The most pirated movies of 2013 don’t stop a record year at the box office. Also Intel CEO  Brian Krzanich explains the problem with getting into streaming video. Netflix is either hostile or awesome or both. 

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Are more people really cutting the Internet than TV? The answer is sort of, if you squint. And find out what game is the most pirated video of 2013 with thrones.

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Cord Killers Beta 2 – Ear love
Recorded: December 29 2013
Guest: Fraser Cain

Intro Video

• Emotion Lord (Bravest Warriors – Ep. 2 Season 1 )

Primary Target

• Are more people cutting the Internet than cable TV?
• About 520,000 Add Broadband in the Third Quarter of 2013
• Major Multi-Channel Video Providers Lost About 25,000 Subscribers in 3Q 2013
• More Cord Cutters Ditching Web Than Cable TV

  Kris Naudus, product database czar—consumer surveys by Leichtman Research Group Inc
  1% of US households (1,351 surveyed) stopped wired Internet for wireless

  0.4% canceled pay-TV subscriptions dropped a multi-channel video service in the past year because of Netflix or being able to watch programs online or in other ways, would not have otherwise dropped their service, and do not plan to subscribe again in the next six months

  Second number doesn’t account for churn: Leichtman also reported 518,282 net added broadband in Q3 2013. Leichtman reported net loss of 26,643 TV subs. (Despite net add of 174,000 satellite and 400,000 telco— Cable had net loss 600,643)

Secondary Target

• Game of Thrones’ season 3 finale was the most pirated show of 2013
• ‘Game of Thrones’ Most Pirated TV-Show of 2013

Signals Intelligence

• Rdio Shuts Down Video Streaming Site Vdio, Offers Amazon Credits As Reimbursement For Purchases

Gear Up

• Roku player software cracked open temporarily, root now to run XBMC later

Moving Targets

• Crowdfund a kung fu time-travel comedy pitting vikings against Nazis

Front Lines

• Here’s the question we should be asking about ‘record’ Amazon Prime member growth
• The Future Is Personal Movie Theaters Without The Awful Other People
• Netflix purge coming Jan. 1
• Terrifying new promos released for ‘Battlestar Galactica’ creator Ron Moore’s ‘Helix’
• Annual Netflix outage interrupts streaming in US, Canada and Latin America (update: fixed!)
• Thousands’ of cans of missing TV episodes returned to the BBC and ITV

Winter Movie Draft

1. Justin Robert Young: $503,513,000
2. Fr. Robert Ballecer: $485,056,000
3. Casey McKinnon: $445,324,422
4. Jeff Cannata: $350,016,348
5. Tom Merritt: $252,303,646
6. Brian Brushwood: $177,515,619

Under Surveillance

• Brian Brushwood: Blackfish, Downfall, Legend of Korra , Bravest Warriors
• Tom Merritt: Betas, Doctor Puppet, This is the End, Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Doctor Who
• Fraser Cain: Legend of Korra, Betas, Thor, Hunger Games, Hobbit, Doctor Who

Dispatches from the Front

• Great start to the new show, thanks for bringing us what we want when want and whatever…

  When Netflix launched profiles back in the summer, they broke parental controls by allowing kids to choose which profile to login with. Since there’s no authentication or PIN for profiles, kids can start watching Human Centipede or whatever they want, when they want etc.

  I emailed you guys about this when profiles launched and you thought it was a niggle that Netflix would sort out. Nearly 6 months in and it hasn’t changed despite other changes to the service and software.

  I’m the parent and it’s my responsibility to protect my kids, but if the tools aren’t there to help me supervise their viewing, then I won’t let them use the service, simple. But that’s not really in Netflix’s interest, surely?

  James

   

• Never lose the sharpie on cardboard!
  That is all.

  Bill

   

• Thanks for changing the format of the video in the feed. Was frustrating seeing that I got the beta episode, but wasn’t downloaded. (Course, went to the website to grab it).

  Now, can you offer a smaller sized version of the video? 1.28GB is kinda huge for video file to play on a phone.

  Just asking.
  Thanks,

  Corey

 

Tom and Brian kick off the very first Cordkillers with special guest Justin Robert Young. Netflix is leading the charge for 4K, Hulu has millions but is it enough, and why Atari’s famous ET game failure could help Xbox.

 

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Cord Killers: Beta
Recorded: December 23 2013
Guest: Justin Robert Young

Intro Video

• Holiday Emergency (EXPLICIT) – Christmas Vacation Remix

The Big Story

• 4K Netflix streaming launching next month

Another Big Story

• YouTube channel debuts on the Roku 3 in the US, Canada, UK and Republic of Ireland

SlipStream

• Hulu Plus passes 5 million subscribers, plans to double its original content
• Hulu must face privacy lawsuit, U.S. judge rules

Tube Tops

• Simple.tv, the DVR for cord cutters, releases its Android app
• Simple.tv is bringing its DVR for cord cutters to Ouy

Film Falm

• Xbox Live Documentary Goes Digging for Atari’s Long-Lost E.T. Cartridge

Scan Lines

• AllCast now open to all for streaming local movies, photos from Android
• Stevie now turns any Twitter topic into a social TV channel
• Viki Strikes Deal With Baidu to Bring Crowd-Translated Programming to China
• Now TV app brings Sky Sports to Apple TV in the UK
• ‘Ripper Street’ May Return with Funding from Amazon’s LoveFilm
• Wuaki.tv hits 1m users for its on-demand movie and TV streaming service, 125k from the UK alone

What we’re watching

• Brian: Fascinating interview with Mike Rowe
• Tom: Orange is the New Black, Father Ted
• Justin: Bo Burnham “what“

Winter Movie Draft

1. Justin Robert Young: $483,480,275
2. Fr. Robert Ballecer: $392,813,988
3. Casey McKinnon: $390,058,157
4. Jeff Cannata: $265,369,223
5. Tom Merritt: $182,530,164
6. Brian Brushwood: $119,438,873
    

Premiering this week

• Turbo: F.A.S.T. Dec. 24 on Netflix

Feedback

Gentlemen, in your honor, my wife, Wendy, and I cut the cord with Verizon today. We cancelled our Cable TV, but kept our FiOS internet service, so we still have one cord, but it’s the good one. And Verizon said we’re “welcome” to keep 13 local TV channels for free. Ha, I guess we don’t get to keep the UHF channels. 🙂

Now we’re saving $70 a month. Oops, just found out that we’re only saving $65 a month, because, “dear valued customer,” it’s actually $5 more per month than they said. Oh, and we also have to pay an additional $10 to return our DVR. (I feel like I just made a deal with some guy on Canal Street.)

We will continue to feast from our AppleTV, where we watch Netflix and iTunes… and podcasts, podcasts, podcasts. So we’re ready for your next show!

Happy Holidays to you both. Thanks for all the years of information and inspiration. Excited to see what you guys will do next.

Cheers,
Philip & Wendy Shane
Brooklyn, NY

 

See what you can do when the TV network is NOT in the USA? <sigh> 180 channels, $15/month, 8-day replay period without needing a DVR (they record & store everything), inside home/outside home, looks great if you were an international sports/soccer fan.

Now Playing on Slingbox 500: DishWorld

Jamie

Amber Hewitt sent us this one!  Brilliant!

I don’t know if this is a show logo or not, but it’s amazing and must go somewhere! Well done Chris Brueckner

The amazing Tom Gehrke’s new take.

From the inimitable Andreas Ekberg

So, some folks are a little bugged by a death’s head being used, because it’s also used by pirates. We’ve got a few people working on a different take. Here;s a couple from mrRiffles. What do you think?

 

Quick question:  is it better or worse to not have the crossed coax cables underneath?

Pick your faves, post ’em in the comments: