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Take my money, HBO

takemymoneyhbo.com

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Re: Take my money, HBO

#121

Post by Karunamon »

hospadam wrote: post #117
ckrailo wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? To assure you I'm not trolling... read this first: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114391-Valves-Gabe...

I've read the article - and I completely agree with Gabe. From a business point of view - you (and Gabe) are probably right. It might be absolutely, completely stupid of HBO to not offer GoT online, 24/7, for a reasonable price. However, just because they may (or may not) be making a poor business decision, it doesn't excuse what people are doing: illegally pirating content.

>However, just because they may (or may not) be making a poor business decision, it doesn't excuse what people are doing: illegally pirating content.

Look at it from the other direction. Pirates are gonna pirate and there is fuck all anyone can do about it. Moralize about it all you want, it doesn't change the fact that people will get the content for free, and MORE people will get the content for free if they feel ripped off or cheated (regardless of how legitimate those feelings might be)

HBO can make a relatively simple change to capture a good deal of that market, or leave money on the table. Currently they're pursuing option #2 due to poor positioning.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#122

Post by codexon »

hartror wrote: post #2

"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…

Australian bandwidth is atrociously expensive too.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#123

Post by guynamedloren »

rhplus wrote: post #84

Simply tweeting the intention is an empty gesture. How about setting up a publically auditable escrow account with the recipient set to be HBO/Time Warner. Deposit $20 (or whatever is fair compensation) and then go ahead an acquire a copy of the video. That's what I thought this would be when I saw "Take my money, HBO": a realizable offer of money. Is there any legal precedent for this, i.e. attempting to pay for a p…

I attempted to buy your Porsche for $20. You ignored me so I took it anyway.

Obviously it's illegal.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#124

Post by atomi »

trotsky wrote: post #107

I worked on several commercial digital music projects in the time span between early napster and entrenched itunes. One regularly repeated meme of the era was that people didn't want to pirate music, they just wanted it "as easy" or "no drm" or "ala carte" or "all you can eat". While statistically these were all guaranteed to be true for at least some users, in aggregate they were red herrings. The industry was in th…

The progress of our species depends on the passing of knowledge to the next generation. So "sharing information" has become an evolutionary trait.

We started with language then writing, then the printing press then telegraph radio, and phones and now digital information.

We'll eventually get to the point where all of the worlds digital information will fit in devices the size of dice. And we're not far off either.

I actually do agree with you that we tend to rationalize our actions, but that's not some kind of epiphany.

Edit: If you're going to down vote the least you can do is rebut.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#125

Post by jack-r-abbit »

ericdykstra wrote: post #79
res0nat0r wrote: post #33

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...

The most popular show on HBO will get cancelled because people are pirating it? Definitely disagree. It's not just critically acclaimed, it's among the most popular HBO original show in the network's history. 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 a…

To be more correct... it is more of a "hey your product kicks total fucking ass... but I disagree with you business model. I'm going to consume your kick ass product anyway... but you're not getting my money" thing.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#126

Post by [deleted] »

smackfu wrote: post #20

This was a good write-up of an interview with the HBO co-CEO: http://dcurt.is/hbo-forbes-journalism Worth reading before spouting the typical "I don't understand why HBO doesn't want my $5 a month."

[deleted]

Re: Take my money, HBO

#127

Post by falling »

burke wrote: post #118
trotsky wrote: post #107

I worked on several commercial digital music projects in the time span between early napster and entrenched itunes. One regularly repeated meme of the era was that people didn't want to pirate music, they just wanted it "as easy" or "no drm" or "ala carte" or "all you can eat". While statistically these were all guaranteed to be true for at least some users, in aggregate they were red herrings. The industry was in th…

I'm only one data point, but: I used to pirate (all of my) music. I have bought a grand total of one CD ever. Now I happily consume most of my music through a paid subscription to Rdio. Similarly, I pay for netflix. I (grudgingly) go to theatres occasionally. I don't own and have no desire to own a dvd player, and pirate movies occasionally when they're not conveniently available. Similarly, I pirate Game of Thrones,…

I also pay an Rdio subscription and enjoy it, but I still buy the records I find myself listening more often.

My reason is simply this: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/how-much-do-music...

Re: Take my money, HBO

#128

Post by shmerl »

wmf wrote: post #114
shmerl wrote: post #50

Did HBO ever consider asking some fixed price per simple download? No streaming, no complicated subscription services. Just payments per files. There can't be any logical reason not to offer it, if it's so widely pirated already. They can only convince some of those who pirate not to do it, if they provide the same level of simplicity and convenience. In any case, it can't make it any worse for them, than it is now.…

HBO is ~$15/month or ~$180/year if you don't cancel. A season of Game of Thrones is $30-39 on iTunes. It seems pretty obvious.

I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to compare. Rather try to compare those who simply pirate the stuff as soon as it's out with anything of the above. I think if they'd offer something around $2-$3 per episode right away (without any iTunes), they could gain more from those who don't pay anything to them now.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#129

Post by jsprinkles »

Steko wrote: post #63

I'd planned to buy Game of Thrones when it came out on iTunes a couple months ago but I realized that even that still indirectly supports the buzz around this property and the way it's primarily delivered. Instead I'd suggest fellow cord cutters just skip Game of Thrones entirely, don't pirate it, don't even watch it. Instead spend your money and leisure time supporting content that's provided online. When your frien…

The problem with voting with your wallet is that you and your friends are usually the only ones doing it. Feel free to vote with your wallet, but unless you have the momentum to overpower everybody else who consumes the show and doesn't care, it's not even going to bother HBO. Unfortunately, standing upon principle and not participating in HBO's distribution just ends up costing you some good entertainment, just as with taking a stand against DRM. Very noble efforts, which I used to be involved with, but ultimately there's just too much good stuff out there for me to keep letting it pass by. I guess I'm just unprincipled.

I respect Top Gear a lot, and Jeremy Clarkson was on 60 Minutes last year. I'm paraphrasing, but he said something similar to "if we paid attention to everybody that got offended, we'd make a bland show". I'm sure HBO is completely aware that you are offended by their distribution model. I'm also sure that for them to continue being as successful as they are, they simply cannot care. There's a lesson in that for entrepreneurs.

I still wish DRM wasn't a thing, but I enjoy the pants off of TF2 and most Steam games. I think you can be both, and it's not a binary world view.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#130

Post by wmf »

shmerl wrote: post #128
wmf wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HBO is ~$15/month or ~$180/year if you don't cancel. A season of Game of Thrones is $30-39 on iTunes. It seems pretty obvious.

I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to compare. Rather try to compare those who simply pirate the stuff as soon as it's out with anything of the above. I think if they'd offer something around $2-$3 per episode right away (without any iTunes), they could gain more from those who don't pay anything to them now.

I'm comparing the amount of money HBO would get from people who only watch Game of Thrones. If you could get it without subscribing, a lot of people would cancel HBO.
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