Cordkillers 244 - Cordkillers+ (w/ Scott Johnson)
Should Netflix have ads? A possible new Star Trek spin-off series and The Magicians is coming back. With special guest Scott Johnson.
CordKillers: Ep. 244 - Cordkillers+
Recorded: November 19 2018
Guest: Scott Johnson
Intro Video
Netflix's Pine Gap
Primary Target
Netflix is testing a mobile-only subscription to make its service more affordable
- TechCrunch passes along a report from The Star that Netflix is testing a mobile-only plan in Malaysia. The new tier costs 17 Ringgit or about US$4. That's half the price of the previous cheapest Basic tier which sells for 33 Ringgits a month. Netflix confirmed that the trial is running in a few countries.
Netflix will get ads, predicts The Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green
- Jeff Green who is CEO of an ad marketplace, told ReCode that Netflix will have to start running ads. He cites subscription fatigue as the reason Netflix will have to offer an ad-supported free version of its service to gain a foothold in some markets.
How to Watch
Average Cable TV Bill Price Rose Less Than 1% This Year
Cord Cutting: Over 1 Million Subscribers Leave Cable and Satellite TV
Record number of people cut the cord.
- Cable bills in the US averaged $107 a month up less than 1% from 2017 which had been up 3% over 2016
- 78% of households subscribe to pay TV, down from 79% last year and 87% at its peak 10 years ago
- 1.2 million customers dropped pay tv in Q3, the most ever (Kagan research group)
- The decline is fastest among younger groups, renters, singles and people who are moving
- 70% of adults ages 18-44 and 84% of those 45 and older subscribed this year.
- Opposite for Internet video services(Netflix, Prime video) where 52% 18-34, 31% 35-54 and 11% 55+
Another Study Shockingly Discovers That Cable TV Needs To Compete On Price
- 65 percent of respondents said that TV bundles force consumers to pay for channels they don’t want
- 63 percent said the expense of a cable subscription was a major factor in dropping it
- The second most common factor for cancellations, cited by 37 percent, was the ability to access all desired content through streaming services.
What to Watch
Netflix orders World War II series with first-of-its-kind animation
- Netflix has ordered production of a 4-part WWII drama called The Liberator. It will be the first series produced by Trioscope Enhanced Hybrid Animation, which combines CGI and live-action to create realistic graphic-novel style animation.
Deadline reports that Michelle Yeoh is in talks to headline a standalone Star Trek series for CBS All Access.
Pedro Pascal, aka Oberyn Martell, AKA detective Javier Peña, will also be AKA The Mandalorian.
You can watch CBS All Access' upcoming true crime series in any order
- CBS All Access's true crime series Interrogation will not only release 9 of its 10 episodes at once but encourage viewers to watch them in any order. Each episode revolves around an interrogation taken from the real files of the case.
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, directed by Andy Serkis is coming to Netflix December 7.
Deadpool 2 brings in Fred Savage for remixed Once Upon a Deadpool
- Once Upon a Deadpool has a trailer out with lots of Fred Savage. Comes to theaters December 12. This just might convince people to see Deadpool again with their kids?
Netflix will release a special holiday episode of its series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on December 14
Amazon Prime members can watch 'Aquaman' a week early
- Aquaman comes to theaters December 21st but if you're an Amazon Prime member you can get tickets to see it on December 15 at some AMC, Regal, National Amusement and ArcLight theaters Amazon did the same thing with Jumanji. (also new Trailer out)
Game of Thrones Final Season Premiere will arrive in April
Our Planet, a Netflix documentary about Earth, coming April 5. The english language version will be narrated by David Attenborough.
The First Toy Story 4 Teaser Trailer and a reaction to that teaser from Key and Peele is out. Toy Story 4 arrives June 21, 2019
The magicians trailer is out for Season 4 returning to SyFy January 23.
The First Trailer For Netflix's Korean Zombie Epic Kingdom Teases Ancient Horrors
- Netflix and Korea's Astory have a trailer for Kingdom a story about a Joseon Dynasty era prince dealing with the passing of his father and the fact that his dad is now a zombie like so many others in this fictional period of Korean history. Kingdom comes to Netflix January 25.
Eyes On
Brian: Dirty John, The Good Place 2 eps, 2 eps Dirk Gently
Tom: Disenchantment
Scott: Jeopardy, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
On the Lookout: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Front Lines
Disney’s new streaming service will be called Disney+
- Disney announced its upcoming streaming video service will be called Disney+ and launch in late 2019. Among a selection of Disney movies and TV shows the service will launch with two live-action Star Wars series, the Manadalorian run by Jon Favereau and a series following Cass Andor, set before the movie Rogue One. Disney also confirmed the new service will have a live-action Marvel series focused on Loki played by Tom Hiddleston.
Italian law requires domestic movies hit theaters before they stream
- Italian Culture and Tourism Minister Alberto Bonisoli has proposed a law requiring Italian-made movies show in theaters for at least 60 days before they come to streaming services.
AT&T is inviting DirecTV Now users to test its upcoming streaming box
- AT&T is inviting DirecTV Now users to sign up for a chance to try out its streaming TV device for about six months. It will run Android TV, use Google Assistant and launch DirecTV Now when turned on. T-Mobile's device called the T-Mobile Mini appeared in an FCC filing. And CNBC reports Comcast is planning a set-top box with streaming apps like Netflix and Hulu alongside smart home controls. It will allow rentals of shows and movies from Comcast as well as some kind of Comcast video package.
Roku expands its free streaming channel with entertainment and live sports
- Roku's steaming app is adding entertainment content and sports to its movies and news content. It will launched its wireless speakers for $200, with a discount period selling them for $150. They are only meant to work with Roku TVs but do support Bluetooth. Roku beat analyst estimates for revenue in Q3 but forecast a surprise Q4 loss.
New, Independent Criterion Channel to Launch Spring 2019
- Criterion will launch its own channel in Spring of next year for $10.99 a month. Criterion's movies were previously featured on FilmStruck which shuts down November 29. The Criterion library will also be available through Warner's forthcoming streaming platform launching late next year.
YouTube is now streaming free, ad-supported feature films
- Back in October YouTube began streaming feature films for free with ads. You can find it in the new "Free to Watch" section of YouTube movies where you can also rent or buy movies. It's not a large selection but includes The Terminator, Legally Blonde, and Rocky.
Dispatches from the Front
Hey Gents,
Been a cord killer for many years and use Apple TV as my main device. Was recently trying to watch a NHL game using the NHL app and college football game using the PSVue app. The Apple TV remote doesn’t make it easy, in fact it’s a pain in the ass to switch back and forth between apps. Be nice if you were able to place a viewing flag at certain viewing points and then switch thru or back or forth between apps using the flags as destinations. Can someone get on that please.
Really enjoy the show!
I'll try to keep this short.
Last week I purchase the Batman: The Complete Animated Series Deluxe Edition Blurays. It was awesome to see this show in glorious HD. However The Digital copy I got were all in SD quality. I can't tell you how bum I was about it. Did you notice I use the adjective "was", that's because I got an email from Vudu today.
Apparently they worked out something with Warner Bros and has given me a new code to upgrade my Digital copy to HD quality on Vudu. I Grin like a madman as the little kid inside me is running around the house cheering. Not only did I get an Upgrade, Vudu also gave 'Batman: Mask of the Phantasm' and' Batman and Mr. Freeze: Subzero' as a bonus.
I have had my shares of disappointments but I rarely seen a companies try to correct a mistake. I just want to Thank the good people at Warner Bros and Vudu for doing this, if they are listening.
I though I share this
- David
There couldn't possibly be a plan that will satisfy the needs of every customer, right? Wrong! I'm talking about a la cart. Give me a block of 30 channels, for $30 a month, that I can fill however I want. Hosting Thanksgiving this year and want ESPN so your brother-in-law can watch sports ball? No problem, just make it one of your chosen slots for the month. They could have plans for larger blocks of 50 or 100 channels too. The cable companies would make more per channel and and their revenue would increase since more people could afford the product. Customers would be rejoice for being able to watch what they want, when they want, on whatever damn device they please, and everyone goes home a winner. Did I just save the cable industry by straightening out their currently ridiculous pricing plans? I think I might have. What say you?
Here's some current pricing plans
The smallest package:
Comcast is 140 channels $50/month = $0.37 per channel per month
Dish 190 channels $60/month = $0.32 per channel per month
My Plan:
30 Channels $30/month = $1.00 per channel per month
50 Channels $45/month = $0.90 per channel per month
100 channels $60/month = $0.60 per channel per month
Thanks for listening y'all.
- Brian
Piracy
I have a friend who buys all the shows that he or she watches, but then also downloads them from illegitimate sources, too. He or she says that the rewind and skip functionality for streaming platforms is painfully slow, and having a downloaded version allows instant 5 or 10 second rewinds. This person also says that the online services are getting better but asks: "why can't they just buffer 30 seconds for quick rewinds?"
-Chris
Hey Bryce, Tom and Brian,
As a boss, I’m never the kind of boss to tell my team how to do their jobs. That said, I’m the type to suggest that Cordkillers have a “free HBO weekend” type event by giving the non patrons an “Aftertalk” episode to sample.
After they try the “Aftertalk” goodness, they will know how awesome the bosses have it.
LTS (love the show)
- Joe
Links