don’t listen to here 5-10 minutes of debating spoiler protocol weekly!

–Ryan

 

 

I am a long time supporter of cordkillers and shaved the cord down to only my local channels.

My question is about Yahoo! Screen and their recent original programing. I am a big fan of community and love that they are giving it a second life. Since I was in the app I also decided to check out Sin City Saints, which appears to be another solid show. I now see that they are bringing in some show called Other Space. The thing is that Yahoo! has been providing these shows without any visible commercials on the roku or apple TV apps. Is the plan a future subscription service or is there something else going on? With some of this quality programming, I would hate to see it all vanish because they are not getting a return on their investment. Just wondering what Tom Brain and guest might think about what is strategy.

Love the who bro.

–Anonymous

 

 

 

Do you know of a way to get an alert when your favorite team is the free game of the day on MLB.tv? Maybe by using iftt.com? In this case I know what I want to watch. I just don’t know when it is available to watch.

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, as part of the MLB.tv streaming service they offer one game a day for free. I don’t pay for the service, but when my favorite team, the Chicago Cubs, is the free game of the day I would like to seize the opportunity. I have WGN America on cable and unfortunately this year the Cubs games that are on WGN are only on the broadcast version of the channel available in the Chicago area, but not WGN America the cable channel available via cable throughout the country.

This is similar to what TBS did a few years ago when it separated TBS the cable channel from TBS the broadcast channel available only in the Atlanta area. However, in that case the broadcast version became known as Peachtree TV with separate branding and programing, while the cable version stayed TBS (very funny). The Braves games that were available on TBS are essentially now on Peachtree TV.

In WGN’s case both the broadcast version and WGN America have the same programing as far as I can tell except for the lack of Chicago Cubs games. And the subtle difference in branding between WGN and WGN America confuses most consumers.

–Bill near Athens, Georgia

 

2015 Winter Movie Draft
draft.diamondclub.tv

  1. GFQ: $252,522,000
  2. Cordkillers: $13,500,000
  3. Night Attack: $0
  4. DTNS: $0
  5. Frogpants: $0
  6. Amtrekker: $0

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers
Dog House Systems Cordkiller box

Cordkillers 65 – Spoiler Alert: Susie Dies in this Episode

Cordkillers / April 6th, 2015

Netflix sort of brings back Mr. Show, Sling TV beefs up and apologizes, and Roku gets a big upgrade.

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CordKillers: Ep. 65 – Spoiler Alert: Susie Dies in this Episode
Recorded: April 6, 2015
Guest: Andrew Zarian

Intro Video

Primary Target

  • Netflix says House of Cards season four is coming in 2016
  • Netflix may be reviving Full House as… Fuller House 
  • Netflix orders sketch comedy series from Bob Odenkirk and David Cross
    – Netflix confirmed Season 4 of House of Cards will come in 2016.
    – Netflix also ordered a supernatural drama called Montauk, set in the ’80s and involving a boy’s disappearance and secret government experiments
    – TV Line, Hollywood Reporter AND The Wrap all say Netflix is considering a 13-episode Full House Spinoff called Fuller House, starring a grown-up Candace Cmeron Bure as DJ Tanner And Andrea Barber as Kimmy. Apparently Bob Saget, John Stamos and Dave Coulier would all make guest appearances.
    -Bob Odenkirk and David Cross have begun production on a sketch comedy show called “With Bob and David” that wil include four half-hour episodes and an hour-long making of special. Tim & Eric are listed as EPs. 

Signal Intelligence

Gear Up

Front Lines

  • George R.R. Martin is working on a new HBO series
    –George R. R. Martin is developing a second HBO series called Captain Cosmos, which will tell the story of a visionary sci-fi writer in 1949. Given that George R.R. Martin is not your bitch, how excited are you for this?
  • HBO is tweeting at all the people who wanted HBO Now years ago
    –HBO’s Twitter account began replying to tweets from people who said they would pay for an Internet-only HBO subscription and often used the hashtag HBoTakeMyMoney. Some of the tweets are as old as 2012. Is this an effective use of the HBO social media manager’s time?
  • Apple Asks TV Programmers to Supply Their Own Streams for Apple’s TV Service
    –Some industry executive are telling ReCode that Apple is asking TV networks to handle the streaming responsibilities to become part of a rumored Apple TV streaming service. Is this Apple letting the experts do the streaming, a way to stop ISPs from blocking services both or neither?
  • YouTube star Michelle Phan has officially outgrown YouTube
    –YouTube fashion celeb Michelle Phan has launched her own network called ICON which means in addition to YouTube, videos will appear on DailyMotion and Roku as well as social media, apps and the Web. Is THIS the future of video networks?
  • The Twin Peaks Revival Is Happening Without David Lynch
    –Well Twin Peaks may still come back to Showtime but it looks like it will be without David Lynch. He tweeted Sunday, “After 1 year and 4 months of negotiations, I left because not enough money was offered to do the script the way I felt it needed to be done.” Is anyone here besides Tom sad?

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front

Hey guys, love the show and I’m really looking forward to tonight’s episode but I do have a request;

When talking about The Walking Dead or other shows based on comics or books, can you please not talk about the original source material. For instance I have purposely been lagging behind on The Walking Dead comics so that the story in the TV show doesn’t get spoiled for me (it’s fun not knowing what’s coming). But when talking about things that happened in the comics that haven’t happened in the show yet it gets dicey because the show will probably use the story or character, just in a slightly different way.

Anyway, keep up the great work!

David from hot then cold then hot then cold then hot then cold St. Paul
Just one of the Bosses (we are legion).

 

 

Nathan wrote in how he used his phone in 3G mode in a hotel hoping it would limit bandwidth usage but still be watchable for Game of Thrones. Here’s what he says: “For the first two episodes we used 800 Megabytes of data. The next night we watched two more episodes and I left my phone on LTE, for the 3rd and 4th episodes, we used over 2 Gigabytes of data! I have only done this once so I don’t know if this will continue to work or not. While the hotspot was on “3G only” it did buffer a couple of times, but it was still watchable. I did not observe a difference in picture quality either. So this worked great, it does require two devices, but if you travel with a tablet or a spouse you would have that anyway.

Thanks from Salt Lake City!

Nathan

 

Scott in London uses his Chromecast mostly for music and says “For me, the biggest problem I’ve found with using the Chromecast in hotels is the lack of a HDMI port on the TV. Maybe it’s different in America or maybe it’s saying something about the hotels I usually stay in, but I’d say about 60 – 70% of the hotel TVs I’ve come across in the last few years didn’t have a HDMI port. “

Scott

Message: Hey, Tom, when you said, “Hey, Alexa, add oil to my shopping list”, my Echo added it! But I don’t mind because I’ve been meaning to get sewing machine oil for my electric razor. Can you repeat that, but for Diet Coke this time? 🙂

Bob

 

 

You guys are sure hard on SmartTVs. I love my 50 inch Vizio SmartTV. Having 1 remote rules. It has Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Instant, and Huluplus and the Cast button on the apps on my phone launch the apps on my TV just like on a Chromecast. It will also play any MP4 and AVI files off a flash drive if I plug in to the USB port. One remote, and only one thing to have plugged in FTW!
Kevin from Cali

 

 

I never expected to tune in for Walking Dead spoilage and hear from a trio of people who find the subject of Scientology as fascinating as I do. Alex Gibney and HBO did a fantastic job. I’ve also been working on a documentary that I plan to have finished later this year. It’s called Knowledge Report: Scientology’s Spies, Lies and the Eternity Prize.

My film’s going to take a closer look at how people get into Scientology and the control issues that keep them in what I consider to be a skillfully designed mind-control factory. There’s a bunch of clips on the movie website:

http://www.knowledgereport-themovie.com/

I cut the cord about 5 years ago and have never looked back. And thank you for mentioning Movie Pass again several months ago in passing. You guys weren’t sure it was worth it but I checked it out and love it. I routinely see more than ten movies a months and AMC gives me full ticket price credit on my loyalty card which gives me back $10 so I am essentially paying $20 a month for all the movies I can see. I wouldn’t have done it without you guys.

All my best,
Mark
Wise Beard Man

 

 

My cousin’s wife, Astra, had to escape in the dead of night, a harrowing ordeal. She helped set up the website Ex-Scientology Kids ( http://exscientologykids.com/) to help others transition out of the organization. 

Mark

 

2015 Winter Movie Draft
draft.diamondclub.tv

  1. GFQ: $147,187,040
  2. Night Attack: $0
  3. DTNS: $0
  4. Frogpants: $0
  5. Amtrekker: $0
  6. Cordkillers: $0

Links
patreon.com/cordkillers
Dog House Systems Cordkiller box
 

Cordkillers 64 – Cold Indifference

Cordkillers / March 30th, 2015

Is there enough in Vessel to win? Sling gets more complicated. The Fire TV gets hotel friendly.

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CordKillers: Ep. 64 – Cold Indifference
Recorded: March 30, 2015
Guest: None

Intro Video

Primary Target

  • Former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar’s Vessel Launches To The Public
    –Scam School is one of the launch programs 
    –    Vessel launched to the public March 24
    – Exclusives at least 72 hours early.
    – Adding a total of 135 creators to its current 30 and offered a 12-month free subscription for anyone who signs up in first three days.
    – You can still get 30 days free then it’s $2.99 a month
    – Vessel creators could get CPMs of about $50 through the service, versus an average of $2.20 per thousand views on YouTube.
    – $7 a user bounty for converted subscribers

Signal Intelligence

Gear Up

  • Amazon Fire TV Stick adds hotel-friendly Wi-Fi sign-in
    –Update to Fire TV Stick and Box
    – WiFi authentication systems
    – Hide access PIN from kids
    – Employ shortcuts to sleep and mirroring
    – Easily accessed Curated Prime music playlists
    –Fire TV Box Only
    – USB port enabled for storage drives
    – Bluetooth headphones

Front Lines

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front

Hey guys! As someone who runs a website that produces a lot of local shows (http://trianglelife.tv) I think Meerkat and Periscope are total game changers. We now have the ability to do interviews, cover concerts and other live events with a mere cellphone! Who needs a tricaster, satellite hookup, and other expensive equipment? And don’t forget what this means for events like the Ferguson riots and the Arab Spring.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on the legal issues surrounding this technology. It’s fine if my friend let’s me live stream his band’s concert at a bar downtown, but what if I go to a Metallica concert or a pro wrestling event? There was a lot of talk last year about people’s rights to record the police during an arrest and the cops’ right to seize and access the phone to get the video off it. All that’s a moot point if the video is being streamed live on Twitter.

To your knowledge, how do the laws stand now and where do you think they will go in the future?

Thanks for a great show!

Bob.

 

Thanks for the great show. I thought I’ll let you know about my cord cutting experience here in Saudi Arabia. Just to clarify something, in Saudi we didn’t have cable until about 3 years ago with the two fiber providers started providing such a service. We rely on satellite tv, there are almost 300+ free channels and a couple of paid networks. I was able to stop using all of them. I currently have only internet and Netflix, for Netflix I am using a service called UnoTelly that acts as proxy to mask my connection as if I was in the USA or any other Netflix country. I also occasionally use iTunes and YouTube. My main box is an AppleTV after my WD Live device broke down. I just bought a Roku 3 and got Amazon Prime so will see how that works out. Being in a country where Torrenting in common and no one really cares I do use it a lot. Mainly for CBS, HBO stuff and Movies. I am trying to be all legal but its difficult here as there are hardly any legal services in Saudi at the moment. I am looking into seeing if I can get sling TV or might just wait for the Apple rumored service.

Hope this gives you an idea and keep up the good work

Turki

 

 

 

Longtime viewer, second time writer. My number came up and I am currently a Nielsen panel member in Chicago. It infuriates me to no end that nothing I watch via my Apple Tvs gets Nielsen credit. Not sure what to do with my anger except channel it your way in hopes some thing will change Nielsen corporate practices

As I’m sure you can guess, I’m not meant to reveal to anyone my status as a panel member, so please do feel free to cite anything you wish but please keep my name confidential 

Anonymous

 

 

 

Hi Brian and Tom: In general, I agree with Tom’s assessment that Kimmy Schmidt is two things at once: a great show and something that Brian just isn’t into.

Brian, I’m not going to tell you that you should like something you don’t, but please don’t say it’s a bad show just because you don’t like it. There are many shows on TV that I can tell are good but I just don’t like them.

What I do take issue with is that you’re mad at a show for doing what it’s trying to do, and telling it that it should do something else. I notice that you do this often and it’s the only thing that’s ever bugged me about your opinions on various media properties. You’re always saying “this show shouldn’t be about/doing this, it should be ____.” Well, maybe it doesn’t want to be ____. You really should judge the show for what it’s trying to be/do, not what you want it to. And if you don’t like what it’s trying to do, then maybe it’s not for you.

What I will say, Brian, is that Kimmy Schmidt might be doing more than you’re giving it credit for (particularly after watching three episodes). This article from the New Yorker does a great job at looking at the darker side of the show that’s hidden under the extreme bubbly exterior. It brought up some things that made me – someone who already loved the show as a comedy – think about it on a different level, and gave me a greater appreciation for what it’s trying to do.

In the end, I agree with Tom. Maybe you just don’t like shows like this. But again, it bothers me if you say it’s not good just because you don’t like it.

Matt from Sterling, VA

ps- personally, I laughed through all of the episodes and found one or two gut-busters in each.

 

 

 

Hey Tom and Brian,

Just some thoughts about The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. My goal isn’t to change Brian’s mind and get him to love it, but I think even he has to admit that NBC screwed up big time by not picking up the show and letting Netflix get it.

NBC recently announced that they are going to launch paid subscription internet streaming channels, and that the first offering would be a comedy channel. In promoting it they touted such great NBC comedy hits as The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, SNL, and … that’s about it. For a channel with such a great history of great sitcoms it seems like a huge mistake to not even be able to name a current hit sitcom. I think this shows why broadcast networks are in serious trouble. It appears they’re paying “so much” attention to cord cutting and potential internet distribution they’re forgetting the other half of the equation: shows that people actually want to watch.

Keep up the good work,
Your Boss Ben

PS – your thoughts and opinions on the matter are in no way tied to any potential future raises 😉

 

 

I think you guys with your fancy unity remotes are forgetting how great the CEC functionality is on the PS3. This means that you can have one box, hooked up to one tv, using one remote acting as your game system, tv, netflix, hulu, twitch box, music streaming box. This could be the death of the universal remote.

John W

 

Hello Brian & Tom, I wanted to send a message to let you know about something interesting I noticed while listening to your last show. While Tom & Anthony were trying to activate all my toys, I found myself suddenly panicking thinking I was going to need to tell everything to disregard. To my surprise, my Amazon Echo did not activate when Tom kept saying “Alexa”. I then proceeded to run my own experiment and rewind the podcast a few times to see if it was a fluke. My echo never awoke. I then asked Alexa for the weather and it immediately responded. I tried three more times to get Tom’s voice via the podcast to wake up my Echo to no avail. My assumption is the Echo is learning my voice and distinguishes between me (a legit query) and some podcast. Perhaps the next generation of voice interaction Anthony was asking for is closer than we all think!
Thanks for all you do and for the great show. Be well

Gunnar

 

Links
patreon.com/cordkillers
Dog House Systems Cordkiller box

Cordkillers 63 – Cheese and Sausage

Cordkillers / March 23rd, 2015

Apple might be coming with a service, Sony launches PlayStation Vue, and Chromecast gets friendlier

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CordKillers: Ep. 63 – Cheese and Sausage
Recorded: March 23, 2015
Guest: Anthony Carboni

Intro Video

Primary Target

Signal Intelligence

  • Sony launches PlayStation Vue as bigger, pricier Internet TV
    -Sony launched PLayStation Vue in Philadelphia, Chiago and New York on Wednesday
    – $50 a month after a 7 day free trial
    – Live on demand (3 day on some) and DVR (28 days) over PS3 and PS4
    – IPad app in the works, will add more deice support
    – Channels CBS, NBC, Fox, Discover, Scripps, Turner, Viacom. 60 channels in base package
    – AMC coming next month/ No ABC(Disney ESPN), A&E, or PBS
    – $10 packages: sports nets/lifestyle (26 channels)
    – Can stream to 3 devices at once (but only one PS4)
  • Internet TV’s Big Chance to Oust Cable Is Almost Here
  • Dish, Sony Web TV Services Provide Test for ESPN
    –Peter Kafka at ReCode: Do people really care enough about sports, and ESPN specifically, to pay for it? Or are they happy to pay for lots of other stuff but not ESPN?

Gear Up

Front Lines

Under Surveillance  

Dispatches from the Front

Don’t know if you guys have seen this. i consider it big. in canada, crtc ruled cable cos. must offer 25 dollar basic cable and pick and pay for other channels on top of that.

CrucialWax

 

 

To Brian & Tom:
I miss the Movie Draft! It was one of my favorite parts of the old Frame Rate Show and I love when you have it in Cordkillers! I wish you did Movie Draft four times a year: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.
Bring Movie Draft back soon!

Michael

 

 

 

Hello my employees.

Now that Netflix has launched in Australia as of 1 hour and 20 minutes ago and I’ve checked out the library I thought I’d give first impressions.

First, I think the old guard of the Australian streaming industry Quickflix and Presto should be concerned. Theres enough overlap with Netflix and Stan (the other new competitor here) that their services with their smaller libraries will probably struggle going forward.

Second, I will be keeping my Stan subscription. Tho Netflix has what seems like the largest library Stan has picked up exclusives like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Star Trek and Amazon.com originals that Netflix will not be able to get here for the foreseeable future.

Third, while my new Australian Netflix account’s library is not as big as my US Netflix accounts ,it is big enough with most of the check boxes ticked that need to be.

Overall I am happy with their offering here and I will cancel my US Netflix account.

From your boss, Nik

 

–Netflix is coming to Australia and New Zealand today for AU $8.99/NZ $9.99 for the single-stream standard definition plan, AU $11.99/NZ $12.99 for the two-stream high definition plan, and AU $14.99/NZ $15.99 for the four-stream 4K ultra high definition “family” option. Too much?

 

 

 

 

I was just listening to last week’s episode and had some thoughts on Verizon’s new “toenail” service.

You talked about the likelihood of it being zero rated and then went on to question whether or not it would be exclusive to Verizon.

I think they will not make it exclusive precisely because it will be zero rated, on Verizon. As an ATT customer with a pitiful data cap they would be happy to allow me to sign up for their service, get fed up with my ATT cap and then try to entice me to switch to Verizon so I can watch all I want without having to pay for a bigger data plan.

That’s just my two cents.

 Dan in finally almost not snow covered Rochester (NY)

 

 

 

I wanted to share a little tip that I ran into this weekend. I finally killed the cord. I called Comcast on a Sunday. I was expecting to play chicken, as I had in the past, to haggle by bill back on to a promo deal. To my surprise the Comcast operator did not pass me into the retention department. He simply walked through the cancellation process. After this, I asked why I wasn’t forward to anyone else. The operator explained that the retention department was closed on Sundays. I thought this tip could help other listeners that don’t want to go through the ordeal of canceling their cable subscription.

Thanks,
(Your future boss)
Mike from Blustery Bloomington, Illinois

 

 

 

Well, I’ve listened to Brian mention the people who’s credit card has expired on patreon.com and though, “Wow, what’s with these idiots?” Well, it turns out I’m one of them. It had been almost 2 months (8 episodes) since I had been charged and that was about the time I got may new card. Great show and I’m happy to re-apply as a “boss.”

Andy

 

Links
www.patreon.com/cordkillers
Dog House Systems Cordkiller box