Cordkillers 479 - The Hulu of it All
Disney is finally able to buy the rest of Hulu from Comcast. What does expanding look like and what does that mean for ESPN and Marvel? Plus, a new Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes trailer and Futurama gets more seasons at Hulu. All that and more on Cordkillers!
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CordKillers: 479 - The Hulu of it All
Recorded: November 6 2023
Guest: None
Intro Video
Lift on Netflix
Supply Run
Disney Expects to Pay Comcast at Least $8.6 Billion to Buy Out Hulu Stake, Final Price Tag Could Be Higher
Disney's ESPN could be valued at $24 bln, likely buyers include Apple, Verizon - BofA
- Our Supply Run story may affect where you get your FX or your NBA in the future.
- Tom normally will not shut up about how important it will be when Comcast sells off the last of its stake in Hulu to Disney. His premise is that once that happens, the purse strings will open and we'll start to see more consolidation and mergers. But everybody's waiting to see what happens with that first.
- Well, Tom took a week off and that's what he gets because it's happening. On November 1st, Comcast pulled the trigger, exercising its option to sell its stake in Hulu. So Disney has until December 1st to determine the fair market value of Hulu. The final number will depend on the value as determined by an independent combo of bankers agreed on by both sides. Then Disney will have 45 days to pay. The final number Dinsey will pay is expected to be somewhere close to $9 billion.
- Once Comcast is out of the picture Disney won't worry about accidentally making Hulu worth too much. Which means it can do things like:
- Expand Hulu overseas
- Combine it with Disney+
- Sell it off to somebody else
- Disney will also know just how much cash it had to spend on Hulu and therefore whether it's worth selling off any other parts of its business.
- Disney's Bob Iger has said he wants to keep ESPN but possibly partner on streaming or sell a minority stake in it. Hearst already owns 20% of ESPN, so 36% is still in play. BofA Global Research listed the NBA, the NFL, Apple, Amazon, Verizon and even Comcast as possible companies interested in buying a stake in ESPN. Which maybe means they don't know?
In a first, Marvel’s Echo is coming to both Disney Plus and Hulu at the same time
Marvel’s new Spotlight branding will help you cut through the MCU’s noise
- First to use Spotlight brand too. "Marvel’s new Spotlight branding will help you cut through the MCU’s noise"
- “Marvel Spotlight gives us a platform to bring more grounded, character-driven stories to the screen, and in the case of Echo, focusing on street-level stakes over larger MCU continuity. Just like comics fans didn’t need to read Avengers or Fantastic Four to enjoy a Ghost Rider Spotlight comic, our audience doesn’t need to have seen other Marvel series to understand what’s happening in Maya’s story.”
- 'Marvel Spotlight banner: the brand consisting of all the MCU’s spinoffs that while set in the same universe where the Avengers exist are not required watching to understand what’s happening in the next Avengers movie, for example'
Search Party
Humanity is on the run in the first trailer for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
- Disney released a trailer for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. The fourth movie in the modern version of the franchise. "As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike."
‘Indiana Jones & The Dial Of Destiny’ Sets Holiday Season Disney+ Premiere Date
- If you meant to see 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' in theaters and forgot, good news! It's coming to your house. The movie will premiere on Disney+ December 1st.
‘Fourth Wing’ TV Show in the Works at Amazon, Rights Secured for Rebecca Yarros’ Sequel ‘Iron Flame’
- Fourth Wing is a book about teenagers forced to train at a deadly school for dragon flying. Tom tells me it's like Harry Potter, but with a lot more dragons and also a lot more death. And a conspiracy to create an eternal war. If you're saying 'sounds cool but call me when there's a TV version" -- well-- pick up your phone. Amazon has secured the TV rights.
CBS Pulls ‘Loteria Loca’ From November Schedule, Expands ‘NCIS’ Repeats Ahead of ‘NCIS: Sydney’ Premiere
- The strike is still affecting the calendar. CBS will replace game show Loteria Loca from it November schedule with NCIS encore events--aka repeats. That will lead up to the premiere of NCIS; Sydney on November 14th. And yes these are all real shows not ChatGPT hallucinations.
Crisis at Marvel: Jonathan Majors Back-Up Plans, ‘The Marvels’ Reshoots, Reviving Original Avengers and More Issues Revealed
- Variety has a special report on what Marvel is doing to deal with the fact that Jonathan Majors, who plays Kang the Conqueror--a key villain in the current Marvel universe--is headed to court in New York to face charges of domestic violence. Even if Marvel hadn't set up the entire current phase, including Loki, to set up Kang as the villain, they haven't had writers available until recently. Another option would be to re-cast, which Marvel hasn't done much--most famously in the early days when it recast Terrance Howard's War Machine with Don Cheadle. And the Variety article points out that this is not the only hurdle Marvel faces.
HBO Reveals When ‘Euphoria,’ ‘House of the Dragon,’ ‘White Lotus’ and More Return
‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Season 12 to Premiere in February 2024
- HBO announced a lot of dates for its shows
- House of the Dragon returns early summer 2024 for 8 episodes
- Curb Your Enthusiasm will premiere in February 2024
- Euphoria season three, The White Lotus season three and HBO’s prequel series to Stephen King’s novel It (Welcome to Derry) have all been pushed to 2025.
- Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, hopes to begin shooting in the spring.
‘Futurama’ Renewed For Two More Seasons By Hulu
Andy Cohen Says Peacock Will Stream All Future Bravo Reunions Uncensored; Talks Bethenny Frankel’s “Reality Reckoning” – BravoCon
Buried Treasure
Brian: Rick and Morty
On the Lookout: Bodies
Scanning the Horizon
Legacy HBO Max ad-free subscribers will lose access to 4K streams soon
- Max is changing the features included in its most popular streaming plan. Starting Dec. 5th, the $16 a month ad-free subscribers will have simultaneous streams allowed reduced from 3 to 2 and video resolution reduced from 4K to HD. If you want 4K, you'll need to upgrade to the $20 per month 'Max Ultimate Ad-Free tier.' When it launched the new Max in May, Warner Bros. Discovery said legacy users would have access to their plans' features for 6 months and time's up! Next on the docket will be the removal of live sports from the base plans which is supposed to happen in February.
Netflix, Pushing Into AVOD Fray, Plans New Ad Formats, ‘Crown’ Sponsorship Deals
- Netflix says it now has more than 15 million monthly active users of its least expensive ad-supported tier. The tier is chosen by around 30% of new subscribers. Starting in Q1 2024, Netflix will sell "title sponsorships" for its premier properties, like The Crown. That will let viewers who watch three episodes in a row, watch a fourth without ad interruptions, with thanks to a title sponsor. Netflix is also selling ads that can be tied to a specific thematic moment in a show.
Paramount+ Hits 63M Subscribers As Parent Company Trims Streaming Losses And Overcomes TV Weakness To Top Q3 Forecasts
AMC Networks Q3 Results Hit By Drops In Advertising And Affiliate Revenue
Cinemark Q3 Revenue Surges Above Pre-Pandemic Levels; Theater Chain “Highly Optimistic” About Future Of Moviegoing
- And if you like numbers, here are several. Paramount + added 2.7 million subscribers and now has 63 million subscribers
-AMC Networks added 100,00 subscribers to its streaming services like AMC+ and BET+ That's after several quarters of declines.
- And Cinemark theaters reported $875 million in revenue, 6% above 2019 levels.
Plex becomes a social network with public debut of ‘Discover Together’
- Plex launched a feature called "Discover Together" that lets you create a public profile and find and follow friends to share show recommendations. The feature will show trending shows, your friends watch history and more.
‘Five Nights At Freddy’s’ Breaks Record For Most-Watched Title On Peacock In First 5 Days
‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Box Office: All the Records Shattered in Opening Weekend
- Five Nights at Freddy's premiered on Peacock as well as in theaters and became the most watched Peacock film yet in its first five days. It also brought in $80 million domestically in $132 million globally at the theater. That makes it the biggest hybrid release form NBC Universal. Pretty good return on a $20m budget too!
Chatter
Tom, Bryce, and Brian
Losing one stream is a downer, but why eliminate the Atmos Dolby Sound, I imagine that was some overly burdensome resource hog on their network. Am I wrong with that assessment?
- Sean
PS
Still trying to get back to being a patron but Patreon is not quick with the customer support. I'm one of those that was contributing less than a dollar a week (75¢/week) and am stuck in limbo with just your patreon and not any of my later subscriptions that started out with $1 or more being a minimum. Do you guys have cash app, venmo, or something that I could send you some money "
Hi CK crew,
Seems to me that you all don’t talk to older teenagers?
They have lots of access to porn. They watch it. They enjoy it. They’re open about it. Seems like at the same rate as previous generations.
They also know in real life, there are many types of relationships. Including ones that have no sexual tension at all and are fulfilling for them. Yet most movies and TV shows depict all relationships as ultimately sexual.
GenZ is tired of not seeing real relationships, especially across genders and with non-binary and genderfluid people. Like everything, it’s about representation (not about a more puritan culture, as you all seemed to suggest).
If they want porn, they go watch porn. Often. If they don’t, they want to see real relationships.
Thanks,
- Mark
Hi guys,
I have a similar method to the Brice-slice for watching shows that I’m not 100% invested in. I watch the first and last episode but additionally, if each episode starts with a “previously on” segment, I watch that segment for each episode and then watch the finale. It offers a quick way to connect the major events of the series between the start and the ending.
- Jeff
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