Cordkillers 346 - The Plausible Deniability Matrix (w/ Nicole Lee)
NBCU grabs WWE Network content exclusively for Peacock. Netflix has a big quarter, a big shuffle button, and a big smile for theaters changing the theatrical window. The Muppet Show comes to Disney+ with some missing seasons. All this and more on Cordkillers! With special guest Nicole Lee.
CordKillers: 346 - The Plausible Deniability Matrix
Recorded: January 25 2020
Guest: Nicole Lee
Intro Video
Palm Springs -Commentary Cut
Primary Target
Peacock Becomes WWE Network Exclusive U.S. Streaming Distributor
- WWE and NBCU reached a multiyear agreement to make Peacock the exclusive place to stream the WWE Network in the US starting March 18. Existing US WWE Network subscribers will become Peacock Premium with ads subscribers and see their monthly rate fall by half to $4.99 a month.
- Peacock will add 17,000 hours of WWE programming along with a 24-hour channel which will carry all WWE live events at no additional charge, starting with Fastlane on March 21.
- WWE Network launched in February 2014 and last reported 1.6 million average paid subscribers.
NBCU is shifting sports into Peacock from within and without.
NBCUniversal, Twitter Expand Content and Ad Deal to Global Footprint
- Twitter and NBCU expanded their partnership to include broader sales support globally. The partnership also includes content like highlights from awards shows, sports, and news as well as some live streams.
Cable Network NBCSN To Go Dark By Year-End, With Live Sports Telecasts Shifting To USA Network, Peacock
- NBCSN will wind down but the end of the year and its sports coverage will move to either USA Network and/or Peacock. NBC has been consolidating networks, winding down Chiller, Cloo and Esquire previously. NBCSN had better carriage and ratings than other sports networks like FS1 but not as high of a profile. NBC can cut costs and still carry sports like Hockey, Tennis, NASCAR and Wrestling.
How to Watch
Netflix added 8.51 million paid subccribers (beating its estimate of 6 million) to reach 203.7 million worldwide.
Netflix shuffle play
Netflix earnings
Netflix Reed Hastings & Ted Sarandos Upbeat About Windows Collapse & Rival HBO Max Model – Deadline
Netflix to Roll Out 'Shuffle Play' Worldwide in First Half of 2021
Netflix update makes your Android phone’s crappy speakers sound better
- Netflix added 8.51 million paid subscribers (beating its estimate of 6 million) to reach 203.7 million worldwide. Netflix gained 36.6 million streaming customers on the year. Netflix also reported $6.64 billion in earnings for $1.19 earrings per share.
- Netflix believes it will reach break-even in 2021 and has no plans to raise further debt.
- As part of its earnings call Tuesday, Netflix announced it will make its shuffle button test a feature for all users worldwide.
- Netflix has been testing a button underneath your profile icon that says "Play Something" or "Shuffle Play" with the crossed arrow shuffle icon. When pressed it uses its content personalization algorithm to pick something for you to watch and starts playing it. It could be something you're partway through, something on your watch list or something it thinks you will like based on what you've watched.
- Netflix says the response from the less than one percent of users it gave the feature to was positive. Netflix hasn't settled on a name but it should arrive in the first half of the year."
- Netflix was asked if its deal with Cinemark for a shortened window meant a new revenue stream and Chief Content officer Ted Sarandos said "potentially."
- CEO Reed Hastings took it further hoping that HBO Max's simultaneous release experiment will show later this year that even post-COVID it's beneficial to theaters and streamers.
- And on the tech side of things Netflix has adopted the xHE-AAC codec for its Android devices which reduce buffering and make audio more intelligible in noisy environments. Netflix says it hopes to bring it to more platforms and iOS does support the codec.
What to Watch
The Muppet Show that originally aired from 1976 to 1981 will arrive on Disney Plus February 19. This will include streaming of seasons 4 and 5 for the first time.
‘This Is Us’ Jan. 19 Episode Stalled by ‘Covid-Related Production Delays’
- This is Us had to postpone its airing of last Tuesday's episode because of Covid-related production delays in Los Angeles. It was the first scripted program to push an air date because of the second wave of infections.
A new trailer dropped for Godzilla vs. Kong. It's coming to HBO Max and Theaters March 26.|
Robert Kirkman’s Animated Series ‘Invincible’ Gets Premiere Date On Amazon
- An animated series based on Robert Kirkman's Invincible comic book will premiere on Prime Video March 26 with the first three episodes and then run weekly through April 30. The series includes the voices of Steven Yuen as 17-year-old Mark Grayson, who's father is Omni-man, the world's most powerful superhero, voiced by JK Simmons.
Netflix has approved Bridgerton for a second season.
‘Snowpiercer’ Renewed for Season 3 at TNT
- Are you the person watching the Snowpiercer TV series. Because TNT just approved a third season a week before season 2 debuted January 25. So if you're, hey good news!
Apple TV Plus released its first full trailer for The Snoopy Show coming February 5.
Brie Larson to Star in, Executive Produce Apple Series ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ From ‘Erin Brockovich’ Writer
- Brie Larson will executive produce and star in "lessons in Chemistry" for Apple TV Plus. Susannah Grant, who wrote Erin Brockovich will write and executive produce the series. The series will follow a 1960s woman who wants to be a scientist and starts a cooking show to teach chemistry.
‘Harry Potter’ TV Series in Early Development at HBO Max
-Variety's sources say HBO Max is developing a Harry Potter TV series or at least something set within the Wizarding World. Conversatiosn are happening with writers, so it's the earliest fo days. Warner denied that any Harry Potter series was in development at the studio.
Eyes On
Nicole: The Hustler, The Simpsons
Brian: Dave
Tom: Sweet Home
On the Lookout: The History of the Seattle Mariners
Front Lines
Paramount+, the successor to CBS All Access, launches March 4 in the US, Canada and Latin America
- Last year, ViacomCBS announced it would rebrand its CBS All Access service to Paramount+ to better reflect its expanded content lineup after the CBS Viacom merger. The company now says the rebrand will go into effect March 4th in the US and Canada, although Canadian users won't see an expanded content library until later in 2021. Paramount+ will also launch in Latin America on that date, launch in the Nordic European countries on March 25th, and arrive in Australia in mid-2021.
Rashida Jones Narrates ‘Bigger Picture’ In Place Of Budweiser Super Bowl Airtime
- Anheuser-Busch will forego its normal Budweiser commercials during the Super Bowl for the first time in 37 years. Instead the company says it will direct what it would spend on ads to the AD Council and Covid Collaborative to support COVID-19 vaccine Awareness. Budweiser got Rashida Jones to produce and narrate a video about human resilience called "Bigger Picture".
AMC Theatres staves off bankruptcy just in time for studios to delay their films all over again
More 2021 Q1 Release Date Fallout As Disney Pushes ‘The King’s Man’, ‘Bob’s Burgers’ & ‘Ron’s Gone Wrong’
Bond, Uncharted and Ghostbusters movies all just got delayed
- AMC announced it has raised $1 billion in funding since December 14th to help it avoid bankruptcy through July. This comes after MGM, Universal, Sony and Disney all made changes to their Q1 movie release schedule. James Bond's No Time to Die got pushed to April. Ghostbusters went from June to November. And The King's Man goes from March 12 to August 20.
WGN America To Rebrand As NewsNation, Expanding Nightly Programming
- WGN America's experiment with the News Nation centrist news broadcast seems to have paid off. The channel is changing its name from WGN America to NewsNation. Owner Nexstar Will add more news programming and get out of making original dramas.
To all the streaming services you’ve never heard of before
- The Verge's Julia Alexander has an article up about the niche streaming services out there which is a good read in its own right. But the Verge opened up the article with a quiz to see if you could tell the real niche services from the fake ones. I got 9 out of 13.
Netflix’s ‘Lupin’ Topping ‘Bridgerton’ & ‘Queen’s Gambit’ With 70M Households In First 28 Days
- Netflix's Lupin, French series about a thief has landed atop the US top 10, with Netflix projecting 70 million households will watch it in the first 28 days. That would put it in front of Bridgerton's 63 million projected and Queen's Gambit's actual 62 million.
Dispatches from the Front
Late last Wednesday I was watching the latest episode of The Expanse and with ten minutes the video wouldn't display on my iPhone. It was too late to turn on the TV (didn't want to distract the family plus it was pretty late). All hope was lost! Or was it? I then remembered a segment on your show from a couple years ago talking about how Netflix added an Audio Description feature so checked to see if Prime Video had it and they did! All these years of listening to Cordkillers finally pays off! And I didn't need to worry about getting spoiled over night.
Thanks!
- Norm
P.S. I searched on site and I think it was episode 67 when you were talking about Daredevil regarding the Audio Descriptions! Holy s**t that was a long time ago, April 20, 2015. I've been a Patron for over 7 years, it seems like just yesterday. Good luck to all of us so we can make it another 7. Or maybe even more.
Hello, Tom/Bryan/Bryce,
As I was reading the news about the Peacock/WWE deal I realized that most of the streaming services are actually going for niches in my humble opinion and when I spent the entire shower thinking about this below is how I view it or rather use them for now.
Hulu - Next Day viewing of current shows to avoid paying for Cable or other OTT. Also for FX Shows.
Netflix - Amazing Nature/True Crime documentaries and some mindless fun movies/shows.
HBO Max - High-Quality Shows and the same day of release of their 2021 movies. 😊
CBS All Access - Subscribe after a season of any Star Trek show to catch up. Nothing else.
Peacock - The one I use most during the day where one of their huge list of comedies is running as background noise.
Disney Plus - For Obvious reasons of they pretty much holding all my childhood hostage.
I would love to know your thoughts and views on this.
Thanks,
- Josh
Links
patreon.com/cordkillers
doghousesystems.com/v/rogue