TV is helping Netflix kill them

Netflix wants to replace TV, and there’s a growing consensus that Reed Hastings has already started: The new conventional wisdom is that Netflix is the reason behind a mysterious decline in TV ratings that showed up last summer and has stuck around ever since.

Here’s the latest argument in support of that theory: Netflix, which streamed 10 billion hours of video last quarter, now represents close to 6 percent of total TV viewing in the U.S., says analyst Michael Nathanson. More to the point: Nathanson figures that Netflix accounts for 43 percent of the ratings decline the networks experienced last quarter.

The MoffettNathanson analyst figures that trend will continue, and “Netflix as a percentage of traditional TV will steadily rise to the low-double-digit range over the next four years, representing the majority of the declines in traditional TV viewing.”

What makes this more painful for TV networks and the Hollywood studios they work with is that they’ve helped Netflix eat into their own business by selling them their repeats — a very high-margin business they were happy to have.

Now there are drumbeats that the studios will cut back on those sales, but during Netflix’s Q1 earnings call, the company said it hadn’t seen any sign of that yet. Then again, that’s one of the reasons Hastings has been accelerating his investments in original content — he doesn’t want to depend on the TV guys’ leftovers.

So to sum up: Netflix uses TV’s old shows to build its own business, which eats into TV’s business. Then Netflix uses the money it makes from TV’s old shows to make new shows of its own — so it can eat into the TV business some more.

Virtuous cycle for Netflix. Vicious one for the TV guys.

[via cordkillers 68]

Hulu makes its move

It’s a deal that’s about a lot more than nothing.

Hulu, the streaming service part owned by NBC, Fox and ABC, announced on Wednesday that it has picked up the rights to all 180 episodes of “Seinfeld” and will make them available in June.  [I wonder if it'll be available to both Hulu and Hulu Plus.]

That’s 180 new reasons for people to ditch cable.

But wait — there’s more: The company showed off a new original series, “Difficult People,” starring “Funny or Die” phenom Billy Eichner and produced by Amy Poehler, and said it had made a deal to include Hulu Plus as part of Cablevision’s Internet package.

Either development, taken separately, would be big news. Together, they’re a possible game changer — which explains why Hulu hyped the announcement to the fullest, with Jerry Seinfeld himself taking questions from the audience at Hulu’s upfront presentation.

Has Hulu suddenly become master of its (online) domain? Not quite — but it may have made itself sponge-worthy.

• The addition of “Seinfeld” in a reported $126 million deal finally adds some incentive for “cord cutters” — those who have canceled their cable and rely on the Internet for programming — to shell out the $95 annual fee for Hulu Plus, the company’s high-end subscription service. But most would-be subscribers will hold off: Unlike HBO or Netflix, Hulu still doesn’t offer enough original content to make it an enticing alternative to cable.
• That said, Eichner’s show begins in August and is clearly a shot across the bow at Netflix, which already offers a comedy, “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” from another Poehler pal (in this case, Tina Fey).
• The Cablevision deal is tougher to understand. It seems like a calculated move to keep cord-cutters in the family, because they’ll still need Cablevision’s Internet service.

But beyond that, the deal seems redundant — why offer Hulu Plus as part of a cable bundle when nearly all of its programming is already available through Cablevision’s video on demand channels?

Neither company explained the deal on Wednesday.

One thing is clear: Cord-cutting is revolutionizing how people consume entertainment — and cable companies that do not adjust will be unfunny and die.

Silicon Valley Comic Con

Marvel's Stan Lee and Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak have teamed up to announce Silicon Valley Comic Con. The convention will take place March 19-20, 2016 at the San Jose Convention Center.

The convention aims to bring together pop culture and technology, and will feature celebrities, movies, television, video games, comic books, and more.

"In life, the most important thing is to have fun, and Silicon Valley Comic Con will be the place to experience all your favorite things at one great show," said Wozniak. "Today, technology is pop culture, in Silicon Valley and around the globe. Entertainment and innovation inspire and bring so much joy to the world, and I’m so excited that we will showcase both at Silicon Valley Comic Con. It’s finally the Age of the Geek, and we’re ready to celebrate!"

Lee added: "The one thing I want Woz to keep in mind is this: With great power comes great responsibility. I love the idea and can’t wait to see it. Excelsior!"

man kills his computer

DENVER - Police in Colorado have cited a 37-year-old man for carrying his computer into an alley then shooting it eight times with a handgun after what authorities said had been a long battle with the uncooperative machine.

Lucas Hinch was cited for discharging a firearm within city limits after officers responded to a "shots fired" call early on Monday evening, the Colorado Springs Police Department said in a statement.

"Investigation revealed a resident was fed up with fighting his computer for the last several months," said the statement, entitled "Man Kills His Computer."

"He took the computer into the back alley and fired eight shots into the computer with a handgun, effectively disabling it," it added.

The Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper cited police as saying Hinch was good-natured about the citation, and that he told officers he had not realized he was breaking the law.

auto-play

[5/14/15] Even though auto-play was set to off on the computer settings, noticed that Netflix still auto-plays in kid's mode (on the Fire TV at least).

[4/23/15] Auto-play for Netflix works on the iPad as well.  And I see a setting on Hulu Plus to turn on/off auto-play.

[4/22/15] OK, turned on Netflix auto-play on the computer.  Seeing if it works on the Fire TV.  Yep.  How about the Apple TV?  Yep.  Roku HD?  Nope.  Maybe it's because it uses the old interface.

Here's the summary.  Amazon Fire TV can turn on/off auto-play for both Netflix and Hulu Plus.  Apple TV can turn on auto-play for Netflix, but not Hulu Plus.  Roku HD can turn on auto-play for Hulu Plus, but not Netflix.  My guess is that the Roku 3 can do both.

[4/22/15] Noticed youtube doesn't auto-play on the Fire TV.  It auto-plays on the Apple TV and Roku.  Sometime you might not want it to auto-play.  Funny, this post indicates that youtube does auto-play on the Fire TV.  This one too.  (Ah, I see you can turn on/off Netflix autoplay for all devices from the settings on the computer.  I'll check on this later.)

Hmm.  Now it's auto-playing NatGeoWild videos.  Maybe it just got stuck earlier.  Or maybe it's where you play the videos from?

[4/8/15] Hey, now I see there's an option to turn off/on autoplay for Hulu Plus on the Roku.  Cool.  Now I'm wondering if there's a way to turn on Hulu autoplay on the Apple TV?  [Apparently not, but you can turn it off on the computer.]

[3/26/15] Hey, now I see I can customize the Hulu Plus captions from the Hulu Plus settings.  Font, color, transparency.  I can also turn on/off auto-play.  Things are looking up.  Now if they would do the same for Netflix.

[split off from the Amazon Fire TV audition post]

Daredevil descriptive audio track

It was mentioned on CordKillers 67 that Netflix has added a descriptive audio track for Daredevil (appropriately).

I was able access it on my iPad and computer, but not on my Roku or Apple TV.  They do have four audio tracks however, German, Spanish, French, as well as English.  And captions for those same languages.

I tried it on my Fire TV and it's there.  But you have to access it after the show starts.  It doesn't appear on the main menu.

Oceanic goes all-digital

Went to my mom's place and noticed snow on her regular channels.

It appears Oceanic has totally changed their channel lineup for those who directly plug the cable into their TV.  The channels now range from 3 to 34 and are all digital.  There's a lot of added channels and most of the channels are in HD!  This would be quite a deal for those who have digital cable and don't watch the extra channels on the digital variety pack.  They don't need a cable box now.

So no more complaining that people are watching stretched HD pictures any more.  However, this will require people with old analog TVs to get a digital to analog converter (or buy a new TV).

I wonder if it's only at my mom's place though?  Not likely, but let me check Oceanic's site.

Well, don't see any news there, but if I click on View the Channel Lineup from the Basic TV & Standard TV page, the page is not found.  So maybe they're in the process of updating the Channel Lineup page.  Zap2it still shows the old analog listings.

I'll check on this more when I go back home.

WTH, let's see list the channels:

3-1 GUIDE (HD)
4-1 FOX (HD)
4-2 KFVE (HD)
5-1 ABC (HD)
5-2 CBS (HD)
6-1 NBC (HD)
6-2 PBS (HD)
7-1 KIKU (SD)
7-2 FNC (HD)
8-1 CNN (HD)

8-2 HLN (HD)
9-1 BLOOM (HD)
9-2 CNBC (HD)
9-3 CSPAN (SD)
10-1 MSNBC (HD)
10-2 TBS (HD)
10-3 E! (HD)
11-1 TNT (HD)
11-2 USA (HD)
12-1 DISC (HD)

12-2 A&E (HD)
13-1 NGC (HD)
13-2 WEATHER (HD)
13-3 BBCA (HD)
14-1 COMEDY (HD)
14-2 VH-1 (SD)
15-1 MTV (SD)
15-2 PLD (HD)
16-1 SCENIC (HD)
16-2 RL HAW (SD)

17-1 NGNHC (SD)
17-2 CHTV (SD)
17-3 TTN (SD)
17-4 KBFD (SD)
17-5 TELEMUN (SD)
18-1 SCIENCE (HD)
18-2 UNIV (HD)
19-1 OC16 (HD)
19-2 OCSURF (HD)
19-3 ESPNU (HD)

20-1 ESPNEWS (HD)
20-2 ESPN (HD)
20-3 TWCSP (HD)
21-1 ESPN2 (HD)
21-2 FSN (HD)
21-3 OCSPORT (HD)
22-1 ESPNC (SD)
22-2 NFL (HD)
22-3 CBSSN (HD)
23-1 GOLF (HD)

23-2 MLB (HD)
23-3 NBCSN (HD)
24-1 FS1 (HD)
24-2 HGTV (HD)
24-3 LIFE (HD)
25-1 FX (HD)
25-2 SPIKE (HD)
26-1 HISTORY (HD)
26-2 FYI (HD)
27-1 DISNEY (HD)

27-2 NICK (SD)
27-3 DISNJR (HD)
28-1 ABCFAM (HD)
28-2 TOON (HD)
29-1 TRAVEL (HD)
29-2 MGM (HD)
30-1 SYFY (HD)
30-2 FOOD (HD)
31-1 APL (HD)
31-2 TLC (HD)

32-1 WE (HD)
32-2 BRAVO (HD)
33-1 AMC (SD)
33-2 TCM (HD)
33-3 BET (HD)
34-1 CW (SD)
34-2 TVLAND (SD)

77 channels.  That's quite a few. The only other ones I might want are NBA TV and Nat Geo Wild.  But I guess I can live without them.

[5/2/15 - and just noticed, no Prime Ticket, just like HawaiianTelcom.]

Oddly, there's no local (over-the-air) channels KWHE, ME-TV, ANTENNA-TV, THIS, ION.  And CW is in SD, while it's available on HD on the old lineup.  No OLELO either.  So I'd have to say this is a limited test run.

But we'll see if all the channels stick around.  Who knows?  Maybe they'll switch it all back tomorrow.

***

Home.  Nope, still got the analog channels.  So don't know what gives?  Maybe I'll get the new lineup later.  Or maybe it'll get taken off at my mom's place.

 [4/18/15 - channels still on my mom's place, but the old channel lineup is still on at home]

participating provider? (Time Warner Cable vs. Hawaiian Telcom)

More comparisons between Oceanic (Time Warner Cable) and Hawaiian Telcom.  Oceanic has On Demand for many of the TV shows, while Hawaiian Telcom does not have any.

However Hawaiian Telcom has support for more websites and apps as a participating provider.  I'm starting the list below.  (Note, even if a provider is not supported, you still might be able to watch many or most of the show on the site.) 

Channel Time Warner Hawaiian Telcom

ABC         no           yes
NBC         n/a          n/a
CBS         n/a          n/a

Fox         yes          no

FX          yes          yes
The CW      yes          yes

PBS         n/a          n/a

TBS         no           yes

TNT         no           yes
CNN         no           yes
CNBC        yes          yes

ESPN        yes          yes
TW Sports   yes          yes

History     yes          yes

HGTV        n/a          n/a

NatGeo Wild yes          yes

So Hawaiian Telcom supports almost every channel except Fox, while Time Warner is missing ABC (you can still watch shows after a week), TBS and TNT.  And yes, you do need a TV subscription to view much of the content.

OLED vs. LCD vs. Plasma

The mainstream TV tech with the best picture is dead. RIP plasma.

If you're a screen quality purist, LED LCD won't cut it. Though they dominate the TV market, LED LCDs come with picture quality flaws, like uneven screens and poor contrast.

That leaves OLED -- organic light-emitting diode -- television as your only hope. It eliminates the need for a backlight and allows for ultra slim, even rollable screens, as well as world-beating picture quality. For now these TVs are manufactured by one company: LG Electronics.

Just this past fall, when I reviewed the least-expensive OLED TV yet, the $3,000 LG 55EC9300 , I knew I'd found something special. It didn't take long to realize that it had the best picture I'd ever seen.

Why? In the case of OLED, the contrast outclasses that of any LCD TV available. More important than resolution or screen shape, contrast between black and white provides the most visible picture-quality benefit, and these TVs are only going to get better.

But when will they get cheap enough to afford? Don't hold your breath.

"We're not going to sell a ton of OLED televisions in 2015," says David VanderWaal, LG's senior director of marketing. They're too expensive. And LG doesn't expect its 65-incher to fall below $7,000 by the 2015 holidays -- almost a year out. Same-size, high-end 4K LCDs cost a third as much.

Not ready for the masses

The reason for the delay is production yield. Yield refers to the percentage of TVs deemed good enough to sell as opposed to discard, and relatively low yields continue to make OLED TVs more expensive to manufacture than their LCD counterparts.

That difficulty is preventing other TV makers from bringing OLED TVs to market. LG will stand alone as the sole OLED proprietor through 2015 at least.

When asked whether plasma's death provided a cautionary tale of sorts, Alessi dismissed the idea. Compared with dominant LCD, OLED is new and plasma was old -- that's the LG thinking. "Ultimately, the cost of manufacturing an OLED set should become cheaper than an LCD," says Alessi. But he declined to give even a ballpark estimate of when that would happen. As far as video purists are concerned, it can't come soon enough.

Yahoo lost what you were writing?

I've had this happen to me several times in the past.

I'm writing something in the Yahoo editor and when I go to send it, it tells me that I'm not logged in.  So I log in, but then whatever I'm writing is lost.

This seems to work for me to save what I am writing.  What I would do is open another tab in the browser and log into my Yahoo mail.  Once I log in, I go back to my previous tab and hit the back button.  And whatever I wrote is saved.

But actually the safest thing to do when writing in Yahoo is to write in another editor.  Then after you're done, log into your Yahoo mail to make sure you're logged in to Yahoo.  Then go back to your Yahoo editor and copy and paste your text into the Yahoo editor.

I guess I'll try to replicate this later because I just tried to write something in Yahoo groups and it went through fine.  Of all times.. :)

the current price of TV

With Sling TV and Sony Playstation Vue (and the upcoming Apple TV service), there is now some competition in the market.

I'm with Oceanic (which is Time Warner Cable) which is the most expensive, but even they have their tiers.

They do have a basic service which are the local channels plus TBS.  The price is $16.04.  Plus there is a broadcast TV fee of $2.25.

Next is a big jump up to Standard Service which costs $64.74.  This includes the basic service plus a bunch of channels most people are accustomed to watching.  This includes CNN, Fox News, OCSports (UH Sports), ESPN, ESPN2, Time Warner SportsNet (Lakers), Prime Ticket (Clippers), TV Land, SyFy, MSNBC, Spike, FX, AMC, TNT, Travel, HGTV, Food, Comedy Central, Animal Planet, History Channel, National Geographic, A&E, and more.

[6/24/15 - Don't know what how much they charge for the "value service" mentioned in the Channel Listing pdf linked in the paragraph above.  I assume it must be a little cheaper than the Standard Service.]

You catch these by plugging your cable directly into your TV without a cable box.  You can also catch some digital TV channels this way including your local channels in HD, OCSports in HD, CW in HD, CNBC in HD.

Next step up is to rent a Digital Adapter (DTA) for (it says here) 99 cents a month.  It's like a barebones cable box.  With this you can watch additional channels in HD such as Fox News, ESPN, ESPN2, Food Network, Travel Channel, History Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Disney Channel.

The next step up is to rent an HD cable box instead of a DTA.  This will cost you $7.31 a month.  Checking the digital lineup, you get HD channels such as CNN, Fox Sports 1, Time Warner Sports Net, Fox Sports West, Prime Ticket, HGTV, TBS, TNT, FX, USA, Spike, AMC.

Next step up is the Digital Variety Pack which is $88.54 (actually I'm getting the Digital Cable Pak, which includes the Digital Variety Pack and the box for $80.99).  This adds HD channels such as Bloomberg, The Weather Channel, NFL Network, MLB Baseball, ESPNU, ESPNews, FXX, CBS Sports Network, Smithsonian, Nat Geo Wild, Fox Movie Channel.

Then I added the HD Entertainment Pack which is costing my an additional $6.95.   With this come HD channels such as NBA TV, SyFy, Universal HD.  They mention you also get CNN, USA, TBS, TNT but I see these now come with the Standard Service.  So actually I'm paying $6.95 just for NBA TV HD since I don't watch the others much.  I think I originally got it because I wanted to see the NBA on TNT in HD.  But now it comes with standard service.  Maybe I'll cancel this after the NBA season is over.  I'd be tempted to switch to the Sports Pass service for $9.49, but apparently the only way you can get NBA TV HD is through the HD entertainment pack.

The other thing that's costing me is the DVR which I'm renting for $12.99.

I'm tempted to get the standalone DVR which accepts a cable card (wherever I saw it).  Maybe that'll be in my next post (after I transfer the recording out of my current DVR -- one day as I'm paying $13 a month for basically nothing.  Well it does give you the capability to pause and rewind shows on the fly which is pretty neat.

So anyway that's why my cable bill is now up to $114 a month.

***

How about Hawaiian Telcom?

If I can trust this page, they have two basic packages: Advantage and Advantage Plus for $68.95 a month and $78.95 a month (plus fees and taxes I assume).

Wait I see they also have a Basic service which includes 30 channels plus the box for $20.95 a month.  You get pretty much local network channels many (or most) of which you could catch over the air for free (assuming you had a good antenna).  None of the channels are HD.  So not as good a deal as Oceanic here.

OK, back to the regular packages.  Checking the lineup, you get a lot of channels, even OCSports (1089) and TWC SportsNet (1069).  What do they carry that's not on Oceanic?  Not much, but I see American Hero, Destination America, whatever they are.  Notably missing is Prime Ticket which is odd since they do carry Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2.  Also no OC16 if you're into local high school sports.

What do you get with Advantage Plus?  Pac 12, SEC, Fox Sports 2, Big Ten, Tennis, NBA TV, Nat Geo Wild, Biography.

So actually this Advantage Plus is a pretty good deal compared to Oceanic, since their DVR is better.  No On Demand TV though.  And no Prime Ticket is drawback.  Well maybe if they bring it back..

***

A cheap option would be to go with SlingTV for $20 a month.  With this you get ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, HGTV. Food, Travel, History, H2, Disney, ABC Family, CNN and a few more.  However streaming sports over the internet doesn't seem as smooth as over cable TV.  And no local channels.  (But if you get a good antenna, you might have something.)

The other streaming service is the PlayStation Vue currently available only in Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia.  The plans start at $49.99 a month for the Access plan.  It varies a little per city, but basically (looking at New York City) you get CBS, Fox, CNN, TBS, TNT.   The Core plan for $59.99 gets you NBC, Fox News, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, FX, Spike, TV Land, USA.  The Elite plan for $69.99 gets you AMC, Animal Planet,  CNBC, Food, FXX, HGTV, NatGeo, Nat Geo Wild, Spike, SyFy, USA.

So you're missing ABC (and ESPN and Disney) here.

Actually the cheapest option would be to get a good antenna if you're lucky enough to be in a good location.

If I were starting from scratch, I think I would go with HawaiianTelcom.  Though no Prime Ticket is a drawback.

[4/7/15] 7 things to consider before canceling cable

[4/8/15] Money's guide to watching TV without a cable bill

[5/23/15] Savings calculator from Slate

Microsoft turns 40

Before their was an Office, or Windows, Bill Gates had a vision for how software might someday change the world.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 40 years since Bill Gates and Paul Allen established that little software company called Microsoft.

Allen is long gone and Gates has given up his full-time role at Microsoft, but he remains on its board and works with the company on special projects.

Gates sent an email Friday to all Microsoft employees marking the occasion.

Tomorrow is a special day: Microsoft’s 40th anniversary.

Early on, Paul Allen and I set the goal of a computer on every desk and in every home. It was a bold idea and a lot of people thought we were out of our minds to imagine it was possible. It is amazing to think about how far computing has come since then, and we can all be proud of the role Microsoft played in that revolution.

Today though, I am thinking much more about Microsoft’s future than its past. I believe computing will evolve faster in the next 10 years than it ever has before. We already live in a multi-platform world, and computing will become even more pervasive. We are nearing the point where computers and robots will be able to see, move and interact naturally, unlocking many new applications and empowering people even more.

...

Hyperkin

It’s a dangerously day to be teasing awesome retro novelty products, but Hyperkin is at it anyway. The company just announced that the Smart Boy design concept it posted on Reddit —a special iPhone case that lets you play real, physical Nintendo Game Boy cartridges on your smartphone—is for real. I’m so happy this isn’t an April fools joke.

The image Hyperkin’s Chris Gallizzi teased Reddit with Monday apparently started as an April fools gag, but graduated to “full-fledged project” soon afterward. Basically, Hyperkin took a page from ThinkGeek’s playbook: testing the waters with a “fake” but realistic product idea. Either way, the Smart Boy is familiar ground for the company: Hyperkin’s Retron5 game console also used a mixture of emulation and physical cartridge ports.

***

What's this Retron 5?  It lets you play NES, Genesis, SNES, Game Boy game with your original cartridges.  Sounds cool.  But gets mixed reviews on Amazon.