Netflix is 50% killing television, Facebook might get NFL games, and Roku won’t take the FCC’s side. With special guest Andrew Mayne.
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CordKillers: Cordkillers 111 – Technology Make Things Fast
Recorded: March 7 2016
Guest: Andrew Mayne
Intro Video
Primary Target
Signal Intelligence
- Facebook Wants to Pay for NFL Streaming Rights but Apple Doesn’t
– NFL selling digital rights (owners meeting March 20)
– Stream 18 regular season games
– Peter Kafka ReCode says these are the interested parties
– Facebook
– Amazon (looking for streaming sports exec too)
– Verizon (has mobile rights)
– Yahoo (submitted preliminary paperwork)
Gear Up
- Afraid Of Upsetting The Cable Industry, Roku Won’t Support FCC Quest For Increased Set Top Box Competition
– Roku’s spokeswoman Tricia Misfud to IBD: “We have not been advocating for a rule making in this area at this time. While we are known for selling streaming players, it is only one area of our business. Customers also access our platform through smart TVs and streaming players that operators deploy.”
– Roku partners w/ TWC and Charter on skinny bundles over Internet, Telstra and Sky license hardware for co-branded streamers
– Working on a hybrid streaming/cable box (sky etc.)
– Investment by Viacom, 21st Century Fox, and UK cable operator Sky might be shaping Roku’s thinking as well
– Essentially Roku thinks it wins either way
– No FCC rule, first in line for slower cableco adoption (the TiVo route)
– FCC rule, Roku probably gets a big chunk of the market.
Front Lines
Under Surveillance
- New Ghostbusters trailer hit last week, coming July 15
- Google’s ‘Moon Shot’ web series profiles Lunar Xprize hopefuls
– JJ Abrams is producing and Orlando von Einsiedel is directing a documentary series about Google’s Lunar X Prize,called Moon Shot, debuting March 15 on Google Play and on YouTube March 17.
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens is coming on digital April 1st and Blu-Ray April 5.
- K Troop is a movie about the rise of the KKK coming from Amazon produced by and possibly starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Still in early development. No screenwriter.
- Netflix’s Fuller House got renewed for a second season despite being panned by critics.
- Stephen King confirms Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey will star in The Dark Tower coming January 13, 2017
- Actor Ian McShane will play the central role of Mr. Wednesday in ‘American Gods’ on Starz
- Brian: Better Call Saul 203, House of Cards (thru 7), Justified 108, 11.22.63 (104), Great Minds episode 2
- Tom: Better Call Saul (203) The Walking Dead, Vinyl, House of Cards (Season 4), Justified (108), 11.22.63 (104)
- Andrew: Vinyl, Creed, The Tripods
- On the Lookout: Bates Motel
Dispatches from the Front
Great work guys I was just listening to your latest podcast and I have to tell you that I am cancelling my Sling TV service. The concept is great but it is the only application that doesn’t seem to take take full advantage of my 150mbps connection at home. It constantly pauses, stops and otherwise finds ways to make me unhappy of my TCL Roku TV, my windows 2in1, my iPad AND my MacBook Pro. The connection is not the problem. Either the app or the infrastructure is. Too bad. But I can’t continue to pay for something with promise that continues to not work.
Oh, and little to no problems with any other similar app.
– Jay
Hey Tom and Brian,
Long time listener and fan of the shows. You guys have talked about the X-ray feature on Amazon Prime and needing to pause and such like that. I wanted to mention I have the Amazon Prime app on a Nintendo Wii U. I love the Wii U as a streaming device for a variety of reasons, but that’s for another time. The Wii U, if you recall, has a tablet screen as part of the main controller. In Amazon Prime, while you’re playing a show on your TV screen, the controller tablet screen lets you do things like show cast members, the synopsis, as well as a live version of Prime’s X-ray. So as characters come on/off screen and scenes change, I can see who’s playing those people as well as get more info. I can prop up the controller and sneak a peak at this 2nd Screen or pause and do the same. I think this feature works similar on the Nintendo 3DS, but I don’t have experience there. Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in.
Your fan,
– Stuart
P.S. Tom, Citadel 32 is next on my list.
Dear Tom and Brian,
I thoroughly enjoyed your discussion about HBO NOW and wanted to chime in on a few points.
First, I wholeheartedly agree that $15/month is too much to pay for the service when you compare the available content with other services. The best direct comparison IMO is Showtime Anytime. For $12/month (same as Hulu ad-free) I get access to a lot of quality programs (though a rather poor movie catalog). Better yet, I can save $3/month by subscribing through Hulu, Amazon or PS Vue. Likewise, I can subscribe to Starz via Amazon for $9/month and get access to some movies before they’re available on HBO.
The other point I wanted to hit upon is the quality of HBO’s programs. Throughout your discussion, Tom echoed that HBO hasn’t produced a major hit since Game of Thrones. I would propose that HBO has produced some fine programs since then that have celebrated various levels of success, but just not on the same level as GoT (I would include Veep, Girls, The Newsroom, True Detective and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the latter two Tom mentioned). Each of these programs has done well to very well in terms of Golden Globe and Emmy wins and nominations (I’ve included a breakdown below, along with GoT’s stats for comparison), and while awards aren’t exactly the best measure of success (I’m looking at you Arrested Development) they can at least indicate a high-level of quality.
Call me crazy, but I would compare GoT to the iPhone, in that they’re both a once in a lifetime blockbuster product that people are fanatic for around the globe. Apple has since released popular products like the iPad, AppleTV, Apple Watch and new iterations of the Mac lineup, all of which have done so well that they would be a very good businesses all on their own, but are nowhere at the iPhone’s level. I suspect it will be a long time that we’ll see HBO (or most other content providers) release a mega-hit GoT that has captured the world’s imagination like GoT has.
Love the show!
– Jesse (a.k.a. hometownrival)
Indianapolis, IN
Tom and Brian,
I enjoyed your lively discussion regarding HBO on the last episode. I have to agree with Tom about the lack of high-quality content coming from HBO at the moment. The only show I gravitate to HBO for right now is Game of Thrones.
Take a direct competitor, Showtime, for instance. Showtime introduced Showtime Anytime, which I can add to my Amazon Prime subscription for $8.99 month. I understand that on other platforms, the price is different, but still cheaper than HBO Now.
Showtime has been killing it, in my opinion, with original shows recently:
Homeland
Masters of Sex
Billions (*new)
Ray Donovan
The Affair
Shameless
The Tudors
Penny Dreadful
I would much rather pay for Showtime than HBO right now. Game of Thrones is still the best show on TV and one that I will always find a way to watch HBO for – but once it’s done, they better get some more quality content to get viewers coming back.
AMC and FX are two other networks that are doing a great job with original content, but don’t yet have stand-alone streaming services. If they did and the price was reasonable, I would much rather pay for them than HBO. Hopefully HBO can get back to attracting amazing shows, because people will follow the content.
– Sean
Links
patreon.com/cordkillers
In 1948 – The University of California at Berkeley and the Atomic Energy Commission announced the artificial production of mesons using the 184-inch cyclotron at the university’s Radiation Laboratory. 