Cordkillers 129 – Shut Up and Eat It!

Apple plays coy with TV, Twitter wants to be a streamer, and yes people do want Netflix on their cable box.

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CordKillers: Ep. 129 – Shut Up and Eat It!
Recorded: July 18 2016
Guest: None

Intro Video

Primary Target

  • Eddy Cue on Apple’s TV Plans and Why Netflix Isn’t a Competitor
    – The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Apple senior VP of software and services Eddy Cue about Apple’s TV strategy. Cue sidestepped the question of offering a TV service saying, “Whether we’re providing it or somebody else is, it really doesn’t matter to us.” He also said Apple is “not in the business of trying to create TV shows” and that Apple is not “actively trying to buy any studio.” Cue says Apple is focused on the hardware and making it easy to get your shows with a simple voice command or no command at all. 
  • Apple is launching a reality TV show called Planet of the Apps
    – Apple’s first foray into original television content received a name and an open casting call. Planet of the Apps, is looking to cast 100 app creators for a reality competition. The show requires developers to send in information on their app, along with a 1-minute video profile. There’s no air date yet but contenstants must have a functioning beta ready by October 21, 2016.
  • Here’s what Apple really meant to say today about its plans to sell web video

Signal Intelligence

  • Twitter Signs Another Live-Streaming Deal, This Time With Bloomberg
    – Twitter has signed another live streaming video partner, Bloomberg Television. Twitter will stream Bloomberg’s market coverage throughout the day as well as several programs like With All Due Respect and Bloomberg West. Twitter will sell preroll ads to run before non-live clips through its Amplify platform and share revenue with Bloomberg. There may also be in-stream ads as well. 
  • Twitter’s latest sports streaming deal is for Pac-12 college games
    – Twitter’s latest sports streaming deal is for Pac-12 college games: Twitter will host over 150 events during the upcoming 2016-2017 academic year. Does not include basketball or football.

Gear Up

Front Lines

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front
 

Please tell me you guys are going to watch “”Stranger Things”” and spoil the hell out of it. I’m very interested in seeing Brian’s thoughts on all of the Easter Eggs. I just binged the whole show in one day. 

Cheers,
Jeff 

 

 

Hi guys! Love the show and as a loyal Patreon supporter I will keep you on the payroll as you continue your crusade TW2YW2YWOWDYWT – I was unsure if anybody contacted you about HDR10 vs Dolby Vision but I wanted to recommend two other great podcasts – AVEXCEL Ep 18 (Another great Patreon investment opportunity) and AVRANT Ep 492 (at 23:12) for a technical “deep dive” on this and other AV topics sorting hype from facts. There is an article at http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/dolby-hdr-201606214303.htm
Keep up the good work and looking forward to Cordkiller total victory in the future. 

Chuck

 

 

So I’m trying to find the cheapest legal way to watch a few summer TV series, Mr. Robot, Killjoys, Dark Matter, and the new Top Gear. I see that Sling blue has all of those channels so I sign up for the free (thankfully) 7 day trial. The first two episodes of Mr Robot are available on demand and I get excited, the rest of the shows are appointment viewing only with no way to even set a reminder. So I try the Syfy app to register my “cable provider” and Sling isn’t an option. Basically this thing is appointment viewing only with no DVR. I guess I’ll be cancelling and buying my shows one at a time from Amazon or Vudu since Amazon prime has none of the shows I watch either.

Love the show.

PS have you noticed it is one cent per episode cheaper to buy shows one at a time rather than the whole season?

Matt

 

 

Hi Tom and Brian
Just wanted to let you know that Joseph Gilgun who plays Cassidy in Preacher is in the new film The Infiltrator and is very good in a small part. He is a completely different character and I almost didn’t recognize him. I know you enjoy him in Preacher as do I and thought you might want to check him out in a good film with Brian Cranston.

Cliff

 

 

Hey Brushwood! (Also Dear Mr. Tom Merritt)

What’s up with not mentioning The 100 whenever talking about The CW line up? If you’ve not seen it, please correct this grave mistake immediately. An apt description of The 100 would be taking Game of Thrones, adding Battlestar Galactica, tossing in a dash of Lord of the Flies and finally a pinch of Lost.

Give it until the end of episode 3; I promise you’ll be just as hooked as I was.

Thanks!

Jordan

 

 

 

– Matt in Willimasport subscribes to a Comcast bundle because it’s the cheapest way for him as an engineering student and having Netflix on the cable box will bring it easily to the living room TV.

– Tim says “In our AARP home, the addition of Netflix to our X-1 box eases the ‘spousal factor’ a bit. My wife won’t have to fire up the Apple TV, switch the hdmi input to the tv.”

– Faiz’s Dad has basement home theater room but insists on watching TV in the kitchen, meaning he never uses Netflix. Faiz writes, “Our IPTV provider (Bell in Canada) added Netflix support a few months back, and since then he’s used it on occasion. Still not regularly, but often enough that it’s not just a fluke.”

Links

www.patreon.com/cordkillers

2016 Summer Movie Draft
 

Cordkillers 124 – Conjugating a Vrv (w/ Kristi Kates + Mulango Akpo-Esambe)

Sling comes to Apple TV while Chromecast passes it, Xbox moves away from TV, and AT&T bundles up anime. With special guests Kristi Kates and Mulango Akpo-Esambe.

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CordKillers: Ep. 124 – Conjugating a Vrv
Recorded: June 13 2016
Guest: Kristi KatesMulango Akpo-Esambe

Intro Video

Primary Target

  • Apple will update tvOS with Sling, sports, apps, and more in the fall
    – tvOS
    – SLING coming to Apple TV today
    – FoxSports Go,
    – Molotov coming next month
    – Remote app for iPhone, touch, Siri, accelerometer and gyroscope to control games, and keyboard
    – Siri: search movies by topics, search YouTube. live TuneIn
    – single Sign on, coming to iOS too
    – Dark mode
    – Apps automatically download to Apple TV when installed on an iOS device
    – HomeKit for Apple TV
    – Free upgrade this autumn
  • Microsoft isn’t adding a TV DVR feature to the Xbox One anymore
    – Microsoft told the Verge: “After careful consideration, we’ve decided to put development of DVR for Over-the-Air TV on hold to focus our attention on launching new, higher fan-requested gaming experiences across Xbox One and Windows 10,” 
  • Microsoft announces the Xbox One S, its smallest Xbox yet
    – Xbox One S – A special, limited edition launch edition of the Xbox One S will be available in early August with a 2TB hard drive for $399. Two standard versions will be available soon after: a 500GB edition for $299, and 1TB for $349.
  • Project Scorpio is a 4K-capable, VR-ready Xbox One launching next fall
    – Project Scorpio comes out Holiday 2017:
    – VR gaming
    – 8 CPU cores, 6 teraflops of GPU power
    – offer true 4K gaming, 60 hertz rendering, uncompressed pixels
    – all accessories and games will be compatible across, Xbox One, Xbox One S and Project Scorpio

Signal Intelligence

  • AT&T, Chernin to Launch Subscription Video Bundle, Countering Amazon
  • AT&T is reportedly building an anime-and-video-games streaming network
    – Variety says AT&T bundling streaming channels into a subscriptions service
    – Registered domains and trademarks suggest name could be Vrv
    – “viewers interested in anime, video games, niche action sports, and other fare off the beaten path.”
    – Developed by Ellation, subsidiary of Otter (joint Chernin and AT&T)
    – Otter has stake in Fullscreen, and owns Crunchyroll and Creativebug
    – Combine Crunchyroll with internal and external partners
    – Either as a bundle or with alacarte options
    – Fend off Netflix from anime and Amazon from bundling. 

Gear Up

  • Chromecast shipments pass Apple TV
    – IHS estimates Friday
    – Q1 2016
    – 3.2 million Chromecasts
    – 1.7 million Apple TV
    -First time Chromecast in front of Apple TV
    – Also estimate Netflix on 32% of all gadgets capable of watching video (US)

Front Lines

  • You won’t have to remember passwords for most TV streaming apps anymore
    – Within the next 6-12 months, TV Everywhere from Comcast, Cox and MediaCom will start authenticating based on home WiFi. Customers will also get a single-sign on for TV network apps outside the home. Among participating networks are A+E, AMC, Disney/ESPN, Fox, NBCUniversal, Scripps, Turner and Viacom. But significantly NOT HBO. 
  • You can soon use the NVIDIA Shield as a Plex media server
    – Plex announced Thursday that an update coming at the end of June will allow NVIDIA Shield owners to use the device as a media server. Plex intends to expand server capability to more devices int he near future.
  • Hulu’s New Scifi Series Sounds Like an Internet-Themed Twilight Zone Homage
    – Hulu has a new 6-part science fiction series called Dimension 404. “Each episode will explore a different bizarre mystery, including an obscure cartoon that may hold the secret to time travel or energy drinks perhaps causing a global apocalypse.”
  • Netflix Finally Tells You What You ‘Devour’ And What You ‘Savor’
    – Netflix analyzed viewing habits across 100 serialized television series to determine how people binged. The average person took five days to finish the first season of the series and spent more than two hours at a time making their way through shows. They also developed a binge scale showing which genres of shows people devour and which ones they savor. Irreverent comedies and political drama were more likely to be savored while Thrillers and Horror were more likely to be devoured. 
  • Nameless.tv tries to bring that live TV thrill to online video
    – Nameless.tv is like Diamondclub.tv in a lot of ways. It collects Internet videos into channels like 90s nostalgia or Strangely satisfying, and puts a chat room alongside. Everybody watching a channel is seeing the same video and can chat with each other about it. It’s in beta for Web only but there are plans for a mobile app. 
  • Netflix nabs rights to Cannes award-winning film ‘Divines’
    – Netflix has purchased the rights to the movie “Divines” winner of the Caméra d’Or award at this year’s Cannes film festival. It’s a French drama about tough teen (Oulaya Amamra), who gets sucked into the world of drug dealers in a Paris ghetto. Divines comes to Netflix later this year in every market but France, where it won’t show up until 2019. Netflix also bought The Discovery, a new movie from writer-director Charlie McDowell that’s going to explore the consequences of an afterlife whose existence has been scientifically proven. Coming next year.

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front

Here’s a Venn diagram about Marvel movie rights.

Alan

I was listening to your discussion about Apple/Amazon… I’m an Android fan boy, I won’t buy anything on Amazon Prime Video until I have a Prime Video app for Android tablets, or they implement Googlecast support. If the 30 percent cut to Apple is whats keeping Amazon from creating an Apple TV app, what could possibly be the reason to keep Prime Video off Android? I have a feeling its the inflexibility of Amazon at this point? Is there something I’m missing?

–  Scott

 

 

What about the possibility of Apple buying Hulu? I would say that Hulu qualifies as a, “…service such as Netflix.” Netflix has been up for sale in the past. Apple might see Hulu’s messy business model as an opportunity that they can fix, rebrand as Apple and get a lot more out of it than Hulu would currently cost. The acquisition might also give Apple some expertise as to how to run a video streaming service. Buying Hulu may even improve their business relationships with movie and television providers.

…Do you think Apple may acquire Hulu? Do you think it would be good or bad for Apple, Hulu or both?

Bill near Athens, Georgia

Links

www.patreon.com/cordkillers

2016 Summer Movie Draft