Cordkillers 208 – Red is the New YouTube

Cordkillers / February 20th, 2018

Hulu’s gonna make money (promise!), Netflix gets chatty, and Twitter’s going local. 

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CordKillers: Ep. 208 – Red is the New YouTube
Recorded:  February 19 2018
Guest: None

Intro Video

Primary Target

  • Hulu is going to be big and profitable, according to Disney’s chief strategy officer
    – Hulu loses close to $1 billion a year
    – Disney’s chief strategy officer, Kevin Mayer said “It takes an investment for sure, and we’re happy to undertake that. There’s going to be a big, profitable service.”
    – Lots of pundits seem to think Comcast will yank licensing rights from Hulu if Disney takes over Fox’s share of the service.
    – But Mayer talked about selling shows directly to consumers.

How to Watch

What to Watch

What We’re Watching

Front Lines

Dispatches from the Front
Hey guys,

I don’t have a TV, and watch broadcasts via Youtube TV. The interface is great for me, and I love watching on various other devices (i.e. cell phone).

My girlfriend cut the DISH cord and was trying PS Vue with a Roku. She found the interface/experience frustrating. So when Roku added Youtube TV, I convinced her to try it out… and we have a winner!

Two thumbs up for Youtube TV.

Thanks, your 1/2000 boss,

– Steve

 

 

 

Hi Tom/Bryan – With T-Mobile’s impending launch of yet another streaming service with their purchase of Layer 3, here is one way they can differentiate themselves. Provide a box that runs on their LTE and is not data capped. The one main reason I haven’t been able to move to streaming only is because we regularly hit our Comcast 1TB limit even with Cable. So if there is way I can stream and not hit my data limit I will be extremely swayed.

Looking for your thoughts on this.

Thanks,
– Josh

 

 

 

Tom and Brian,

Day one supporter love the show. Thought I would share a funny story, that shows just how far we still have to go.

I got engaged two years ago, and my fiance could not get on board with just having internet. She needed cable.

So the Cox bill was $250 a month, 3 tvs, DVR, internet, HBO, Showtime, Starz.

We also have a 1TB cap, and $50 of my bill was to add an additional 500GB. (3 teenage boys will blow through a cap pretty quickly.)

After living with me for the past two years, she finally realized that, in fact, she never used the cable box anymore, and agreed that we could cut the cord. Success!!!

So I called COX and told them I just wanted an unlimited internet plan. NO GO. The best they could do was $180 a month for JUST Internet, which included me paying the extra $50 to get a 1.5 TB cap.

And that was all they could do. Sorry, take it or leave it. So, $180 + about another $80 for Hulu with Live TV, and Premium Channels and I would be back where I started.

So I called AT&T.

And here is where it gets nuts.

Internet alone is $70. I can live with that, but it has a 1TB cap, and their price for overages are nuts.

BUT, if I added Direct TV, they had a bundle that gave me UNLIMITED Internet and DirectTV for $72 a month for the first year. Going to $112 the second year. I could live with this. And I wouldn’t need the Hulu Live TV option.

I said great, but we can skip the dish install, and I would just like to get DirectTV NOW.

NO GO.

I had to get the dish and cable box.

So, they sent a guy out who spent 8 hours installing the dish, wiring the house, etc. INSANE.

End of the day, I am all in is $72 for unlimited Internet and DirectTV, and about $40 for all the premium channels (I decided to get them through AMAZON, as you can now tell Alexa to pretty much do everything on a FireTV and it now has deep integration into channels. “Alexa, play This Is Us” “Getting This is Us on Hulu”, but that integration is an entirely different email.)

So I’m all in at $112 for the first year and $162 for the second. Total savings of $2712 over the next two years.

Keep up the good work.

Your Boss,

– BrettFM

 

 

 

I am hoping the Game of Thrones creators will take the Star Wars universe in a different direction in the same way Deadpool took the Marvel movies in a different direction. What are the chances that they will bring the nudity, sex and graphic violence of Game of Thrones to a rated R Star Wars movie?

– Ken

 

 

 

Re: Ep. 207 – ViaCon
In episode 207 your guest mentioned how the kids in Disney show give no respect to their parents. This really struck a cord with me. I noticed this 10 years ago with my daughter. That was the catalyst to get me to finally cut the cord and we have not looked back since.

– George

Links
patreon.com/cordkillers

It’s Spoilerin’ Time 207 – Black Mirror wrap-up, Altered Carbon, Counterpart

Cordkillers / February 14th, 2018

Brian’s got words about Altered Carbon, Counterpart gets a heart, and we round out the back-half of the new Black Mirror season.

00:58 – Altered Carbon (101-102, Brian’s take)
03:49 – Black Mirror (404 – Hang the DJ)
07:19 – Black Mirror (405 – Metalhead)
09:16 – Black Mirror (406 – Black Museum)
12:41 – Countertpart (104)
21:29 – Deadwood (108)

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Cordkillers 205 – MoviePass Takes a Pass (w/ Mike TV)

Cordkillers / January 30th, 2018

What’s the best streaming TV service? MoviePass can make money. Thor: Leak-narok. With special guest Mike TV.

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CordKillers: Ep. 205 – MoviePass Takes a Pass
Recorded: January 29 2018
Guest: MikeTV

Intro Video

Primary Target

  • How does MoviePass make money
  • Theater subscription service MoviePass snaps up its first film
  • MoviePass stops support for some large AMC theaters
    – Wired’s Brian Barrett has an excellent article called “HOW DOES MOVIEPASS MAKE MONEY? WE’RE STARTING TO FIND OUT”
    – Costs are for the actual tickets which it pays full price for plus customer support which has had some failures.
    – More users means more data which MoviePass hopes to use as leverage.
    – MoviePass subscribers go for indie movies. Indie studios can benefit most from a surge in ticket sales.
    – 3% of all domestic box office is purcahsed by MoviePass. That jumps to 10% when MoviePass promotes a movie. It has more than 4 contracts for promoting movies.
    – As they get more subscribers the potential lift gets better which attarcts big studios not just indies.
    – MoviePass investing in films
    – MoviePass also is using its data to decide what ckind of films to buy at Sundance.
    – Bought American Animals for $3 million alongside indie studio the Orchard.
    – This also can pay off in streaming and rental revenue down the line.
    – How to deal with Theaters.
    – MoviePass has stopped allowing customers to use its service at 10 premium AMC theaters in Los Angeles, New York and Boston in order to get the theater chain to cooperate with the service. MoviePass offers unlimited tickets for a monthly fee while it pays full price to the theaters. It wants a cut of the ticket prices and concession sales which AMC refuses to consider.
    – MoviePass subscribers spend more on concessions because they’re not paying for the ticket.
     

How to Watch

  • PSVue
    – PSVue is best overall at the moment. Solid DVR that even with the 28 day limit is hardly noticed since most channels rerun things. Wide selection of channels. Downside is mobile restrictions to app which can be offset by logging into network-based apps with PSVue account but can be wnnoying if you want to watch DR’ed shows while traveling
  • Hulu
    – Hulu – This is an up and comer and makes a lot of sense if you watch a lot of shows in the basic Hulu service already. The channel lineup is competitive and the DVR service is solid. It does have an annoying habit of substituting on demand for DVR’ed content which isn’t a problem if you pay fro cmmerical free but keep that in mind when comparing costs. Has a great way of tracking things like sports for your favorite team. Interface needs work but that work is in beta and should come out soon, taking away one of its biggest downsides
  • SlingTV
    – Sling TV – Weird package setup makes figuring out best buy a little difficult. But it has Viacom channels and although it’s DVR isn’t flawless it’s getting ebtter. Sling TV seems best for people who want to watch both in home and mobile.
  • YouTube TV
    – YouTube TV – This one’s great if you want broadcast nets and big acable channels at a solid monthly pricve without having to decide between packages. It has an unlimited DVR and no mobile restrictions in the US. One big disadvantage used to be you could only use a mobile device, which meant you needed to chromecast or airplay it to get it on a TV. But apps are out for Xbox and some smart TVs and coming for the Apple TV. So the main downside is the smaller channel lineup.
  • DirecTVNow – DVR someday
  • Recode’s channel lineup guide tool

What to Watch

What We’re Watching

Front Lines

  • Netflix’s ‘Mudbound’ scores four Oscar nominations
    – The Academy award nominations were announced last Tuesday. Netflix original movie Mudbound got nominations for best supporting actress (Mary J. Blige), best adapted screenplay (Dee Rees and Virgil Williams), best original song (“Mighty River”)and best cinematography (Rachel Morrison). Mudbound is the story of two families farming the Mississippi Delta. Netflizx documentary features Icarus and Strong Island also got nominated. Amazon’s The Big Sick got nominated for best screenplay (Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon).
  • Thor: Ragnarok leaks onto the web a month early after huge Movies Anywhere mix-up
    – A bug in Movies Anywhere let people who preordered Thor: Ragnarok from Vudu download it from iTunes on Apple TV. Thor: Ragnarok is scheduled to become available February 20.
  • Redbox Demands Disney Lose Right to Enforce Movie Copyrights
    – In response to Disney’s lawsuit against Redbox for selling download codes from Blu-rays, Redbox is suing Disney for copyright misuse, interference and false advertising. Redbox alleges Disney is telling retailers not to sell copies of discs to Redbox. The suit also objects to Disney’s claims that a purchaser may not rent or sell the components of a package that includes a download code.
  • Damien Chazelle Drama Scores Straight-to-Series Order at Apple
    – Apple has ordered a series from La La Land’s Damian Chezelle. No word on what the series will be about but Chezelle will write and direct every episode of the series, as well as serving as executive producer/ Chezelle is also EP on a Netflix musical drama called The Eddy being shot in France.
  • Robert Zemeckis Is Producing a TV Show That Sounds a Little Like Lost
    – Robert Zemeckis is producing a pilot for NBC called Manifest about a plane that disappears mid-flight and reappears years later. No time has passed for the passengers on board though.
  • Meg Whitman to lead Katzenberg’s mobile media startup NewTV
    – Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co CEO Meg Whitman will become chief executive of DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg’s mobile media firm NewTV. The company plans to make Hollywood level short-form videos for mobile.

Dispatches from the Front
On the topic of international shows on Netflix, one potential use is for language learning. It used to take months or years for translated shows to come out on rental DVDs or cable TV here in Japan. But now, Netflix originals have a global release, and some US broadcast shows, with English & Japanese subtitles, go live on Netflix shortly after their US airdates.

This is a game changer, giving language learners an easy way to watch some current shows, instead of always being a season behind. And staying current allows them to participate in the global conversation on social media in real time!

Not to mention Netflix’s model allows for the release of subtitled versions of shows which would otherwise be unprofitable to release internationally, allowing me to get you hooked on Terrace House while also FINALLY being able to show my namesake TV show, Firefly, to my non-English speaking Japanese friends.

– Kaylee

 

 

I live in NW Wi. 5 miles from either of 2 small town and get 65m internet from Charter. 2 providers within sight in opposite directions provide 1g service. Sunday a young lady from one of these shows up at my house offering to bury fiber to my house for free. I said yes and we talked about pricing. I suggested the best value might be if I included TV. She looked at me like I was an idiot and said “You don’t want that. It’s too expensive and we just raised our rates”

– Jim

 

 

 

I believe you guys touched on VPN’s a maybe 6 months or so ago but as I remember it a good chunk of the conversation was about being able to make it look like you’re in a different area than you actually were to watch some sports and other things.

I’ve heard that now that net neutrality is no more that if your isp were to slow down certain services like Netflix that going through a vpn might prevent them from doing so.

I was curious what your thoughts were, what vpn companies you like, and what’s the best way to set it up? For example can you get a router set up so that all the devices connected to it are always going through the vpn? With several roku’s around the house I don’t want to have to log into something every time I use it.

Thanks for all the help, love the show!!!!

– Bill

 

 

Hey guys. I’m really enjoying your show. First I want to give some feedback from the last two shows. John wrote in asking about Hallmark. I guess you guys aren’t aware of Hallmark Movies’ new Netflix -like offering of Hallmark Movies Now (www.hmnow.com ) for $5.99/mo. We were visiting my parents over the holidays and my wife made me watch a bunch of the Hallmark Christmas movies and we saw the advertisement for their new service. Just one more option for cordkillers out there with wives who want more crying in cordkilling.

Second, I am one of those who like the theater-like environment to watch my movies at home with surround sound and floor shaking bass. My kids love when I turn up the bass for the opening train scene in Polar Express so they can feel the rumble of the train pulling up next to the kid’s house.

Also, I guess I am one of the few that cut the cord in order to save money and have actually done so. I created my own dvr setup with a Raspberry Pi with LibreElec (minimalist Kodi), an HDHomerun tuner and OTA antenna. We only subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime (although we don’t watch much on AP). The hardware setup cost about as much as 3 months of cable bills, but we haven’t paid for TV for the last 5 years. I’m just waiting for ESPN and FoxNews to start their own streaming options (apart from Cable verification) and then they’ll get my money each month too.

Thanks for the show. Keep up the great work.

– Tim

Links
patreon.com/cordkillers