Why HBO needn’t worry about piracy, why Netflix wants to kill TV, and new news about the Star Wars.
CordKillers: Ep. 67 – You’re Excited for a Prequel
Recorded: April 20, 2015
Guest: Ron Richards
Intro Video
Primary Target
- HBO Go Usage Was Higher Than HBO Now on Sunday Debut
- HBO Now passes toughest test by streaming Game of Thrones premiere on time
- HBO orders NYC bar to stop showing Game of Thrones
- Large-scale Game of Thrones leak has HBO targeting Periscope streams
- HBO’s Wasting Its Time Sending Periscope Takedown Notices
-HBO Now premiere on Game of Thrones went smoothly.
– HBO Go had some sporadic issues. As did Sling TV
– Most people watched on HBO GO according to Sandvine (Go consumer 5x bandwidth 3.4% to 0.7%)
HBO Not pleased with:
– Brooklyn bar “videology” sent cease and desist for showing GoT (did same thing with Sopranos)
– Sent takedown notices to Periscope for streams of the show
– “In general, we feel developers should have tools which proactively prevent mass copyright infringement from occurring on their apps and not be solely reliant upon notifications,” HBO says in a statement.
– Accounts in violation can be suspended or shut down according to ToS.
– First 4 episodes leaked as torrents from DVD screeners. Avail. on Popcorn Time.
– 8 million people watched the premiere anyway.
Signal Intelligence
- Netflix signs up new members like crazy in record-breaking quarter
- Netflix Says HBO Isn’t a Threat (Yeah, Right)
- Netflix Aims at TV, Not HBO, Says CEO Reed Hastings
– US subs passed 41.4 million (+2.28 million)
– International passed 20.88 million (+2.25 million)
– US not biggest in average hours watched per sub
– Letter to shareholders: HBO and Netflix “are not substitutes for one another given differing content”
– Hastings in earnings call: “Linear TV has been an amazing 50-year run. Internet TV is the way that people will consume video in the future.”
– Will update look of TV apps in second half of year
Gear Up
- YouTube switches off its mobile app for second-gen Apple TVs and older iOS devices
–YouTube switched off app for 1st-gen Apple TVs, older Sony TVs & Blu-ray Discs, Panasonic TVs & Blu-ray Discs, older iOS devices (iOS6 and older), and devices running older versions of Google TV.
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
- New Fantastic Four trailer
- Official Batman vs. Superman trailer
- J.J. Abrams reveals new Force Awakens teaser, details
- Everything We Know About The First Star Wars Spin-Off Film, Rogue One
–Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One “A band of resistance fighters unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans.” Set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. - Brian: Game of Thrones, Daredevil
- Tom: Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley, Mad Men, Daredevil, Last Man on Earth, Agents of SHIELD, Arrow, The Shield (506), Orphan Black
- Ron: Shark Tank, The Wrecking Crew (documentary), Daredevil, Silicon Valley, Mad Men, The Flash, Louie
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
- GFQ: $318,273,110
- Cordkillers: $23,681,298
- Frogpants: $15,845,115
- Night Attack: $0
- DTNS: $0
- Amtrekker: $0
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