Cordkillers 291 - Kids Are The New Seat Belts (w/ Justin Robert Young)
Does Disney+ present us with a moment for streaming video the way iTunes changed digital music? Plus, an Amazon IR blaster, Star Trek from Noah Hawley, and a new Dr. Who trailer. With special guest Justin Robert Young. Subscribe to Politics! Politics! Politics! for the first-look at Justin's "Raise the Dead" podcast.
CordKillers: 291 - Kids Are The New Seat Belts
Recorded: November 25 2019
Guest: Justin Robert Young
Intro Video
Astronomy Club
Primary Target
Peak TV check-in
- Disney+ arguably is an "itunes" moment for streaming TV. It certainly is bringing in the masses to streaming. And even though it hasn't begun rolling out a large number of originals, it combined with Apple TV+ launching has suddenly produced a real glut of high quality TV rolling out all at once.
How to Watch
Amazon’s latest Fire TV accessory is an IR blaster that lets your Echo control your TV
- Amazon announced the Fire TV Blaster, an IR blaster to control your other TV hardware using Amazon Voice Services through a Fire TV.
- The Fire TV blaster is a small box that connects to other Fire TV products by WiFi.
- It's available for preorder, shipping December 11 for $35 to bundled with a Fire TV 4K streaming stick and Echo Dot for $80.
Netflix has leased New York City's Paris theater in order to show screenings of its films. The Paris closed in August and Netflix reopened it temporarily to show its Noah Baumbach movie Marriage Story.
What to Watch
Noah Hawley to Write and Direct Next ‘Star Trek’ Movie
- Variety says Noah Hawley who created the Fargo and Legion TV series has been hired to write and direct a Star Trek movie. The next movie is expected to bring back the crew that includes Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban and Zoe Saldana. It apparently is also different than one that involved bringing back Chris Hemsworth to play Kirk's father. That dude was shelved after deals could not be reached with the actors. This is separate from a Star Trek movie Paramount is also developing with Quentin Tarantino.
BBC drops an action-packed Doctor Who trailer 56 years after show first aired
- A trailer is out for the 12th series of Doctor Who (12th since the restart this century anyway). Still no hint of Daleks in these trailers but there is a brief appearance by what looks to be a Cyberman. The series premieres in early 2020.
Apple cancels premiere of Apple TV+ feature film 'The Banker' over 'concerns surrounding the film'
- Apple canceled the AFI Fest premiere, the Dec. 6 theater run and streaming premier of its movie The Banker starring Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson. The movie is based not he true story of Bernard Garrett and Joe Morris who trained a white man to be the front of their business that provided real estate and banking services to African-americans in the 1960s. Apple said concerns around the film were brought to its attention and the filmmakers and Apple need time to look into them. Deadline says its sources say the problem lies with Bernard Garrett's son, Bernard Garrett Jr. and allegations of assault on his half-sisters. Garrett Jr's credit on the film has been removed from publicity materials.
CBS Delivers Mixed Q3 Results In Last Quarter As Stand-Alone Company
- CBS All Access launched its kids programming lineup with two originals “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” produced with Sony Pictures Animation and the new “Danger Mouse,” produced with BBC Children’s Productions. A library of kids shows arrives as well including “Bob the Builder,” “Inspector Gadget,” “Madeline,” “Heathcliff,” “The Adventures of Paddington Bear,” and the original “Danger Mouse.” CBS also announced a selection of Nickelodeon TV shows will come to the service in January.
Eyes On
Brian: Jojo Rabbit
Tom: The Irishman, Knives Out
Justin: Ford v Ferrari, The Toys That Made Us
On the Lookout: adultswim.com
Front Lines
Carsey-Werner Seeking New Streaming Deals For Library In Current Comedy Boom, Starting With ‘That ’70s Show’, ‘Roseanne’ & ‘A Different World’
- Distributor Carsey-Werner used to be a comedy production superstar but had to shut down production operations in 2005 as the comedy market dried up. It's now pursuing streaming deals for what is one fo the largest independent comedy libraries out there. A deal for That 70s Show to be on Netflix is in its final year with most of the rest of its library on prime Video where Roseanne and A Different World are up in 2020, and the rest available after 2021. The company has gone from unable to sell in 2004 to being worth more than $1 billion.
Viacom And CBS Announce Expected Closing Date Of Merger
- The merger of Viacom and CBS is now expected to close December 4 with the two companies officially becoming a single entity on December 5. The new company will be called ViacomCBS and trade under the stock tickers VIACA and VIAC.
South Korean Producer Studio Dragon Sets Partnership With Netflix
- Netflix has struck multi-year deals with two major South Korean production companies. CJ Entertainment's Studio Dragon, makers of Goblin and Signal have a three year Netflix deal for content production and distribution. And JTBC Content Hub, makers of Sky Castle. And "something in the Rain" has a multi-year program supply deal with Netflix.
As DirecTV tanks, AT&T says it will “re-bundle” TV with HBO Max
- At the Code Media conference, WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey, speaking of HBO Max, said, "We're basically unbundling to re-bundle. At some point, there will be platforms that re-aggregate and re-bundle, and we'd like the [HBO Max] platform ultimately to be a place where re-aggregation occurs. And that doesn't just mean our content." He said Warnermedia wants to create a bundle of content that it owns along with movies and showsit doesn't.
Disney+ crashed on launch day because its software wasn’t ready for the demand
- The Verge reports that the head of Disney’s direct to consumer division Kevin Mayer says difficulties with the Disney+ app at launch had to do with the way the company "architected the app." Mayer said that BAMTech, AKA Disney Streaming Services, had never seen the high volume of streams, even when hosting things like HBO and MLB, and it exposed "limits to the architecture." Mayer says Disney will recode the app within the next couple of weeks to fix issues affecting things like the continue watching feature.
Sling TV comes to Google’s Nest Hub and Hub Max
- Sling TV is now supported on he Google Nest Hub and Nest Hub max alongside YouTube TV. So you can say things like 'Tune to NHL network on Sling" to the smart displays and get the live channel from Sling. Amazon does a smiler thing on the Echo Show with Hulu Live TV.
Dispatches from the Front
Hey there CK crew -
Listening to Len Peralta's story about finally cutting the cord, I wanted to share my story about going back to the other way.
I cut the cord about 18 months ago. I was paying $250/mo for internet and cable through Xfinity. I stayed with Xfinity's internet and picked up Playstation Vue with the extra sports bundle, and dropped my costs to $140/month total. Vue had what I required for my household - plenty of simultaneous streams and all the sports, including NFL Red Zone.
All was golden until a few weeks ago, when Sony announced the shuttering of PSVue. I went on a search for a replacement. Tried Sling...a no go. Not enough simultaneous streams of the things we needed. Fubo looked great, until I discovered it would $15 more per month than Vue, with NO ESPN. A non starter. All the others - no RedZone, which is a deal-breaker for me.
So, desperate, I wandered back to Xfinity's website. There I found an upgrade to my internet speed (up to 500mbps) and their 140-channel package, plus a sports bundle, for $120/mo including taxes/fees. $35 less per month than internet + FUBO would have been. One-year contract and two years guaranteed price. One X1 box thrown in at no additional monthly fee. And the TV package works with the Xfinity Stream app, so I can use my existing Rokus on other TVs. No extra equipment to rent.
As much as it pains me to be back in the corded world (to some extent), it was the best deal. And perhaps it signals that Xfinity is paying attention to the streaming TV services and realizing they have to compete.
Maybe, two years down the road, the streaming TV services will eventually offer what I want and need again, and I'll be able to go back to being cord-less.
Love the show - keep up the great work!
- Pat
Dear Killers,
I've had an idea to create a shared Plex server for our entire family for awhile, but in the past month I decided to take the concept more seriously and create a plan for how I would actually carry this out. We have a good amount of DVDs, including some TV shows, and as I am buying some DVDs too, I'd like to combine our selection into a streaming service so we can all share our content with each other. I have a Plex server for personal use, and I enjoy the level of control that Plex gives you, and I think it could make for a great experience for my siblings back home (I am at college now).
However, I pitched the idea to my siblings and parents, creating a Google Form asking what they'd want the service to be like, and I got a variety of responses. My siblings are excited for it, and my dad was miffed that I wasn't planning on live sports (I later explained that I could add an antenna feed using something like an HDHomeRun but that wouldn't be the focus starting out) and asked about adding sermons to the service, but interestingly my mom was concerned that it was illegal, saying that this would be "stealing streams". I don't really see how this is illegal, as we're basically sharing our DVDs with each other, but I am wondering if this is something you guys think is legal or not, perhaps you know more about the legality of these things than I or my mother.
Keep up the good work! I've been listening to your podcast for years and still love it!
Sincerely,
- Amar
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