Cordkillers 391 - The Hot Dog One Where They Do All the Flips (w/ Iyaz Akhtar)
Cable cutting continues, but streaming TV numbers aren't up in the same way. Some cordcutting news from CES and trailers for Uncharted and Bel-Air. All that and more on Cordkillers! With special guest Iyaz Akhtar ( http://youtube.com/FiniteComedy ).
This week on It's Spoilerin' Time: Hawkeye (106), The Book of Boba Fett (101-102), The Righteous Gemstones (201-202)
Next week: The Book of Boba Fett (103), The Righteous Gemstones (203), Miami Vice (212, "Phil the Shill")
CordKillers: 391 - The Hot Dog One Where They Do All the Flips
Recorded: January 10 2020
Guest: Iyaz Akhtar
Intro Video
Camp Confidential
Primary Target
Cable TV Cord Cutting Continues To Set Records, Though Streaming TV Is Slowing Down Too
- New estimates from MoffettNathanson show that in Q3, growth slowed for virtual multichannel programming distributors - aka vMVPDs, aka Sling TV, YouTube TV etc. These streaming cable replacements added 1 million subs in Q3 vs. 1.7 million the year before. Still that was better than cable and satellite, as, even including streamers, pay TV dropped 5.2% in Q3 2021. vMVPDs now have a total of 14.2 million subscribers. That's a lot less than say Netflix.
- Hulu Live did the best adding about 300,000 with YouTube TV right behind at 225,000. FuboTV was the only service that dded more subs than it did the year before but still totals just less than a million at 945,000.
- Fees from the networks have been going up as they try to stave off the financial hit of the losses, which then causes the providers to raise prices, which causes the streamers to be less attractive as money-saving alternatives to cable.
- MoffettNathansan warned of a potential tipping point if one of those networks blinks and goes direct to the consumer or in industry lingo, DTC.
- "there is clearly a risk that the declines become disorderly. All it would take is one major player — ESPN is the obvious candidate — to decide that the future demands a bolder shift in their best programming to DTC, or, alternatively, that their entire suite of programming should be simultaneously available DTC … and the Jenga tower would collapse."
How to Watch
Amazon Fire TV is coming to more cars in 2022
- Amazon will bring its Fire TV platform to more settops this year. Stallantis has offered it in its Jeep Wagoneers and will now also offer it in the Grand Cherokee and Chrysler Pacifica. Fire TV will also come built-in on the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Navigator. Fire TV for Auto responds to voice commands and supports downloads for offline viewing. The system is also getting an update to support personal profiles and recommendations as well as picking up where you last left off on another device outside the car.
Amazon’s latest Echo Show update adds more live video news providers
- And the Echo Show smart display is also getting more live news providers in the US. New channels include People TV, ET Live, and Bloomberg TV Plus with more to come. Amazon will also add a channel provider list accessible from the bottom of the screen.
Android TV and Google TV have over 110 million monthly active devices, up 30 million since May
- Google confirmed that Android TV and Google TV now have more than 110 million combined monthly active devices, up from 80 million reported in May 2021. Google pointed to its partners for this growth, with over 170 Pay TV operators using Google's platforms globally, as well as 7 of the top 10 smart TV OEMs.
Tablo serves up four-tuner ATSC 3.0 recorder at CES 2022
- Lots of products included the new over-the-air standard that allows for more interactivity in a free signal, known as NextGen TV aka ATSC 3.0. Tablo annocuned an ATSC 3.0 compliant 4-tuner DVR with HDMI and support for 4K. Tablo is the one that needs you to bring your own hard drive and it will support any USB drive from one to 8 terabytes. Unlike most Tablos though, this one does not stream to other devices. For free you get a 24 hour program guide but for $20 a year you can increase that to two weeks and add auto commercial skip. The Tablo ATSC 3.0 Quad HDMI is available for preorder now at TabloTV.com for $300, and it will be available in the spring of 2022.
Samsung’s new TV remote uses radio waves from your router to stay charged
- Samsung announced an update to its solar-powered Eco Remote, adding the ability for the remote to convert radio waves from a home router into energy. The 2022 Eco Remote will also come in white as well as the usual black, and can still be charged over USB-C if needed.
Samsung Freestyle: An itty-bitty portable projector that can put Netflix just about anywhere
- Samsung announced an ultraportable 1080p projector called the Freestyle. It weights less than 2 pounds. It has auto-leveling and autofocus to make it easy to start watching wherever you art with it. It has a speaker capable of 360-degree sound too. The Freestyle needs to be plugged in, but you can buy a USB-C battery for it at an additional cost. You can also buy a base that lets you screw it into a light socket. It's available for preorder for $899."
Anker’s portable 4K projector runs Android TV and brings its own speakers
- Anker also previewed a portable projector running Android TV called the Cosmos laser 4K. It has a pair of 30 Watt speakers built in. However it can't run Netflix natively because of DRM reasons so includes a streaming dongle to get content from your phone. It will debut on Kickstarter January 11th for $2,199 shipping in March.
What to Watch
Peacock released a trailer for "Bel-Air" the reboot of Fresh prince coming with the first three episodes on February 13th.
New BATTLESTAR GALACTICA movie and TV projects will be set in a "shared universe"
- As you may know, there are two new Battlestar Galactica projects in development. A TV series written and produced by Mr. Robot's Sam Esmail. And a movie written by Simon Kinberg of X-Men Dark Phoenix fame. Esmail has said the show will have continuity with the Ronald D. Moore version but his showrunner Michael Lesslie had said it would be a reboot then Leslie left the project. Kinberg has said the movie would be a reboot but told Collider last week that will share a universe with Esmail's show. And neither may even happen! The Esmail show hasn't named a showrunner or begun pre-production and does not yet have a series order. And the movie hasn't named a director.
Uncharted’s first movie trailer is full of very familiar action
- And Sony's Uncharted movie released the entire sequence where Nathan Drake gets dragged out of an airplane by a rope ladder. Except instead of the video game this has Tom Holland improbably surviving the huge pieces of cargo plummeting to the ground. Uncharted is set to hit theaters on February 18th, 2022
Ozark returns to Netflix January 21st.
Space Force season 2 comes to Netflix February 18
Atlanta returns to FX (and therefore Hulu) March 24th.
Bridgerton season 2 comes to Netflix March 25th
Amazon's The Boys will come back June 3rd.
Eyes On
Iyaz: Cobra Kai, Brooklyn Nine Nine
Brian: Fall of Civilizations
Tom: Station 11
On the Lookout: Kabhie Khushi Khabie Gham
Front Lines
Peacock Will Stream All of NBCU’s 2022 Winter Olympics Coverage
- Peacock will try to make it less confusing to figure out what Olympics coverage it will have. It will have all of it on the paid tiers. From February 2, to February 20th Peacock will have all live coverage of the winter games from Beijing, as well as catch-up and on-demand viewing including the opening and closing ceremonies.
‘Cobra Kai’ Returns Strong To Lead Netflix’s Top 10 List With 120M Hours Clocked At The Dojo
Adam McKay’s ‘Don’t Look Up’ Smashes Netflix Viewing Records With Over 150 Million Hours Viewed
- The new season of Cobra Kai premiered on Netflix December 31st and rocketed to the top of Netflix's charts with 120 million hours watched. For comparison the new season of The Witcher clocked 142 hours in its first week earlier in December. The Witcher stayed in second place last week with 94 million hours followed by Emily in Paris at 92 million. Moviewise, Don't Look Up had 152 million hours in its second week.
The CW CEO Mark Pedowitz Confirms WarnerMedia & ViacomCBS Exploring “Strategic Opportunities” As Majority Stake In Network Is Shopped With Nexstar Among Suitors
- ViacomCBS and AT&T co-own the CW network, and when Warner Media is spun out of AT&T to merge with Discovery this year the stake in CW goes with then--unless it gets sold before the! CW CEO Mark Pedowitz says the companies are exploring "strategic opportunities" meaning they want to sell the CW to somebody. Deadline believe Nexstar Media Group which owns Tribune and therefore a large chunk of CW affiliates is the most likely candidate.
HBO and HBO Max Rounded Out 2021 With 73.8 Million Global Subscribers, Topping Estimates
- HBO and HBO Max ended the year with 73.8 million global subscribers beating the forecast of 70-73 million. So it seems to have recovered from losing 1.8 million Amazon subscribers in October.
‘The Book Of Boba Fett’ Premiere Viewership 13% Higher Than ‘Hawkeye’
- According to Samba TV The Book of Boba Fett brought in 1.7 million US households on its first five days, 13% higher than the premier of Hawkeye which had 1.5 million or so. Those are both still less than Loki's 2.5 million.
Michael Keaton To Reprise Batman Role In ‘Batgirl’
- Deadline reports that Michael Keaton will return as Batman in the upcoming Batgirl movie. Yes Batgirl. That movie has Leslie Grace, J.K. Simmons and Brendan Fraser and is scheduled for release this November 4th.
Dispatches from the Front
I'm having a hard time getting interested in watching "Succession", because for years Brian has told me that shows like Mr. Robot and Westworld [and basically every show you cover that I love] is really a show I should hate - specifically because it was bad storytelling because there was no one to root for (or we couldn't tell who to root for). But suddenly with "Successsion", even you guys say the appeal is that they're all bad people and there's no one you can root for. I'm confused!
- Tim
Hey guys,
While I prefer Brian liking something versus the alternative, why can't Brian just admit he likes something and not provide all these caveats? It's fine if you like Into the Spider-Verse more than No Way Home but I don't see how it has to be a choice. I really enjoyed No Way Home despite not seeing Into the Spider-Verse nor did I ever see any of the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies (nor did I want to). But the greatest thing No Way Home did is make me forget I thought those Garfield movies were a joke and now want to see those Spider-Man movies. Or even better, I think better of those movies and Garfield as an actor than before. Double that for Tobey Maquire and his Spider-Man portrayal: I think he's great with his grizzled "old-man" Spider-Man portrayal. I'd be interested in movies with those actors playing Spider-Man again. Sony despite screwing up a majority of those "old" Spider-Man movies has gas lit me and I’m fine with it (but not enough to find out how to stream any of these Spider-Man movies, I can only go so far).
So enjoy the movies you enjoy, Brian! And who care about the next Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, MCU involvement or not? Whenever there’s a good Spider-Man, Carpe Diem!
Thanks!
- Norm
Links
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