Cordkillers 245 - The Apple Triangle

A new Apple dongle? Amazon gunning for sports. Netflix deals with the devil! All this and more on Cordkillers!

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CordKillers: Ep. 245 - The Apple Triangle
Recorded: November 26 2018
Guest: None

Intro Video
Pooka!

Primary Target
Amazon trying to buy 22 cable TV sports channels, including Yankees network
- Amazon is in the running to buy Fox's 22 regional sports networks from Disney. Disney is acquiring a large portion of Fox and has agreed to conditions on the acquisition that they must sell the 22 regional sports networks within 90 days of the close of the acquisition. Among the 22 networks is the YES network which carries the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets games. Several other companies are interested in buying the networks and some are interested in buying the YES network separately.

How to Watch
Apple reportedly considered creating a Chromecast-style TV dongle
- The Information's sources tell it Apple is considering a Chromecast-style TV dongle. The sources say Apple teams brainstormed about it but it's unclear what happened to the project after that.Apple has 15 percent of the streaming box market, the rest divided up between Roku, Amazon and Google.


Eyes On
Brian:
Homecoming, Ralph Breaks the Internet, The Clinton Affair, old Red Letter Media episodes
Tom: Creed 2, Homecoming Fuyao
On the Lookout: Film Worker


Front Lines
Comcast raises cable TV bills again—even if you’re under contract
- Starting January 1, Comcast will raise its Broadcast TV and Regional Sports Network fees from $14.50 to $18.25 a month. These fees are not part of the advertised price of Comcast Cable TV.

YouTube will stream The Lego Movie free as an ad for the sequel
- Warner Brothers got YouTube to stream the Lego Movie for free on Black Friday as a promotion for Lego Movie 2 - The Second Part. If you licked on the trailer for Part 2 you got the option to watch Part One for free. The Lego Movie 2 — The Second Part hits theaters on February 8th, 2019.

ESPN lost 2 million subscribers to cord cutting this year
- ESPN lost 2 million subscribers in the past 12 months according to the latest Disney earnings report. Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD all lost lost 3 million subs, while Freeform shed 2 million. ESPN+ gained 1 million subscribers in its first 5 months as an add-on service.

Netflix adds improved playback controls and a ‘next episode’ button to iOS app
- Netflix has added 10-second skip and rewind buttons to its iOS app as well as a row of labels at the bottom which brings up the Episodes list, the Audio & Subtitles menu, and a “Next Episode” button.

Netflix and Warner Bros. settle with Satanists over 'Sabrina' statue
- The Satanic Temple claimed a goat-head statue used ins The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix violated copyright and trademark of the temple's own Baphomet statue. WarnerBrothers, Netflix and the temple have setlled though. The terms aren't public but a credit has been added to the episodes.


Dispatches from the Front
Hey Tom and Brian
Good news for those north of you.
Canada now has CBS all access! That’s not enough good news? Bell media has rebranded its Crave tv to just Crave and offers HBO as part of a package. Streaming in Canada is getting exciting.

- Ian


Hi Brian and Tom,

I'm more on Tom's side on the hypothetical Netflix ad subject. I agree that if that Netflix offered an ad supported separate free tier, especially if only available on the web, it wouldn't dilute their brand, any more than offering a less expensive mobile-only tier dilutes their brand.

However, I think one way they could reduce the tarnish that Brian fears would be to sell ads completely free of tracking. The ads could be sold solely based on the audience that watching the popular Netflix show. Like the old broadcast TV days (and even early cable days) where advertisers wouldn't know the age and zip code of the viewer, or whether or not they reacted to the ad. It would be just a promotional blast, like a super bowl ad. I...

Would that reduce the tarnish enough for Brian to have a less visceral reaction?

-Alan

Greeting Cordkillers crew,

I couldn’t help think of a similar comparison involving Apple — Apple Music and Spotify.

Apple Music and Spotify are straight up competitors offering essentially the same service ...While Apple Music has eaten away at Spotify’s user base, Spotify is still king of the mountain in the music streaming space — and it’s worth noting that over 65% of its users are on it’s ad-supported tier,

Love the show,
- Jesse

Spotify Has Seen A Big Rally, But Still Faces Some Challenges

Hey guys, I want to write something about Netflix from the point of view of a Malaysian that sort of relates to your discussion.

Netflix is *expensive* in Malaysia, like really expensive. Based on what I checked on the current plans, the Standard plan costs RM42 monthly and the Premium costs RM51. ...

That’s kind of hard to tell how much money it is in terms of the earning power here but I would like to use a movie ticket as an example. In Malaysia, a standard movie ticket costs around RM10-15 per person in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur and it can be cheaper in less urban areas....
...
This is why Netflix is trying out the RM17 Mobile plan. Using the movie ticket index, it is far better value for money based on local incomes as it is closer to a standard movie ticket. Yes it does not come as many features as US standard but it’s more affordable for the average Malaysia.

This is also probably why Netflix is trying out all these special cheap plans because the realize that their normal prices are expensive here for developing countries.


- Yaru

In anticipation of Creed II, Evan wanted to watch the Rocky movies and found them on the Roku Channel on his smart TV. He adds:

"I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the stream and the channel’s other content! There were a lot of decent films and shows available. The ads are a bit of a nuisance, but less so than ponying up $3 per movie to rent them all. I still need to see Balboa and Creed, as those weren’t available, but I just wanted to report, I have used the Roku Channel and will likely do so again. Something I never really thought I would say as a subscriber to Netflix, Prime Video, HBO, and DirecTV.

This may connect a bit to last week’s story about a version of Netflix with ads. For someone who wants to watch a show but doesn’t have it available on their platform of choice, a free, ad-based “Netflix-Lite” type service may scratch an itch for people looking to watch, say, Stranger Things that don’t want pay for the service but want to see the content. "Convenience trumps fidelity” after all, and sometimes free is more convenient than paid.

Happy Holidays and keep up the good work!

Your boss,
- Evan

P.S. Rocky V was surprisingly not as bad as people say. I think Rocky IV holds up the least so far.

A long time ago I used to sail the high seas flying the Jolly Roger.

About 17 years ago I decided that since the quality of what I downloaded was dubious and, more importantly, I wanted the artists who make this stuff to get paid and make money so they keep making stuff, I was in a position where I could afford to buy or rent what I watch so why should I steal it?

A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to watch the Start Trek Discovery series. I figured I could sign up for CBS All Access and check it out. So, off to the website I went and entered my info and hit the sign up button and nothing happened. I kept hitting the button and nothing.

I tried all over again and still nothing happened. It’s like they did not want me.

Frustrated, I hopped aboard a ship and sailed around the bay. Lo and behind I had the entire first season in less than 30 minutes and with less hassle than trying to sign up legitimately. Sad.

I did buy the season on Blu Ray when it became available because I really liked it and want more.

- Todd

Hi there, Cordikillers crew!!

Last week this was a hot (and spicy) topic here in Mexico because it meant a confrontation between "old" and "new" media! Why, you ask? Because of Alfonso Cuaron's latest film: Roma.

Cuaron has challenged the two main exhibitors here (Cinemex and Cinépolis) to see if they would like to show it.

The main problem is the exhibition window. In Mexico it means that a movie needs a 90 days window to be shown on theaters before it arrives to streaming services. Cinépolis...declared that they are willing to show the film, starting on November 29th... as long as Netflix delays the release on their service after the release window is fulfilled. They also offered to give away 50% of the money obtained by ticket sales to a charity selected by the director, related to a social topic related to the film.

For regular people, it looks like the big bad corporations (the exhibitors) don't want the people to watch what seems to be the best film from our best director. However, the film is being shown on Film Houses and it is doing very well in the cultural circuit. The complaint is that it is not being shown on regular-easy-to-access-cinema-around-the-corner...

Besides that, there is a huge logistic problem. Talking with friends that work in both: Cinetecas (State Sponsored Film Houses) and with the distribution of this specific film, the main problem is to have enough copies (mostly on DSP) of the film, ready to be shown on time for it's release here, on November 21st. It started with 40 screens but it expanded to 50 on the following days.

...The director, Cuaron, has been complaining about the number of screens for his film even though he knew what where the advantages and disadvantages of working with Netflix. ...


Best regards!

- Dan



Links

2018 Winter Movie Draft
patreon.com/cordkillers

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