Cordkillers 344 - Struuming a New Song (w/ Bill Meeks)
WandaVision premieres this week, Roku updates and (quick-bite) acquisitions, and get the scraaps with Struum from former Disney and Discovery personnel. All this and more on Cordkillers! With special guest Bill Meeks.
CordKillers: 344 - Struuming a New Song
Recorded: January 11 2021
Guest: Bill Meeks
Intro Video
Bonding season 2
Primary Target
Roku Hits 51.2 Million Active Accounts, With Streaming Hours Surging 55% In 2020
- Roku says NPD data shows the Roku OS was the top-selling smart TV operating system in 2020 with 31 percent market share in Canada and 38 percent in the US. Samsung's Wizen was number one in 2019.
- Roku reached 51.2 million active accounts by the end of 2020, up from 36.9 million in 2019 and the free
- Streaming Roku channel reached 61.8 million households.
Roku makes it simpler to build wireless soundbars for Roku TVs
- Roku also announced a wireless soundbar reference design that uses WiFi for its "Roku TV ready" program. Last year Roku announced the program which had a design for wired soundbars. The program includes TCL, Polk and Denon and Element has announced it will join as well with 2.0 and 2.1-ready soundbars. Roku TV ready will also expand internationally later this year.
Roku Acquires Rights to Quibi’s Content
- Roku has agreed to acquire exclusive global distribution rights to more than 75 Quibi shows and documentaries, some of which had not been released before Quibi shut down. After the exclusivity deals expire Ibn a bit more than a year, Roku will have the rights to show the content until 2027. The content will have to be presented in its original increments of 10 minutes or less. The content will be added to the more than 40,000 movies and TV shows available in the Roku Channel app. Shows include "Punk't", "Murder House Flip" and "Dummy" with Anna Kendrick.
How to Watch
Former Disney and Discovery execs to launch Struum, a ‘ClassPass for streaming services’
- Former executives from Discovery and Disney are launching a streaming service called Struum, spelled S-T-R-U-U-M. But Struum will not have its own content. Instead it will partner with smaller streaming content providers to offer you the ability to sample content from multiple places for one monthly fee. Struum subscribers get credits they can use to watch content from any provider in the system. If Struum notices you're choosing content a lot from a particular provider, it will offer to let you subscribe to the whole service from within the Struum app.
- Struum has not named its 12 partners but says it will have more than 20,000 TV series, movies and shorts. Struum will launch in the spring in the US with international launches planned later.
What to Watch
WandaVision will premiere with two episodes on Disney Plus
- The first two episodes of WandaVision premiere on Disney Plus January 15. After that the episodes will release every week, finishing March 5. The show is about Wanad aka Scarlet Witch and Vision and apparently they live in classic TV shows but then are later no longer in classic TV shows. Kevin Feige says it kicks off Phase 4. Teyonah Parr's is in it and she also will play Monica Rambeau in the next Captain Marvel movie. And Parris told Deadline will learn what Monica went through since she was a child in the first Captain Marvel. And it all ties into the Doctor Strange movie somehow.
Ryan Reynolds tweets the perfect response to Deadpool 3 joining the MCU
- Kevine Feige says Deadpool 3 will officially join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In response Ryan Reynolds Tweeted Full disclosure: I showed them Spiderman 1 & 2 and told them it was Deadpool 1 & 2.
Kevin Feige taps Rick and Morty writer for his Star Wars movie
- Deadline reports Michael Waldron has been hired to write the script for a Star Wars movie being produced by Kevin Feige. Waldron most recently ran the Loki series which has yet to premiere on Disney Plus and wrote the next Doctor Strange Movie "in the Multiverse of Madness" coming in March 2022. If you want to know something of Waldron's you HAVE seen, try Rick and Morty. He produced several episodes and wrote "The Old Man and the Seat" in Season 4. It's the one with the LoveFinderzz app and Rick's private toilet.
Oscar Isaac has been cast to play Moon Knight in the Disney Plus series set to start shooting in March.
‘Sex and the City’ Revival Confirmed at HBO Max
- HBO Max is bringing back Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis but not Kim Cattrall. 10 half-hour episodes are set to begin production in New York City in late spring.
‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 3 Unveils Cast For Sparrow Academy Which Includes… A Telekinetic Cube?
- Netflix announced Justin Cornwell, Britne Oldford, Jake Epstein, Genesis Rodriguez and Cazzie David have joined the cast of the Umbrella Academy, and Justin H. Min will return.
Netflix announced a multi-year distribution deal with Kevin Hart's Hartbeat productions
Peacock will launch its young-skewing TV news show "The Overview" January 16th.
Rhys Darby To Headline Taika Waititi’s HBO Max Period Comedy Series ‘Our Flag Means Death’
- Rhys Darby has been cast in the lead of Taika Waititi's period comedy "Our Flag means Death" coming to HBO Max. It's based on a true story of a man who suffers a mid-life crisis in the early 18th century and switches from being a farmer to a pirate.
Eyes On
Bill: Being Erica
Brian: Catch Me If You Can
Tom: The Witch: Part 1 - The Subversion
On the Lookout: Mr. Mercedes
Front Lines
Forget the Streaming Wars—Pandemic-Stricken 2020 Lifted Netflix and Others
- The Wall Street Journal reports that cumulative US streaming subscribers across the major streaming platforms grew more than 50% from the start of 2020, and doubled since Q1 2019. The media research group Kagen found that US households now subscribe to an average of 3.1 streaming services, up from 2.7 last year, with 3 out of 4 households subscribing to at least one. Netflix consistently led streaming traffic, peaking at just under 20 terabits per second in late March. While second in terms of subscribers, Prime Video was fourth in traffic behind Hulu and Disney+. Netflix also led all services in the number of original episodes released, totaling over 1200 across Q2 and Q3.
20% Of U.S. Broadband Households Use Ad-Supported OTT, 15% Use 'Freemium' Services
Discovery Plus is available on Roku and Fire TV at launch
- Discovery+ launched in the US, offering ad-supported content for $4.99 a month, or an ad-free tier for $6.99. The service launches with Roku and FireOS support, as well as availability on iOS and Apple TV, Google and Android Platforms, Xbox platforms, and Samsung smart TVs.
Sony promises streaming quality nearly as good as 4K Blu-ray on Bravia Core movie service
- Sony announced new Bravia XR TV sets will let users stream movies in high quality through the Bravia Core platform. Sony's Pure Stream will stream Sony Pictures movies at 80 megabits per second. That means UHD Blu-ray quality lossless streaming.
Hulu’s live TV service gains 14 new channels as result of ViacomCBS deal
- ViacomCBS and Hulu reached an agreement to bring more channels onto Hulu's Live TV service. Added to the existing CBS channels are Viacom channels, BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, VH1, CMT, TV Land and more. IN separate news, Hulu announced a special $2 a month streaming plan for college students
HBO Max's 'Wonder Woman 1984' audience helps fast-track a sequel
- Warner Brothers announced it is fast-tracking development of Wonder Woman 3 based on its performance. It made $131,400,000 worldwide in what theaters are open and almost half of HBO Max subscribers watched it. The film's opening weekend box office was $36.1 million, double what analysts expected. The most popular way people watched in theaters was in private watch parties. Warner also announced that its 2023 titles, including The Color Purple musical and Mad Max: Furiosa prequel will premiere first in theaters.
Warner Bros. will release its 2023 movies in theaters first
Wonder Woman 1984 may have saved movie theaters too
LG is overhauling its webOS TV software — and maybe ruining it
- LG announced a redesign of its WebOS interface for smart TVs going from a. Band of apps at the bottom of the screen to a full screen interface with rows for personalized recommendations, shopping, sports scores, and sponsored channels. A new remote will have NFC to tap smartphones for sharing content to the screen and dedicated buttons for Amazon, Google and LG voice assistants.
Dispatches from the Front
In listening to episode 341 I was amazed at how you made the discussions about all of Disney+‘s new content interesting to somebody like me who fits the probably very narrow Venn diagram of people who are fans of your show, and don’t care about Marvel or Star Wars.
- Jermaine
Cord Killers,
I just wanted to say thanks. I forgot how much I love this show. I forgot about the Killies. This is one of my favorite programs of the year. Thanks, it was fun. I will end up watching the shows that fall under the subscription services I have. Best of luck in the new year.
- Jason
Some episodes ago, Brian was talking about how Fletch was Jeff Winger from Community. I was just drinking mai tais and watching the Community Christmas episode, “Abed’s Unforgettable Christmas” from Season 2 and was reminded that I meant to email in and tell Brian that he needs to watch “A Stupid and Futile Gesture” on Netflix about National Lampoon magazine in which Joel McHale plays Chevy Chase and does an AMAZING and PRECISE invocation of Caddyshack-era Chevy. If there were ever to be a Fletch reboot (which there absolutely should be on HBOMax in the darkly comedic vein of Barry), Joel McHale should absolutely play Fletch.
Merry Christmas Cordkillers!
- Alex