Netflix switches to thumbs and might edit shows for screen size. Plus, Tom actually watched Iron Fist.

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CordKillers: Ep. 162 – Rusted Fist
Recorded: March 20 2017
Guest: none

Intro Video

• Pepe Silvia drums

Primary Target

• Netflix is ditching five-star ratings in favor of a thumbs-up
  – Netflix vice president of product Todd Yellin said Thursday that Netflix will phase out its star-rating system in favor of a thumbs up thumbs down system starting sometime in April. The company rolled out the new system to a few hundred thousand users as a test and found 200% more ratings were logged. Netflix will also start showing a percentage below titles of how likely it is you’ll enjoy it based on how others with similar viewing habits rated it.
• Netflix will explore mobile-specific cuts of its original series
  – Netflix chief product officer Neil Hunt said the company is exploring different cuts of its shows for different platforms since certain shots meant for a big screen can be hard to see on a phone.
• Deadline reports Netflix has hired Scott Stuber, producer of Kill the Messenger, Ted, Ted 2 and Patriot’s Day.

How to Watch

• Get ready to see more Twitter live streams
  – The Information says its sources say next week Twitter will open its live streaming API to media firms and and announce partnerships with, “firms that provide back-end services for live-video streaming.” The move would allow streams like NFL and Lacrosse to be set up easier.
• Twitter adds lacrosse to its live streamed sports lineup

What to Watch

• Final Leftovers Trailer Suggests Kevin Could Be the Reluctant New Messiah. The Leftovers returns April 16.
• Saturday Night Live will broadcast live in all time zones the rest of this season
• Columbia Pictures has released the first poster for The Dark Tower, set to arrive July 28.

What We’re Watching

• Brian: The Expanse, Legion (episode 1, twice), all of Rick and Morty again, Justified
• Tom: The Expanse (208), Legion, Iron Fist (101-103), Justified (510)
• On the Lookout:  A one-minute, spoiler-free pitch for Legion.

Front Lines

• ABC News’ Apple TV app will now let you have up to four of its dozen news feeds on screen at once.
• Unfinished Orson Wells gets a Netflix Commitment
  – The New York Times reports that Netflix has agreed to finance a restoration project for the unfinished Orson Wells film The Other Side of the Wind. Producers Frank Marshall, Filip Jan Rymsza and Peter Bogdanovich, had previously secured the rights to the unfinished film in 2014, but raised only $406,605 out of a needed $2 million in crowdfunding to complete the project. Netflix’s agreement will require a renegotiation with the films rightsholders.
• The truth about cord cutting? More talk than snips.
  – Crimson Hexagon, a social media analytics company, found that discussion of cord cutting is more common than the actual practice. Mentions of cord cutting have risen from roughly 20,000 posts at the end of 2013 to 120,000 last autumn, a 600% rise. But the number of actual number of cable households has not declined by that much of course.
• The Matrix is reportedly getting a reboot
  – The Hollywood Reporter has sources who say Warner Bros. is in the early stages of developing a Matrix reboot with Zak Penn being sought to write the Treatment and Creed’s Michael B. Jordan as a headliner.

Dispatches from the Front

Hey Cordkillers,

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents (or rather yen) in here. In the last episode, you were talking about flipping through channels on analogue cable TV before digital. A streaming service with a similar feature launched in Japan last year.

It’s called Ameba TV and the interface is designed to allow swiping through channels of content quickly and easily, There’s almost zero lag between channels & you can even see the edges of other channels as you browse. It does have a programme guide (which mostly seems to be for their paid premium DVR service) but the app & channels are totally free! 20+ channels of content, available on streaming devices & mobile. (Only in Japan… :P)

– Kaylee

 

 

Hey I absolutely LOVE the podcast and I did subscribe. Quick thought on Viacom and CBS. I couldn’t care less about anything on their channels. I don’t think they have anything like walking dead or game of thrones to give them much leverage so they’re probably hurting themselves. Also I was really let down by CBS all access. I tried it out but all the classic shows like star trek, cheers, and others have their entire back catalogue available on both Hulu and Netflix and I think some on prime. What I really wanted was Big Bang theory but didn’t even get the current season. Just the most recent 4 or so episodes and in my area I can’t even get live cbs stream so this is hot garbage as far as I’m concerned.

Thanks guys, love the show!

– Bill

 

 

Hey guys,

In response to Jon’s question a few weeks ago about pre-ordering a physical disc and getting the digital copy early there are a few options. The first is Vudu’s awesome Disc + Digital service where you can pre-order the Blu-ray on Vudu.com or even the mobile apps and you get instant access to the digital copy:

http://www.vudu.com/movies/#featured/14106/DVDs-Blu-Rays

Shipping is sometimes free, sometimes not (it has been for me but I often order within their promotional periods on new movies) and comes from Walmart.com usually very close to if not before the physical release date. The only major downsides to the service is they currently don’t work with UHD Blu-ray’s (sometimes you can pre-order the UHD Blu-ray from Walmart.com and get the digital copy, what they refer to as Instawatch, when it comes out but it’s a crapshoot at best) and neither Warner Brothers or Disney titles are available through the Disc + Digital program. Also the program has been riddled with some technical glitches as of late which never affected me by the way.

The other option is through Bestbuy.com which I am not as familiar with but if you pre-order select titles like Sing they will email you a digital copy code soon after then ship you the disc when it comes out.

Hope this information is helpful.

-Kenny

 

 

 

Hi Tom and Brian,

In your discussion of Britbox, I started thinking “How DO you create a successful back-catalog streaming service?” You mentioned Netflix’s lackluster initial offerings when it was called “Netflix Streaming”. But that was OK for them because they were a successful DVD-by-mail company. Amazon’s initial offerings did nothing to pique my interest, but I didn’t care because all I wanted was the 2-day shipping. Any other successful service that focuses on back-catalog falls into the category of being the owners of the content they’re making available: Hulu, CBS All-access, HBO Go/Now.

Can you think of any path to success for a streaming service that primarily offers back-catalog without either having some OTHER successful moneymaking venture or by being the content owners themselves?

Love the show,
– Tom 

 

 

 

As a British ex-pat in US (there are 3/4 million of us). This was a huge promise and a total failure in execution. My biggest hate is no news except “the papers”. Question time, newsnight, panorama all missing. The classic comedy is just PBS left overs. No classic BBC shows like “Two Ronnies” & “Dave Allen”. So I’m going to be sticking with YouTube since it has a better selection of classic BBC TV than this services which should be called BritSoapBox.

– Mark

 

Links

2016 Winter Movie Draft
patreon.com/cordkillers