Cord killing slows but saves money, best OTA antennas, Amazon Prime goes worldwide. With special guest Nicole Spagnuolo
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CordKillers: Ep. 150 – Seat Punchers
Recorded: December 19 2016
Guest: Nicole Spagnuolo
Intro Video
Primary Target
- Here’s Why Many Cord Cutters Often Pay More for Video
– PriceWaterhouse Coopers surveyed 1200 US adults and found 51% of those who reduced their cable package ended up paying more money per month on video than before because of streaming packages they added. While 68% of those who cut cable entirely spent less per month on video. Also 84% of current cable subscribers plan to keep their connection next year up from last year when only 77% said so. Pay TV lost around 1.4 million subscribers in the first 9 months of 2016.
How to Watch
- The cord-cutter’s guide to the best indoor antennas
– CNET’s Ty Pendlebury put 6 over the air antennas to the test in Manhattan and Long Island. The $10 Channel Master Flatenna fared well enough to make it the pick for best antenna on a budget. The best overall was the Antennas Direct ClearStream Eclipse for $59 or $79 with amplifier. The $40 MoHu ReLeaf got a nod for being the best performance in areas with less than optimal coverage.
- Amazon expands its Prime Video service to over 200 countries, but China isn’t included
– Amazon made its Prime Video service available in more than 200 countries Wednesday. It’s free where Prime membership is available or standalone for $5.99 or €5.99 a month. Amazon Original content comes in English, with French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish subtitles and dubbed versions in some markets.
What to Watch
What We’re Watching
- Brian: Justified 410, Rogue One
- Tom: Justified (410), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Man in the High Castle (201-205), Star Wars: A New Hope
- Nicole: Last Man on Earth, The Goldbergs, The Middle, FreeForm – 24 Days of Christmas Kid Shows: , Peppa Pig, Team UmiZoomi, Teen Titans Go
- On the Lookout: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Front Lines
- Facebook says it’s in talks to buy its own video shows
– ReCode reports Facebook is in talks with studios to license TV shows. The talks are being led by Ricky Van Veen, the College Humor co-founder who joined the company earlier this year said “we’re exploring funding some seed video content, including original and licensed scripted, unscripted, and sports content, that takes advantage of mobile and the social interaction unique to Facebook. The deals are said to be around $1 million a year, much less than budgets for shows by Netflix or Amazon.
- Amazon’s new Fire TV interface is what it should have been from the start
– Amazon updated the interface for its Fire TV. The menu moves to the top, a larger space for art and horizontal rows for shows or app options, with Recent shows in the top row. It’s available for “second-generation” Fire TV box and Fire TV Stick and will come to older models in the coming months.
- New streaming service BritBox brings British TV to the U.S.
– BBC, ITV and AMC are teaming up to bring the US a streaming service called BritBox, promising the largest catalog of British TV shows available. Shows that haven’t ended up on BBC America, PBS or other networks may show up within 24 hours of airing in the UK. That includes Eastenders, Emmerdale and Holby City. It will also have loads of older titles like Brideshead Revisted, Upstairs Downstairs, Keeping Up Appearances and Fawlty Towers. It’s set to debut before the end of March but no price has been announced.
- NBC Is Teaming Up With Olympic Committees to Launch a TV Channel
– NBC and the International and US Olympic Committees are planning to launch an Olympic TV channel in the US in the second half of 2017. The channel will stream Olympic sports and related content year round. NBC will also add additional olympic sports coverage to NBC, NBCSN and NBC Sports Digital.
- T-Mobile Offers a Year of DIRECTV NOW to AT&T Users Who Switch
– Thursday T-Mobile announced that it will give AT&T customers who switch to T-Mobile a $35 bill credit for 12 months to pay for AT&T’s DirecTV Now service. DirecTV Now is also part of T-Mobile’s BingeOn which does not count video from partners agains data caps.
- Vimeo releases apps for tvOS, Android TV, and Samsung’s Tizen-powered TVs.
– Vimeo updated its apps for Apple TV, Android and an HTML5 app for Samsung TVs powered by Tizen. The app will begin playing from its curated cinema experience at launch. You’ll also be able to access your customized feed, uploaded videos, as well as any videos you’ve purchased previously.
Dispatches from the Front
Hey Tom & Brian
I have been a cord cutter for 4 years now and have loved it. However this summer I expanded this to the theatre and did not see any movies in the theatre. I waited for the movie to come to iTunes and purchased it. When you look at the cost of a ticket it is about the same cost of purchase. The cool part is if I like the movie I now own it if I don’t then I delete and it is the same loss of a ticket price. Thought you guys might want to add this to the chicken challenge.
P.S. I know this idea could destroy the movie draft but Brian we all know Tom is going to win.
– Josh
I’ve made a decision: If I don’t end up liking Voltron, I am going to stop using Netflix. They have surprising a lack of family-friendly content, and what content they did have that I watch, they get rid of! I was watching the Disney XD Avengers cartoon, they got rid of that. Then I started watching Columbo and the A Team, and they’re getting rid of that! Are they trying to lose me? Of course, that might not matter to them, because my little brother Adam still watches DinoTrux, but if I don’t like Voltron, which my siblings say I absolutely must watch, than I am done with Netflix. It isn’t worth it to me to try to hunt continually for things to watch on Netflix when there are other things available, like Designated Survivor on the ABC, Falling Skies on Amazon, or Cord Killers on DiamondClub.tv.
From,
– Amar
I’ve been enjoying the new TV app on tvOS, but I have a bit of a conundrum when it comes to the new single sign-on feature.
My internet service includes a very bare bones cable package (so they can count me as a subscriber), from which I have access to HBO and Showtime, and I use that login for HBO GO and Showtime Anytime on tvOS. Additionally, we use my in-laws’ login credentials from a different cable provider to get access to other apps like FX, USA, Disney, etc.
In this scenario, can I use my in-laws’ credentials for single sign-on and still do a manual login for HBO GO and Showtime Anytime? Or, will using single sign-on always favor one set of credentials?
Thanks, and love the show!
– Jesse
Tom,
I heard you sort of dismissing the new TV app on the Apple TV – can’t recall if it was on DTNS or CK, or both.
But I’d recommend you really try it. It’s incredible, and exactly what has been needed for years. Especially for cord cutters.
One of the biggest problems is keeping on top of what we’re watching in each of the apps. While Netflix is excluded, it has Hulu, CBS, CW, Showtime, HBO, and of course iTunes, as well as many others (but I think they need a cable sub).
And of all those apps, only Hulu has any semblance of a “now playing” (a la TiVo), or watchlist. CW has nothing. CBS has a favorite shows list, but doesn’t let you know when something new is on. HBO Now is surprisingly bad for maintaining a watchlist. SHO at least keeps track of what you last watched, but not what’s new. And even Hulu’s watchlist has a bizarre algorithm for ordering things.
With the new TV App, I basically subscribe to all my shows in all those apps, and iTunes, and when a new episode shows up anywhere, it pops to the front of the list. If I’m binging a show that’s already done, it shows me the next one available (and bumps it to the front after I watch a show). And for shows I know I want to watch at some point later and don’t want to forget about, I just add it to the list.
You can even put movies you want to watch in it. And if you want to check out the series (e.g. to play an older episode), you can just long-click on the show.
This app solves nearly all my problems, and I think these problems are fairly common among cord cutters. We finally have one place to go to maintain all our “to watch” shows across nearly all apps, and to get notified when new episodes pop up wherever they are.
What’s missing? Netflix of course, and that app has a fairly awful watchlist function currently (my “List” row is often impossible to find). And perhaps integration with the PlayStation Vue DVR would be nice.
But harping on the single log-in issues, which do seem pretty bad, but are basically irrelevant for cord cutters.
Just thought you’d appreciate some real world feedback from a very satisfied customer. And a suggestion to try it out to really appreciate it.
Thanks,
– Mark
Tom,
Are you going to do another episode of Pretend I’m Dumb about Star Wars for Rogue One? If so, are you going to pretend that you’ve seen the prequels, but not the original trilogy?
That way you will be acting as if you saw this movie in the chronological order of the story instead of the order the movies came out in, which I believe was the original idea for Pretend I’m Dumb about Star Wars.
– Bill near Athens, Georgia
Links
2016 Winter Movie Draft
patreon.com/cordkillers
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