Cordkillers 81 - Bleep, Click, Bought

Do TV executives have cool heads or heads in the sand? What should movie collectors do for collecting movies?

CordKillers: Ep. 81 - Bleep, Click, Bought
Recorded: July 27, 2015
Guest: None

Intro Video 

Primary Target

  • TV executives: the threat of cord-cutting has been overhyped 
    -Where is the head: Coool or in the sand?
    - Experts on a panel on the future of TV at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen
    - Amy Banse of Comcast Ventures: “I personally believe, and also by looking at our own statistics, that the volume of press around cord cutting doesn’t quite match reality.”
    - George Liavkoff, president Hearst Ventures: “Cord-cutting is a great ‘story. But I think it’s over-reported. A la carte purchasing of channels—and not taking most of them—is a far more interesting area.” Comcast Stream as an example.
    “It turns out the killer app is television.”
    - Sam Schwartz, chief business development officer of Comcast Cable on Comcast Stream: “It will be successful if we can surgically go after those that don’t already subscribe to cable.”
    - Joe Marchese, president of advanced advertising products for Fox Networks Group, pointed out that Internet access still requires cord.
    - Dave Morgan, founder and CEO of Simulmedia: Judge Judy draws more total audience ad minutes than all of YouTube in a single day. “There’s an enormous opportunity not only in terms of what’s coming. But what we’re sitting on top of right now.”

Signal Intelligence

  • Verizon TV will focus on live events from HuffPo and sports
    - During quarterly earnings Verizon gave details on upcoming video service (Result of buying OnCue from Intel)
    - Content based on “live news clips based on sports and events.” Vice, DreamWorks TV and from AOL: Huffington Post & Tech Crunch.
    - Bundling content with phone plans
    - Not much content from traditional TV
    - Late summer
    - Side note: unrelated to mobile
    - FiOS TV customers selecting packages with fewer channels.

Gear Up

  • Nintendo's awkward TVii service will shut down on August 11th
    - The Nintendo Wii will not be the one box you need for everything
    - TVii service will shut down August 11
    - Don’t remember TVii?
    - Channel guide on Wii U Gamepad
    - Second screen interactivity like comments
    - Used ir blaster to control TV
    - Included major streaming services
    - Laggy and lacked support

Front Lines

  • Comcast may be chatting with new-media firms to snag younger users
    - The WSJ says Comcast has been talking with Vice, BuzzFeed, Business Insider and Vox about partnerships and acquisitions. For example Comcast could convert one of its NBCUniversal cable channels to a Vice channel.
  • YouTube hires MTV's Susanne Daniels to head YouTube Originals
    - YouTube has hired Susanne Daniels as Vice President of YouTube Originals. Daniels was the president of programming for MTV and has led programming for Lifetime and the WB. She also played a PBS Panel Moderator in the series finale of the Office. Side note, Nickelodean was doing a casting call at VidCon, YouTube's home turf.
  • Disney CEO says ESPN will eventually be sold straight to consumers
    - Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC this morning that ESPN will one day be sold directly to consumers like HBO. Then he stood high in his sadlle, rattled his saber and shouted “BUT IT IS NOT THIS DAY!” Actually he said it would be like five years away or so.
  • NBA will let fans watch individual out-of-market games for $6.99
    - Starting next season the NBA will let US viewers buy access to individual games for $6.99. That gets you the ability to watch on your phone, tablet, PC AND participating cable or satellite provider. Oh and the game has to be out of market and not televised nationally.
  • Netflix Upgrades Its TV Apps To Save You A Few Clicks
    - Netflix updated its Smart Television apps for the first time since late 2013. Now when you select a title it will start playing while displaying title, description and episode number while you confirm your choice. Netflix says it provides a “more immersive and cinematic experience.”
  • Cisco sells set-top box business to Technicolor for $600 million
    - Cisco bought Scientific Atlanta in 2005, when it was the ruler of cable boxes. Now Cisco is selling the set-top box portion of their business— or the “customer-premises equipment business” as it is called. Paris-based Technicolor is buying it for $600 million. 
  • AT&T has the FCC's permission to buy DirecTV (update: done)
    - The FCC approved the merger of AT&T and DirecTV. Among the conditions, AT&T agreed not to use data caps to discriminate against competing video services.

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front

Question here that I'd love for you to talk about on the show. I used to be a movie collector. In the 90's and early 2000's there was something incredibly gratifying about owning that DVD package. The Lord of the Rings extended editions. The Blade Runner Directors Cut with a 5 hour making-of documentary. They really gave me a sense of ownership. And they were worth owning.

Those days seem long gone in this streaming world, however, and I just cannot grapple with investing in Bluray knowing physical media's days look more numbered every year.

So now I struggle to figure out a few things when it comes to ""owning"" a movie collection: Which digital service makes the most sense to invest in for the long haul (mainly between Google Play and Amazon, since I'm an Android user)? Or is the very idea of owning movies becoming silly when I can rent just about anything the moment I feel like watching it?

Is there room for the movie collector in the cordcutting world?

(I should mention, the idea of buying and ripping Blurays sounds incredible unappealing and tedious to me)

Look forward to the show every week! I official cut the cord 2 months ago and haven't looked back.

Thanks!
- JT

 

 

 

An anonymous boss throwing a crumpled up Filet O Fish sandwich wrapper with a secret message at us regarding whether Hulu would add a commercial free level: "If you look at the current name change of getting rid of Hulu+ you might be able to read the tea leaves, I say no more' 

 

 

Reporting in from Charlotte, NC. Competition works! With google fiber soon on it's way a call to timer warner customer service got them to match the 70 a month rate for internet only for the 50 meg down and 5 up for a year. Down from 110 a month. Love the show keep up the great work.
Patreon supporter,
- Jeff

 

 

 

I was listening to the caller who was denied service because he took his Playstation with him to his beach house. The question of the service rep of "You wouldn't take your cable box to the beach, would you?" made me laugh.

Before cutting the cord I was a Dish Network subscriber. Our DVR would usually have hours of content we hadn't watched yet.
Whenever we would go on vacation we would take our dish receiver with us just so we could watch recorded shows offline.
So my answer to the rep would be "Yes, we would take our cable box with us!"

Thanks,
- Scott from Houston

 

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers
2015 Winter Movie Draft

Bryce Castillo1 Comment