Dongle War

Dongle War
Number	39
Broadcast Date	October 9, 2014
Episode Length	1:03:39
Hosts	Brian Brushwood, Tom Merritt

Why Comcast is almost giving you what you want and driving out competition at the same time. And why Chromecast is winning the dongle war!

Guest

• None

Opening Video

• Tomorrowland teaser

Primary Target

• Netflix and IMAX will get 'Crouching Tiger 2' on the same day

The Weinstein Company and Netflix will produce Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend- It will arrive on Netflix the same time as in IMAX theaters - August 28, 2015

• Big theater chains team up against Netflix's first movie

Regal, AMC, Carmike and Cinemark, Cineplex and Cineworld have all stated they don't plan to screen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend on their IMAX screen. IMAX screens in China are still in!

• Why Adam Sandler is making four films with Netflix
• With Four New Adam Sandler Films, Netflix Takes Aim at Theaters

Adam Sandler will produced and star in 4 films for Netflix.

Sandler’s films are among the most popular on Netflix

First one could be as soon as 2015

Signals Intelligence

• "The TV model is broken,” says ISP that stopped offering pay-TV

Oklahoma comapny BTC Broadband dropped TV service for its 420 subscribers because of the expense.

Bills would rise from $60 to $130

National Cable Television Cooperative negotiates on behalf of small cablecos. but also todl the WSJ “small companies "representing about 53,000 customers have shut off cable-TV services or gone out of business" since 2008”

• Comcast beefs up X1 cloud-based cable in San Francisco

Meanwhile Comcast has X1 a service that is just a hair’s breadth from being Internet-only cable

Full TV lineup on any connected screen in their home, and they can download any programs recorded on their cloud DVR to a gadget to watch them outside the home too.

X1 is in 8 cities

Gear Up

• Google Chromecast Is The Top “Connected Device” App

App Annie analytics firms analyzed aps associated with connected devices and ranked Chromecast app Number 1 (followed by Fitbit, DirectTV, HP eprint).

• Game consoles most widely used video streaming devices in US

Parks Associates survey 10,000 broadband heads of household

Which Internet connected device used most 1. Game Console 44%, 2. SmartTV 3. DVR/Streaming Media Player 4. Blu-ray player 5. Chromecast

Front Lines

• Redbox Instant finally shut down October 7th

Information on applicable refunds will be emailed to current customers and posted on October 10. Verizon look slike they may be pursuing a TV over LTE service which may or may not be the same as the OnCue service.

• The New York Post says Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins is considering reducing the ad load on Hulu’s paid subscription tier.

The Post says ad executives would cheer the move as too many ads frustrates users and makes ads less effective. Hulu has been showing users more than 80 ads per month, compared to 32 on YouTube.

• Matchstick revealed its first Firefox-OS based streaming stick.

It lets you fling video, websites and other content from Firefox, Chrome and supporting apps. It’s a completely open platform that’s compatible with the Chromecast API. It will sell for $25 this February.

• Lifehacker has an in house developer now and they’ve put out a Chrome Extension called Flix Plus.

Adds new features and tweaks to Netflix.com, letting you filter its recommendations, remove spoilers, use keyboard shortcuts, and more.

• Plex Pass subscribers will be able to pull up their Plex library on their Xbox One and soon Xbox 360 too.

If you're not a subscriber to Plex Pass you'll be able to buy the Xbox app.

Under Surveillance

• Amazon announced Transparent is the top-ranked series on Prime Instant Video. And Amazon has approved season two.
• A new Twin peaks series will pick up 25 years after the season finale, coming to Showtime in 2016 for 9 episodes.
• Myst' is getting a TV series. Legendary TV & Digital Media signed a deal with Cyan Worlds. There's also a companion game planned.
• Netflix has signed up Executive Producer Avi Arad (who also produced the Spider-Man, X-Men and Iron Man movies) to create a King Kong animated series.

Set in 2050 with Kong as mankind’s only hope against robot dinosaurs. Full-length film comes in 2016 followed by 12 half-hour episodes.

• Brian: Fargo 6, Transparent (Ep. 2)
• Tom: Fargo (6, 7,8), Haven, Transparent (Ep. 2), Once Upon a Time, Gotham, Agents of SHIELD, The Shield (307)

On our Radar

• Autómata

Dispatches From The Front

Hey Brian. Hey Tom. Sorry it took so long to become yall's boss. I've been listening since the beginning of FrameRate. Anyway, Brian, I am a 6th grade science teacher up in Taylor (about 16 miles east of Round Rock). If you're ever in the area and want some Louie Mueller BBQ, hit me up; I owe you some! Also, if you've ever got a free day and feel like doing magic for some 11 year olds, Taylor Middle School would be a great place to do it . . .

Anyway, I real question:

You guys have talked about the Netflix problem of not being able to decide what to watch. One solution I've heard is for Netflix to have a station that would automatically pick something it thinks you will like and play it for you, kinda like Pandora.

But here's a different solution I don't think I've heard anyone suggest:

I don't want a personalized station just for me. I want to watch something I know that thousands, or millions, of other people are watching at the same time. What if Netflix had genre specific stations that showed the same thing to EVERYBODY at the same time. It would be great to tune to the Netflix Sci-Fi station and catch a show or movie I know nothing about right in the middle, like we always used to. If I like it, then I could tweet out 'hey, check out what's on Netflix Sci-Fi right now'.

Any thoughts?

Andy

My Amazon Prime subscription just renewed and was the first time at the $99 rate. I use prime for so much, the $99 didn't bother me at all. But, it got a question in my mind regarding Amazon bundling everything and their dog under the "Prime" umbrella.

If you had to choose just one, Netflix or Amazon Prime, which would it be?

To me, although I watch Netflix much more than Amazon Prime right now, the choice would absolutely be Amazon. There is just too much other value to be had there.

Just a question I thought might be interesting.

Louis

Thought I'd write in and tell you guys what happened to me the other day. My friend sent me a link to a youtube video the other day, and I decided to Chromecast it to my TV. I turn on the TV and a preroll ad starts playing... and then another, and then another! I was so confused, because you usually only get one ad before a youtube video.

All of a sudden I realized my chromecast hadn't switched the input for me, and my TV was displaying the signal from my OTA antenna...

Oh, right... this is how people used to watch TV!

Sincerely,

Sam a Cord-Never

P.S. Transparent on Amazon Instant is one of the best TV shows I've seen all year, thanks for the recommendation.

Links

• http://www.cordkillers.com/blog/2014/10/9/cordkillers-ep-39-dongle-war
• patreon.com/cordkillers
• Dog House Systems Cordkiller box

Preceded by: "Tony Stark in a Cubicle"

Dongle War

Followed by: "I love you for the conditions we are in"