It doesn't seem to take all that much to drive a respected venture capitalist to open piracy : http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/02/anatomy-of-a-pirate.html
I would just have bought the CD - I don't really understand his objection to that.
Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?
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Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't pirating to get things for free just a special case of X condition not being met (where X = (price = $0))?
Absolutely, but usually in that case the person doesn't have the sense of entitlement that I see from piraters who claim "i wanted to receive the content by carrier pigeon but because the option wasn't available I was forced to pirate".
I like a few web-comics that have no official English language translation (Noblesse, Knight Run, etc). Now, I can go to the website and look at the pictures and guess what's going on but if I want to actually read a translation I need to go to a website that breaks copy-write.
As this is a digital good that they make no effort to sell to me I cost them nothing to 'pirate' it. Yet, if you can come up with a rational reason for me to stop I may consider doing so.
PS: As a side issue egscans opens a copy of the original version of the comic when you read them which may provide them with revenue, but this is effectively scamming from their advertisers. (or if it's all pay per click it might just cost them bandwidth.)
Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?
#73As a non-cable subscriber and a big NBA fan, I find blackouts unbelievably frustrating. There is simply no legal way to watch some live NBA games unless you pay for cable. I'm constantly having to route my NBA broadband league pass through a proxy to watch my home team, and the only workaround for nationally televised games is to pirate them from sites like sportlemon.tv. It's a classic case of frustrating customer e…
I actually have more respect for people who pirate to get things for free than people who pirate and claim that they're only doing it because X condition isn't met. X could be that it's not in the format you want, that it's not at the price point you want, or any number of other things. The publishers business model is their business model, good or bad. Own up to your decision to pirate.
He was - he pirated because there was no other way to get the content he had paid for. In some cases, there is no other way, period. When X condition is "Getting something I paid for", I have respect. Look at what happened here - a rather well known person openly admitted to pirating. You are saying you would rather he just said "I wanted it for free?"
Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
My guess is that they're trying to maximize "butts in seats" at the event itself. If people were given the option, they might choose to stay home and avoid the inevitable annoyances of crowded events (like, you know, other people), and that would cut down on revenue for the venue itself. There is also the psychological effect of a large crowd in a venue showing enthusiasm for the sport. How much fun would a basketbal…
> My guess is that they're trying to maximize "butts in seats" at the event itself. I bet you're right, but two things: 1) they blackout home-team games that are played away from home, and 2) most people can't make it to every home game. If you're on the verge of making the transition from casual fan to rabid fan, staying in sync with the team by watching as many games as possible. I greatly prefer attending the even…
You're thinking like someone who has grown up with the internet. Most of those owners are one foot in the grave at best.
They are not really into changing their paradigm to suit others.
Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?
#75The NBA is a great example of how individual consumers are not their customer. You want to pay money to watch NBA games, but you can't. The owners want money through ticket sales, so if you live in the "home market", you don't get to watch the game on TV. But, the owners also want money from TV deals. But they don't want your $20 to watch the game on TV, they want ABC's $3 billion (or whatever) for the right to charg…
I think you're pretty much spot-on here. The one thing I would add is that while everyone is talking about the cable/media companies' business models being obsolete, we could also make the same argument for the team owners. That is, when I have a 50" big screen and digital theater sound at home, and can buy a 6-pack of beer for $8 rather than a single beer, I'm much more likely to watch the game at home for (ostensib…
I'm kind of frustrated that I can't go to a game and get as good a media experience as at home. Why can't I go to a game and get the announcer's live feed on my smartphone? Why can't I get replays on my own display?
You're right in that there is value in the atmosphere and excitement of a live game, but surely the price of admission could include more than a seat.
Are there any startups in this area?
Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?
#76The NBA is a great example of how individual consumers are not their customer. You want to pay money to watch NBA games, but you can't. The owners want money through ticket sales, so if you live in the "home market", you don't get to watch the game on TV. But, the owners also want money from TV deals. But they don't want your $20 to watch the game on TV, they want ABC's $3 billion (or whatever) for the right to charg…
I think you're pretty much spot-on here. The one thing I would add is that while everyone is talking about the cable/media companies' business models being obsolete, we could also make the same argument for the team owners. That is, when I have a 50" big screen and digital theater sound at home, and can buy a 6-pack of beer for $8 rather than a single beer, I'm much more likely to watch the game at home for (ostensib…
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Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?
#77The NBA is a great example of how individual consumers are not their customer. You want to pay money to watch NBA games, but you can't. The owners want money through ticket sales, so if you live in the "home market", you don't get to watch the game on TV. But, the owners also want money from TV deals. But they don't want your $20 to watch the game on TV, they want ABC's $3 billion (or whatever) for the right to charg…
>But they don't want your $20 to watch the game on TV, they want ABC's $3 billion (or whatever) for the right to charge you whatever ("watch these ads") to see the game.
I had to look this up, but it appears that the price per year for NBA television rights was well under $1 billion/year(http://www.insidehoops.com/nba-tv-contracts.shtml). From 2002 to 2007, TNT paid about 2.2 billion in total. ESPN/ABC paid around 2.4 billion for the same time period. Per year, that's around $300 million each. Even assuming a 50% increase in cost, that comes out to around $450 million/year per network for 2012.
The biggest irony is that the NBA could be making an absolutely insane amount of money selling directly to the consumer. At $30 per month for a 6 month season, all they need to do is sell around 5 million total subscriptions to equal the net income from the television contracts. I'm positive that the NBA could get those kinds of numbers, especially with European or Chinese basketball fans who might not be able to see the games any other way.
All the NBA needs to do is actually make the service work, and provide the games that are already being televised.
Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?
#78This is, like, the 4th Betabeat story I've seen that tried to spin a whole epic news event out of something as insignificant as a single Twitter message. It seems to be their M.O. HN used to block bait sites like this with a much heavier hand.
Disagree. Their stories may suck in general, but I find this one highly relevant to the HN audience. This issue infuriates me as a consumer and a tech person.
Why do you find this insignificant?
Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?
#79I don't think anyone was 'forced' to pirate. It's just one basketball game, I'm pretty sure he could have lived a fruitful and satisfying life without seeing it.
Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
> $9/mo for just baseball is a better deal for both me and the MLB than $50/mo for 200 channels I'd never watch through a reseller. It's obviously not a better deal for the MLB or they wouldn't be blacking out the games. If you're going to make the claim that a company is not acting in its own financial self-interest please show your math. I think people here are drastically underestimating the cost to a sports leagu…
If they show me the game on MLB.tv - $9/mo basically for the foreseeable future. If they make me subscribe to cable - $0/mo forever. How much does the MLB make per cable subscriber is the question I cannot answer.
Data point: ESPN gets the largest slice of your cable bill.