Comcast offers a cord-cutting fig leaf, ESPN loses subscribers, Chromecast gets an ethernet port.

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CordKillers: Ep. 79 – Comcast Stream: You Can’t Take it With You
Recorded: July 13, 2015
Guest: Lamarr Wilson

Intro Video

•  Conan goes to SDCC

Primary Target

• Comcast offers live TV without cable subscription—though with a big limitation 
• Comcast Sells Its Own Cord-Cutting Service — Which Requires Comcast’s Cord
  – Comcast Stream
  – $15 a month HBO plus about a dozen broadcast channels (ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC, PBS, Telemundo, and Univision)
  – Access to Comcost on-demand content
  – Only for Comcast Broadband customers
  – Phones tablets, PCs but no set-top boxes
  – Out of home access only to on demand and recorded content (cloud DVR – 20 hours storage)
  – Can sign up AND cancel online
  – Launch in Boston end of summer, Followed by Seattle and Chicago then all 22 million subs in early 2016

Signal Intelligence

• ESPN Lost 3.2 Million Subscribers In About a Year, Report Says
• ESPN Tightens Its Belt as Pressure on It Mounts
  – WSJ Says ESPN lost 3.2 million subs in a little over a year according to Nielsen data
  – ESPN reaches 92.9 million hhs
  – Down 7.2% since 2011.
  – ESPN expected to make up 25% of Disney profits in 2015

Gear Up

• Google’s Chromecast gets a hardwired Ethernet adapter
  – Plugs into USB port and provides power and 100 Mbps ethernet.
  – $15
  – Sold out fast

Front Lines

• Comcast Sells Its Own Cord-Cutting Service — Which Requires Comcast’s Cord
• Plex’s Xbox One update brings music, playlists and more
  – Plex’s Xbox One app is getting some new features. You can now play music with playlist support for audio and video.
  – Plex can also handle Xbox’s native MKV file format and can show movie trailers related to the films you have.
• Test run paves the way for over-the-air 4K TV
  – GatesAir, LG and Zenith in conjunction with WJW-TV Cleveland have started field-testing Futurecast, a system that uses HEVC video compression to broadcast 4K and two mobile TV broadcasts in a 6MHz channel. The hope is futurecast to be rolled into the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard.
• PewDiePie responds to “haters” over $7 million YouTube earnings
  – A Swedish newspaper reported that YouTube star PewDiePie earned $7 million in 2014 from his gaming commentary videos. He has more than 37 million subscribers. Last year the Wall Street Journal revealed he made $4 million in 2013.
• Amazon tool aims to help you ‘fling’ shows onto Fire TV
  – Amazon has launched the “Fling software toolkit” allowing developers for Android, iOS and FireOS to add a Fling button to their apps. When users press the Fling button they can send content to their FireTV device much like casting a video to Chromecast.

Under Surveillance

• Amazon released a new trailer for The Man in the High Castle in advance of the series premiering on Amazon prime. It’s a mix of scenes from the pilot and future episodes. 
• Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk’s Con Man Satirizes Comic-Con at Comic-Con
  – A trailer for Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion’s Vimeo series Con Man was released at ComicCon as well. You can preorder the season for $14.99 available September 30.
• Hulu pays record-breaking $192 million to keep South Park through 2019
  – Comedy Central has renewed South Park for 4 more seasons and Hulu paid $192 million to retain exclusive streaming rights. Season 19 begins September 16.
• Netflix announced movie release dates
  – October 16 – Beasts of No Nation (TrueDetective director Cary Fukunaga)
  – December 11 – The Riduclous Six (Adam Sandler, Terry Crews, Rob Schneider, and Nick Nolte)
  – Q1 2016 – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend
  – March 2016 – Pee-wee’s Big Holiday
• Brian:  Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, True Detective
• Tom: An Honest Liar, Wayward Pines (1-8), Killjoys (Ep. 1) The Shield (607) True Detective (204), Comiccon Panels
• Lamarr: Blackish (Hulu), Instant Mom (Hulu), Ancient Aliens (History on Sling), Alone (History on Sling) and I’m PLAYING: Batman: Arkham Knight
• Bryce: Hot Girls Wanted

Dispatches from the Front

Hey guys, just wanted to write in about my experience with the Amazon Fire TV stick and using it in hotel rooms away from home. After hearing about the update which allowed you to sign in through a hotels wifi access portal, I used it a few days later at a Hotel Indigo, an upscale Holiday Inn family hotel. It worked great! Fast, stable, great picture on Netflix, no problems. I loved it.

However, it is I’m afraid to report very bandwidth dependent. I tried it this past week at both a Hilton Garden Inn and a Hampton Inn, and the results were very poor. The login process was painless, but neither hotels had the bandwidth to properly use the stick. I tried the Pluto.TV, Twitch.TV, and the WWE network app and none would work or play any video. Netflix only worked at the Hampton Inn, and even then the video would buffer very often and not be the best quality.

In short, the Amazon FireTV stick is a great piece of hardware, and should be with everyone who travels or stays in hotels a lot for business, but premium internet access is necessity.

Hope this was helpful,
– Ken

 

 

 

Tom — you mentioned you enjoyed watching news from pluto tv because of the variety of sources and sit back experience… for that, I use haystack. Which I thought i heard about through you, but in case not, you should check it out.

A bit early in their dev — but you can see they are working on favoriting and a recommendation engine to keep your feed relevant to what you’re interested in and what’s trending, all while coming from multiple sources.

avid listener,
– Joe

 

 

Hi guys,

I just had one comment about the hulu/pluto channels. This is the syndicated version I’ve been waiting for. I keep hoping for something I can tailor myself. Hulu used to have play lists and queuing but now it’s only queuing. Just recently I wanted a Playlist option when I realized I could only stand 3 shows of someone else’s binge watching. Well I’m close with Pluto but not close enough.

Really hoping maybe Pluto help me get my own channel selection some day.

– Nicky

 

 

Season 2 of “The Strain” premiers this coming Sunday evening on FX.

A good scary series that gave me chicken skin during the first season. I’m looking forward to being scared again. Deserves a look at a couple episodes of season one. I think you’ll like it. 

– Bad Billy

 

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers
2015 Winter Movie Draft

Movie Draft Update, Mr. Robot (101-102), True Detective (201-203), The Shield (606)

00:47 – Movie Draft Update

06:04 – Mr. Robot (101-102)

21:13 – True Detective (201-203)

42:01 – The Shield (606)

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