Cordkillers 443 - How Many Batmen? (w/ Lamarr Wilson)
Consolidation is coming--Hulu, Comcast, WB, Disney are all trying to make streaming work. Plus, WBD walks back their HBO Max-Discovery+ merger and Netflix starts to roll out account-sharing policies in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain. All that and more on Cordkillers! With special guest Lamarr Wilson ( https://linktr.ee/lamarrwilson ).
This week on It's Spoilerin' Time: The Last of Us (105), Twenty-Five Twenty-One (114), Miami Vice (404, "The Big Thaw")
Next week: Picard (301), The Last of Us (106), Twenty-Five Twenty-One (115)
Download video http://archive.org/download/cordkillers-ep-443/CordkillersEp443.mp4
Download audio http://archive.org/download/cordkillers-ep-443/CordkillersEp443.mp3
CordKillers: 443 - How Many Batmen?
Recorded: February 13 2023
Guest: Lamarr Wilson
Intro Video
RapCaviar Presents Tyler the Creator
Primary Target
Disney+ Drops 2.4 Million Subscribers in First Loss, Bob Iger Heralds ‘Significant Transformation’ Underway
- Streaming platforms are about to enter their consolidation phase. Everyone is getting prepared for this to happen, but not until 2024. Let me explain, starting with the latest moves by Disney.
- First, yes Disney + lost subscribers overall last quarter. Because it lost WILDLY popular Indian Premier League cricket. But outside of India and Southeast Asia Disney gained streaming subscribers. Including Hulu which gained 800,000 subscribers. Overall Disney revenue and profits rose.
Disney CEO Bob Iger on Potential Hulu Sale: ‘Everything Is on the Table Right Now’
- What's more interesting than those figures is how it's changing.
- Disney also reorganized into three main business segments. Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Disney Entertainment and ... ESPN.
- Before you jump to a conclusion about Disney selling ESPN, Disney CEO Bob Iger said "But we’re not engaged in any conversations right now or considering a spinoff of ESPN.” He also said ESPN will become a streaming-first business. ESPN+ grew to 24.9 million subscribers. What's it preparing for?
Disney CEO Bob Iger says he prefers to stay only two years, calls streaming ‘the future’
ESPN Is Sent on New Trajectory at Disney
Disney Reaffirms Outlook For Streaming Profitability By 2024; CEO Bob Iger Calls The Business “My No. 1 Priority” But Vows Not To “Abandon” Movie Theaters Or Linear TV
Warner Bros. Discovery Has Bigger Problems Than Its DC Search
- If you think you have too many streaming choices, you probably won't after 2024.
- January 2024 is when Comcast or Disney, either one, can force the sale of Comcast's 33% stake in Hulu. Comcast has said before that it might be interested in buying out Disney's 6% stake instead. UNtil now, that has seemed like a bargaining tactic. However, Thursday on CNBC, Iger said “Everything is on the table right now, so I am not going to speculate whether we are a buyer or a seller of [Hulu] But I obviously have suggested that I’m concerned about undifferentiated general entertainment, particularly in the competitive landscape that we are operating in, and we are going to look at it very objectively and expansively.”
-Also keep in mind that the merger of Warner Brothers and Discovery precluded any negotiations to sell it before April 2024. And lots of people think Comcast might be interested in snapping that up once it's available.
- So now that we know the table setting. What's your best guess for what happens to Hulu, ESPN, HBO Max and Discovery+?
Disney Announces New ‘Toy Story’ and ‘Frozen’ Sequels on the Way, ‘Avatar’ Experience Coming to Disneyland
- Iger also announced that new movies in the Toy Story and Frozen franchises are in development and a sequel to Zootopia was announced. And an Avatar experience is coming to Disneyland in California.
Also Tim Allen confirmed on Twitter he will voice Buzz Lightyear in the next movie.
How to Watch
Warner Bros Discovery Abandons Plan To Shut Down Discovery+ As Stand-Alone Service As It Moves Ahead With HBO Max Merger
- Deadline and the Wall Street Journal's sources say that Warner Brothers Discovery has decided not to close Discovery+.
- The plan had been to merge Discovery+ into HBO Max and have one simple paid service.
- Instead, apparently Discovery+ will live on as a separate service, while much of its content will also be available in HBO Max. And HBO Max may still get a new name.
- The worry was that Discovery+ users who pay 4-6.99 a month would not want to pay the higher price for a merged service.
- So HBO Max will still get a rebrand this spring, but Discovery+ won't go away.
- Tom's Guess? Run Discovery+ as long as it needs to and try to upsell as many people as possible to HBO Max before finally closing it down at an undetermined time in the future.
What to Watch
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3' coming May 5, 2023
The Flash' Super Bowl Trailer Reveals Both Keaton and Affleck as Batman coming June 16
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' coming June 30
The Super Mario Bros. Movie' Reveals Plumbing Website and Commercial. Movie coming April 7
'Creed III' Trailer:coming November 23
Jason Momoa is out for revenge in the action-packed Fast X trailer. Movie coming May 19
Ben Affleck, Matt Damon’s First ‘AIR’ Trailer Drops Ahead of Super Bowl
- AIR - A movie about Nike's game-changing early days. Ben Affleck also stars opposite Matt Damon and Viola Davis, who plays Michael Jordan's mother.
Tubi Freaks Out Super Bowl Viewers With ‘Interface Interruption’ Ad
- Tubi ran an ad that featured the Super Bowl commentators doing generic commentary and then made it look as if they were about to change the channel.
Super Bowl Ads: Most-Viewed Spots on YouTube
- YouTube announced the top most viewed Super Bowl ads (on YouTube) were Booking.com: Melissa McCarthy in “Somewhere, Anywhere” and T-Mobile: New Year. New Neighbor feat. John Travolta
Eyes On:
Lamarr: Mass Effect
Brian: Cunk on Earth
Tom: The Banshees of Inisherin
On the Lookout: The Nevers
Front Lines
Netflix Expands Paid-Sharing Plans to Four New Countries, Will Start Blocking Devices That Illicitly Use Shared Passwords
- Rather than accidentally updating help pages, Netflix is actually expanding its plans to cut down password sharing to Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain. Users in those countries will be able to add up to two people who do not live in their household, to their account. It's an extra CAD$7.99 in Canada, NZD$7.99 in New Zealand, €3.99 in Portugal and €5.99 in Spain per month per person. Netflix said it will begin to block devices used by someone outside the primary residence after a certain number of days but did not give details on how many days that would be. Main account holders will have to set their primary account location and in some cases may need to get a code to use Netflix while traveling.
Binge On! Roku Now Lets You Order Food From Your TV via DoorDash Deal
- Roku now lets you order food from the TV in partnership with DoorDash. Wendy's will be the first to buy ads that use the partnership. Shoppable ads on Roku let you click OK on your remote to proceed to checkout. You have to set up things the first time you do it but after that everything is prefilled.
Dish’s Sling TV Rebrands Free-Streaming Service as ‘Freestream’
- You are forgiven if you forgot that Sling TV had a free ad supported version called Sling Free. Well it's beefing it up. By calling it Sling Freestream. But also adding a few more channels to bring it to 210 plus 41,000 on demand titles. They're also adding the ability to add on paid channels like AMC+, Discovery+, MGM+ and Paramount’s Showtime.
Paramount+ & Prime Video Strike International ‘Star Trek’ Deal
- Paramount Plus reached a deal with Amazon's Prime Video to carry Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: lower decks outside the US and Canada. Canadians can stream the shows on Crave.
Disney+ will air the first episode of season 1 of the Mandalorian on ABC, Freeform and FX on February 24th at 8 PM Eastern and Pacific.
Amazon renewed the Peripheral for season 2.
CBS to Replace James Corden’s ‘Late Late Show’ With Stephen Colbert-Backed ‘@midnight’ Reboot
Another trailer came out for History of the World Part II which is coming to Hulu March 6- March 9th. Two episodes a day.
Dispatches from the front
Dear Tom, Brian, Jason and distinguished guest?,
I have been buying two extra seats for every movie I have gone to since COVID started. Initially this was a self defense against possible viral contagion but as the pandemic waned it became a defense against intrusion from other patrons. My wife thinks I am a genius! She no longer has to rub elbows with someone she does not know.
I usually go to early Saturday showings and thus get cheaper seat prices to help offset some of the cost. I am now at the point that I will not go if I cannot get my ""buffer seats"".
Your loyal fan and boss,
- Steve
Hey there!
I also buy an extra seat to the movies if it looks like it’s going to be anything close to crowded. Usually I buy two aisle seats and sit on the aisle. Besides ensuring no one sits next to me, I also have a place to put my purse, coat or whatever else I don’t feel like having in the seat with me :-) Often an extra seat is less expensive than the snacks so it's easy to rationalize if I skip popcorn, etc.
Love the show!
- Barb
In thinking AMC would have a better show at a winning strategy selling the less desirable seats at a discounted price from the prime seats rather than marking up the prime seats from the front row experience.
- Curt
Hello friends,
I’m sure I won’t be the only one to mention this, but just in case no one has, I thought you should know that Jeopardy had an entire Miami Vice category detailing guest stars as the answers. I, naturally, ran the category.
Lts,
- Mike
Links
patreon.com/cordkillers
doghousesystems.com/v/rogue
World's Greatest Con
FreeTomNewsletter