Cordkillers 393 - At Worst: Great
Renewals, Netflix price hikes, and Moon Knight trailer, innit! All that and more on Cordkillers!
This week on It's Spoilerin' Time: The Righteous Gemstones (204), The Book of Boba Fett (104), Miami Vice (213, "Definitely Miami")
Next week: The Book of Boba Fett (105), The Righteous Gemstones (205), Miami Vice (219, "The Fix")
CordKillers: 393 - At Worst: Great
Recorded: January 24 2022
Guest: None
Intro Video
Murderville
Primary Target
Netflix Stock Continues to Dip in Week After Q4 Subscriber Miss
Netflix’s dismal results are more evidence that the pandemic trade is over
Netflix faces rocky road after pandemic wins
Netflix had its lowest year of subscriber growth since 2015
Netflix Shares Sink as Company Sees Subscriber Growth Slowing
- "Netflix reported it added 8.28 million net subscribers worldwide in Q4 for a total of 221.8 million. This was not good news, as it missed its own forecast of 8.5 million and even lower analyst expectations of 8.3 million. It's also about half the number of people who subscribed during the same quarter in 2020. In a letter to shareholders, Netflix said streaming competition “may be affecting our marginal growth some.” It's the slowest growth for Netflix since 2015 and Netflix expects to add 2.5 million in Q1 down from 4 million last year.
- Several analysts say that this indicates that Netflix's growth during pandemic lockdown was moving up future growth and it's not catching up rather than continuing to accelerate.
- The Wall Street Journal had this little nugget at the end of its article about the results "Mr. Hastings attributed some of that challenge to Netflix’s lack of live news and sports. He said if the company can land 80% of the U.S. pay-TV market, “that’s a good accomplishment.”
- So let me propose three scars: the good, the bad and the crazy.
- The good is that this is just a temporary COVID-induced blip and as economies settle down and people feel less uncertain Netflix gets back into a rhythm growing strong in international markets and leading the way on content as it continues to improve its image as a place for high quality.
- The bad: The financial uncertainty of the world on one side and the increased competition from high (and possibly higher) quality competitors like Disney+ and HBO Max stagnate Netflix and it hits a block in its growth no matter where int he world it makes content. It ends up chasing its tail with hits in one country not translating to others and never getting the momentum it needs.
- The crazy: Neither of those scenarios matter as Netflix pulls off unexpected moves and in five years it he leader in cloud gaming while offering the perfect live news and sports service.
How to Watch
FuboTV launches new FanView widgets alongside multi-view on Apple TV
- FuboTV is the sports-focused cable-replacement streaming TV service.
- So Fubo has focused on sports-friendly features. One lets you watch up to four channels at once, so you can keep tabs on all the games.
- Another called FanView lets you see stats and scores from a game in a widget alongside your video.
- And now Apple TV users can combine the features. You can have two live channels up and two FanView widgets at the same time.
- Fubo shows this off as a way to see stats from the game you're watching alongside the video of the game.
- I remember at a CES in 2000 Microsoft and AT&T showing this sort of thing off in connection to Microsoft's Ultimate TV. Has it never caught on because the tech hasn't been there--- or do we not want it?
- And for you non-sports fans is this something you'd want or other things like movies?
What to Watch
‘Lord of the Rings’ Amazon Series Reveals Full Title in New Video
- Amazon released a teaser of someone reading a quote from Lord of the Rings about the forging of the great rings and who got them. That led up to the reveal that Amazon's prequel series will be called "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power." The series takes place during the Second Age when Sauron forged the great rings. showrunners J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay said the series will deal with the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor, and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. It's scheduled to arrive on Prime Video September 2.
Full-Length ‘Moon Knight’ Trailer & Poster Drop; Marvel Series’ Disney+ Debut Date Revealed
- Marvel released a full length trailer for the Moon Knight series starring Oscar Isaac with a British accent. He plays Steven Grant who shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector. Moon Knight arrives on Disney Plus March 30th.
‘Star Trek: Discovery,’ ‘Lower Decks,’ ‘Strange New Worlds’ Renewed at Paramount Plus
‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 2 Trailer Offers First Look at Whoopi Goldberg’s Return as Guinan
- Paramount Plus has approved new seasons of Star Trek Discovery Season 5, Lower Decks - season 4 and Strange New Worlds season 2, which airs season 1 starting May 5. Lower Decks returns this summer. Star Trek Picard Season 2 premieres March 3 and got a trailer showing that time travel, Guinean and the Borg Queen play a part in the next story.
Watch the witty new trailer for Taika Waititi's pirate comedy series
- And HBO Max released a trailer for Taika Waititi's "Our Flag means Death" coming in March. It stars Rhys Darby as aristocrat Steve Bonnet who turns to a life of piracy. Wait appears in the series as Blackbeard. The comedy is loosely based on the actual Steve Bonnet who was known as a "gentleman Pirate" in the 18th century.
Eyes On
Brian: Arcane
Tom: Peacemaker
On the Lookout: Resident Alien
Front Lines
YouTube Shuts Down Original Content Group
- YouTube will close its original productions team, with YouTube's head of original content Suanne Daniels leaving the company in March. YouTube will honor commitments for already contracted shows in progress. YouTube started its original content with ambitions to be a subscription streaming business, but pivoted away from scripted TVs and movies in 2018 to focus on unscripted music, celebrity and creator-focused originals.
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Swings to Sixth-Highest Grossing Movie in History With $1.69 Billion Globally
- Spider-Man No Way Home returned to the top spot at the box office and became the 6th highest-grossing movie of all time with $1.69 billion worldwide, passing Jurassic World and The Lion King. Spots one through five are “Avatar,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Titanic,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” But all of those played in China which No Way Home is not.
CBS News Debuts Rebranded Streaming Network With New Slate: Norah O’Donnell, Tony Dokoupil Host New Shows, Gayle King Anchors First ‘CBS Reports’
Peacock adds live local news channels to its streaming lineup
- A couple of News Moves to note. CBS rebranded its streaming news channel as CBS News Streaming Network and will bring new shows hosted by its top journalists including Norah O'Donnell and Gayle King. Meanwhile Peacock is adding free 24-hour local news channels to all tiers in some markets. Boston, Chicago, Miami and Philadelphia get it first with New York and LA to join soon.
France’s Revamped Windowing Gives Netflix Earlier Access to Fresh Movies
- Netflix is the only streamer so far to sign an agreement with the government of France to reduce the window the country requires for movies to be exclusive to theaters. France will reduce that exclusivity window from 36 months to 15. Netflix and other streamers also signed agreements on investing in French production as well.
Some Roku smart TVs are now showing banner ads over live TV
Roku outage leads to frozen TVs and unresponsive devices
- Roku had a few bugs this past week. One bug caused some folks to see a Roku banner ad show up over live TV content and stay there even after the corresponding video commercial ends. And Wednesday some Roku TVs and devices got stuck on a loading screen. Some Roku TVs couldn't even access HDMI ports for non-Roku devices.
‘Squid Game’ Will Get a Second Season, Netflix Confirms
‘The Aristocats’ Live-Action Adaptation in the Works at Disney
‘The White Lotus’ Season 2 Will Be Set in Sicily
‘Upload’ Season 2 Gets Premiere Date At Prime Video
- And a few renewals and other notes. Netflix officially approved Squid Game for a second season.
- Variety reports that season 2 of White Lotus will be set in Sicily and star Aubrey Plaza and Michael Imperioli with Jennifer Coolidge returning.
- Amazon announced that season 2 of Upload, will arrive Friday, March 11. And Variety learned that Disney is creating a live-action version of the Aristocats.
Dispatches from the Front
Hey Cordkillers, my mom took me and my sister to see The Princess Bride when it came out. I was 10 and thought it was going to be a "silly movie for girls" because of the title. I couldn't walk out at the time, but I did close my eyes and stick fingers in my ears in protest!
your boss
- anotherjmartin
Tom and Brian,
Several years ago I started up The Prestige on the recommendation of a podcast host, not knowing much about it. When I realized that Wolverine was in it I thought "this is gonna be great!", but after 15-20 minutes I paused the movie to ask myself "why am I hating this movie?"
On reflection, I realized that I had a similar reaction to The Dark Knight and every time my wife wanted to watch Newsies, even though on paper I ought to enjoy those films (well, maybe not Newsies so much). Was there some common thread tying these experiences together?
And that's the story of how Brian helped me discover that I don't enjoy films with Christian Bale in them.
Thanks!
- Zachary
Hey CK Crew,
After your discussion of the Netflix price increase I thought I’d weigh in on my personal threshold. Once I heard Netflix was raising its price to $20 a month I took a long time to think if it was worth keeping as a constant subscription. I don’t doubt I’d sign up for the biggest hits, but then I’d leave after a month because Netflix still puts their shows as a binge watch up-front.
I’ve decided that, for now, I’m going to keep my subscription. But once I get the 30 day notice email, I will heavily track my 8 year old’s, and my own usage to see if it’s worth keeping. With HBO Max currently doing a promotion, they are, combined with Disney+, the same price as the 4K Netflix tier. With that, I’m not sure how Netflix can justify being the same price as their top two competitors combined.
As Tom mentioned, Netflix will raise prices until they believe they no longer can. If this raise to $20 isn’t it, I don’t think it could creep up much higher without a big drop in subscriptions.
Thanks as always,
- Alex
Links
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