HomeCast

HomeCast
Number	140
Broadcast Date	October 10, 2016
Episode Length	57:15
Hosts	Brian Brushwood, Tom Merritt

Netflix declares war on theaters, why you need a new Roku and Chromecast, and Dark Tower leaks!

Guests

• None

Intro Video

• Westworld/GoT credits

Primary Target

• Netflix reached a deal with luxury-theater chain iPic to screen 10 of Netflix's movies simultaneously with release. IPic has 15 locations in the US.
• Netflix CEO Reed Hastings Criticizes Theater Owners

New Yorker TechFest event Friday: Reed Hastings, "Movie theaters are strangling the movie business. There’s been no innovation in the movie business in the last 50 years."

Said studios want to experiment with direct distribution but fear theater owners.

Says Netflix will stay away from live sports for now

Says VR will be a gaming tech for the next 5 years

• Netflix Hires Former Universal Television President

Netflix hired Bela Bajaraia as vp of content (developing content and acquiring rights - replaces Sean Carey)

Former president of NBCUniversal’s Universal Television, Ms. Bajaria worked closely with Netflix on such shows as “Master of None” and “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”

Will oversee development of original unscripted

• Someone's definitely going to buy Netflix

How to Watch

• Roku makes it easy to launch a streaming TV channel

Roku has introduced the Roku Direct Publisher tool which lets anyone create a Roku channel without having to code. Users must host the videos themselves. Rolling Stone, Us Weekly and Cracked have used the tool to make apps. Channels built in the tool cannot charge subscriptions or video on demand fees yet. --- And a 50-inch Roku TV from Hitachi is now available from Sam's Club in the US for $499. 55 and 65-inch models are coming soon.

• Apple Discontinues Third-Generation Apple TV

MacRumors notes the Apple TV third generation is no longer listed in Apple's stores. The older Apple TV sold for $69 but did not support the app store or Siri. The 4th gen Apple TV sells for $149 at the cheapest.

• Chromecast Ultra gives you 4K content for just $69

Chromecast Ultra

4k, HDR and Dolby Vision

Google Play Movies adding 4K in November

Ethernet port in the power adapter

$69 in November

• The Google Cast app is getting a new name and purpose

The Google Cast app is being renamed again to Google Home and adds in features for Google's new connected speaker.

What to Watch

• The Leaked Dark Tower Trailer Has a Lot of Modern Day New York City in It

A trailer for the Dark Tower movie briefly leaked online. It focused on Jake having dreams and visions and talking to a therapist about them. There are also scenes with Jake and Roland and some with Walter.

• Amazon picks up 'Lore' TV series

The Lore podcast which examines popular myths and legends sometimes with re-enaactments, has been picked up for a TV series by Amazon targeting early 2017.

• Blade Runner sequel gets a title and release date

The Blade Runner sequel will be called Blade Runner 2049 and arrive in theaters October 6, 2017. Harrison Ford will reprise his role as Detective Rick Deckard and star alongside Ryan Gosling in a setting 30 years ahead of the original.

• New trailer is out for Iron Fist, the last of the Defenders to premiere. He's very punchy. Arrives March 17.
• A trailer's out for the first 6 episodes of season 3 of Black Mirror, coming to Netflix October 21.
• And along with releasing a teaser, Netflix announced the adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events will arrive January 13.
• Amazon has a new trailer out for Man in the High Castle. Comes December 16.
• They're still making Underworld films with Kate Beckinsale. There's a new trailer for Underworld: Blood Wars. Opens January 6.
• To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Roger Corman's Deathrace 2000 there's a new direct to video Roger Corman's Death Race 2050 coming January 17.

What We're Watching

• Brian: My Scientology Movie, Westworld, More Luke Cage (2 more eps), Justified 313
• Tom: Flash, Arrow, Westworld (102), Justified (313)
• On the Lookout: Freakish
• Louis Theroux’s My Scientology Movie Leaks Online Before UK/US Theatrical Release

Front Lines

• HBO releases Westworld's second episode two days early

HBO released Westworld's second episode two days early on HBO Go, HBO Now, and on demand in order to avoid people skipping the episode to watch the US Presidential Debate.

• Why Cord Cutting Is Spreading to Broadband Internet Subscribers

Pew Research issued a report on a different kind of cord-cutting, dropping a home Internet connection in favor of a smartphone. In 2015 13% of US adults used a smartphone as their only Net connection up from 8% in 2013. And adults with home broadband connections dropped from 70% in 2013 to 67% in 2015.

• BitTorrent Fires CEOs, Closes Los Angeles Studio, Shutters BitTorrent Now

BitTorrent fired its Co-CEOs and is closing its LA-based production studio and closing its BitTorrent Now streaming efforts. BitTorrent Now, an ad-supported music and video streaming platform that launched in June.

• AT&T Turns to Media Acquisitions as Its Video Ambitions Grow

Sources tell Bloomberg that AT&T plans to acquire content producers and shift its model toward owning some of the content it distributes. AT&T owns DirecTV and has partnered with the Chernin Group on Otter Media which intends to bring content targeting a young audience to the cord-cutting service DirecTV Now.

• This fall, more new milestones for the DVR

DVRs are starting to materially affect ratings. During fall premiere week, five programs grew at least 100 percent from Live+Same Day to live-plus-seven-day-DVR playback, more than ever before. In total, 37 broadcast shows grew by at least 50 percent in 18-49s. This means the network will push to charge ad buyers on the 7 day rating, currently they generally charge on 3-day playback.

• Toca TV is a new streaming service just for kids

Popular kids app maker Toca Boca has launched Toca TV a $5 a month subscription service of kid-friendly videos for iOS. Minecraft gameplay, DIY crafts, recipes, songs and more are made by partners including Broadband TV (BBTV), DreamworksTV, AwesomenessTV, Studio71, and Freedom!

Dispatches From The Front

There was a question about travel router on #cordkillers. Here's my pick.

- @ecardwell1

If you're like me, you've been listening/watching since this was FrameRate. I'm always looking for more info on streaming services, and Inside.com has a newsletter just for that (https://inside.com/streaming). They put out a bunch of topics, people vote, & when a topic has enough subscribers, they create a newsletter.

- Chris

Hey guys!

First off, thanks for the show. We've come to the most wonderful time of the year, hockey season. It's also the time where it's toughest for me to be a cord cutter.

I'm a Flyers fan, living in a flyers market. My ISP showed me across state in a Pittsburgh location. Last season I signed up for NHL Gamecenter, but missed out on games against Pens, This season, my ISP has relocated (yay faster speeds), so now I'm thinking of signing up for Playstation Vue. Vue has CSN so I'd get the majority of games, along with NBC Sports.

Quick questions about Vue, how does it work for viewing outside the home? If I end up traveling for work outside my home market, can I still watch the games? I know when Eklund was on, he mentioned some problems, all of that get cleared up? At home, am I better off using a dedicated device like a Fire Stick or casting it from an Android phone?

Thanks for the help!

- Bob

So I was doing some volunteering the other day. Including me it was 8 people. I'm 51, and six of the people were in their early 20's. so I asked how many of them were "Cord-cutters". I received six puzzled expressions. So I started saying Roku and Apple TV and they all went 'Oh, yeah. Why would you pay for cable when you just want to watch a couple things. Cable is so expensive.' So all the young people don't know the term Cord-cutter.

Also, when a younger person starts talking about how they just started lifting... they probably mean Lyft. Because all the kids seemed to know what that person was talking about, because their responses confused me and I had to ask. I thought they were talking about working out. But it was about the driving service.

Have a better than good day!

- Blair

Hi guys. Dave82 from the chat room letting you know Charter called my Ooma land line last Friday. They wanted me to sign up to cable again. Like always, they wanted me to sign up for a triple bundle.

I declined the triple bundle. She then offered me a double bundle. The original offer was Charter Cable Select 125 channels + 60mbps internet for $96.98. I declined. At the last second, she offered the bundle for $86.98 for 12 months.

I took the offer. I agreed to a Wednesday installation for the cable box with DVR that's free. The install will be $34.00. Having seen the first 2 episodes of West World, I've decided to bump the cable package to Silver. They said that will be an additional $20.00 a month. But I'll have access to Cinemax, HBO, and Showtime.

I cancelled my Slingtv Orange package this morning. Halt and Catch Fire on AMC was really the only reason I kept my subscription. As I'm all caught up. I figured I'll watch the rest with Charter. Really recommend episode 8 if you have not seen it yet.

I liked Sling TV. But reliability and adds with AMC On Demand were very frustrating. Also, no cable authentication with Cable channel web sights as well. I could of went with PlayStation Vue. If I would, I would choose Core package with HBO add on having did some research.

I'll email next week how my re- connection to Charter Cable went.

- David in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin

It breaks my heart that you guys seem to have given up on The Get Down after only two episodes. Yes, the early episodes had some cheesy moments (although much of that seems deliberate), but it is a very fun, and in some ways surprisingly accurate, almost-fairy tale/children's book retelling of the origins of hip hop -- and does an especially good job of showing the four elements of hip hop culture, deejaying, bboying (breaking), emceeing, and graffiti "writing".

Links

• http://www.cordkillers.com/blog/2016/10/10/cordkillers-140-homecast
• patreon.com/cordkillers

Preceded by: "Take the Cable Cleanse Challenge"

HomeCast

Followed by: "Do I Take a Raincoat Today?"