71–80 of 316 posts
Is there money to be made here? Sure. I might even say that companies who don't offer popular shows on demand are making a dumb move. But nobody has the innate right to take whatever they want right now just because they can't wait until it's available legally.
Since people who are paying a sub are way less likely to cancel than people who make a 1 off purchase are willing to come back?
Perhaps they don't even care that much about piracy because their money is already in the bag from cable subscribers?
Once everyone stops using cable they will change their tune.
I just don't understand what some people are thinking when it comes to this issue. In my mind, HBO is offering people two options: 1) Premium price, instant gratification. If you're willing to pony up for cable TV + a HBO subscription, you're able to watch Game of Thrones the instant it comes out. Yes, you're paying a lot (~$100) - but - sometimes that's the price you have to pay for a premium service. 2) Pay a reaso…
However, there seems to be a significant amount of people who want a third option, which HBO considers itself structurally prohibited from providing.
It is precisely no one's fault but HBO's that HBO has painted itself into a corner.
"We pirate Game of Thrones, we use our friend's HBOGO login to watch True Blood…" Yeah I am not associating myself with that. Perhaps something like "We don't currently pay to see your content". Honestly as an Australian I don't see this happening here, the cable here is an effective monopoly and unless they get a cut of the profits they're not going let HBO do this. It might be completely against their business mode…
Interestingly GoT seasons 1 and 2 are available on iTunes in Australia. The latest episodes only take an extra week to show up from when they're first screened in the US. Even so, Australians apparently pirate the show in greater numbers than elsewhere. Could be because it's $3/episode or it's only standard def or it's a week late. My guess is people find it just as easy to torrent it so don't even bother to look at…
A week later is one week too late - you need to be looking at hours after screening. Australia has a huge pirated TV culture because of how awful our free to air is (pay TV is only really starting to catch on due to exclusive sports licenses, and in terms of getting US content it is almost as terrible as free to air), and everyone just torrents what they want to watch.
I'd rather see people put their money where their mouth is, in a non-hypothetical way. For example, pick some otherwise random date a few weeks after the DVD set will be released and organize a concerted buying effort amongst "pirates" on that specific date.
As a purchaser of the season 1 blu-ray... lets get to the secondary issue of buying. The packaging of the videos is SHIT... there are ads, I have to sit through FBI warnings, I have to sift through bad menus to get to the content I want, and I have to deal with trying to find features when everything I select says "please insert disc X" I paid $70 CND and with the exception of the actual quality of the picture (blu-r…
As an American I'd rather sign up for "Take My Money BBC."
Would you pay $225 a year? That's how much it costs a Briton. ("The annual cost of a colour TV licence is £145.50")
Sigh. Not this ultimatum again... Hurting 'Game of Thrones' Through Piracy Won’t Change HBO’s Business, It Will Just Get the Show Cancelled: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/hurting-game-of-th...
Pirating, of course, won't change their business. But even if I really want to watch the show (I don't watch it), I wouldn't sign up for Cable TV, and sign up for HBO on top of it just for one show. I see this as less of an ultimatum and more of a "hey your business model is fucked so you're not getting my money" thing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would you pay $225 a year? That's how much it costs a Briton. ("The annual cost of a colour TV licence is £145.50")
It's hilarious that they apparently need to specify "colour" ;).
Overall, I think the TV license is brilliant considering it provides us with an ad-free TV and news network. Plus, you only actually need a license if you watch TV "as it is aired." I.E. DVDs, recordings etc. don't require a license. It's less of a TV license, more of a live TV license. It always struck me as odd however that watching streamed live foreign TV on your computer counts under that however, and you need a TV license for that, to help fund the BBC.