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Take my money, HBO

takemymoneyhbo.com

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Re: Take my money, HBO

#141

Post by zem »

matwood wrote: post #106
sneak wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Nah, I'm not really into Pokemon." http://xkcd.com/178/ (Am I the only one who still doesn't give two fucks about four fucks about television shows?)

I don't really get the anti TV people. Like any medium there is good and bad. TV definitely has its share of bad, but there is also some pretty good entertainment. Books, magazines, websites, etc... there is always going to be more crap than not, but for some reason I never read about people bragging about giving them up.

it's a form of signalling herd membership. compare people bragging that they are bad at maths - people are bad at all sorts of subjects, but mathematics is unusual in that people are proud of their ignorance of it, because they are essentially signalling that they are part of the "non-geek" tribe. similarly, people are uninterested in all sorts of media, but are proud of a lack of interest in tv because that signals their membership in the "non-mainstream" tribe.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#142

Post by mturmon »

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."

Thanks, most commenters here have dogmatically refused to see HBO's perspective.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#143

Post by WildUtah »

smackfu wrote: post #22
dfc wrote: post #6

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")

Does $225 include radio, or is that a separate license?

And is a black and white teevee cheaper?

Re: Take my money, HBO

#144

Post by biot »

jquery wrote: post #109
biot wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you always analyze who gets enriched before making purchases? For example, how do you purchase anything without enriching the evil oil executives who sell the petroleum products used to transport goods used in the production of the products and services you consume? Even if you manage to perfectly align your beliefs with your purchasing habits, how do you ensure that those who profit from your purchases don't give…

I don't think this question is asked in good faith, but I'll try to respond anyway. The answer is we don't live in a perfect world, and we all have to make pragmatic choices. If there was an alternative to petroleum that involved painlessly breaking a wrongheaded law, I would do it in a heartbeat. Choosing to pirate Game of Thrones is a win/win. I get the content I want and I don't enrich cable executives who not onl…

How does your action result in a win for the thousands of people (actors, extras, film crew, set construction crew, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, musicians, etc.) who worked on Game of Thrones? If everyone followed your lead and nobody paid a cent to HBO they would all be out of a job. It's only because others are willing to reward the creators for their work that your freeloading is possible.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#145

Post by cletus »

I certainly understand the motivation for this but HBO is actually in a difficult position.

- HBO drives a lot of cable purchase

- Some of that money goes to the cable companies for data carriage

- The cable companies know HBO sells cable

- Any alternative distribution means risks the cable companies losing income

- Cable companies losing income means that HBO risks either being dropped from the cable companies or having to offer them a bigger slice of the pie (since distribution is now non-exclusive)

It is a huge risk for HBO to jeopardize their cable subscriber income with a direct-to-market model.

That being said, I won't pay $100+/month to watch just HBO so do the math on that.

What really annoys me is that this goes so far as affecting, say, iTunes releases. HBO only releases shows on iTunes (if they release it at all) just prior to the next season starting to drum up more interest. That's a trap and I'm not falling for it.

This all goes back to why a la carte cable will never happen (given the current power structure and regulatory environment). It either means people will spend less on cable or things will be more expensive so it won't be worth it. Either way the cable companies lose. Content creators also lose because no one wants to take the risk of losing what is otherwise guaranteed income (a slice of every cable bill).

Years ago, Hollywood went through a shakeup splitting content creation from distribution [1]. It's really time for the same thing to happen with all content industries. We need to separate:

1. Content creation: studios like HBO;

2. Distribution: cable companies like Time Warner and Comcast; and

3. Infrastructure: the actual last mile, cable or fibre infrastructure.

Of course the political likelihood of that happening is essentially zero.

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Paramount_Pict....

EDIT: to clarify this point, I don't believe cable companies would pursue the nuclear option of dropping HBO. However what the cable companies have now is essentially an exclusive arrangement with HBO. With implied or otherwise, HBO earns a premium for this in terms of how big a cut the companies get. Providing a means to bypass the cable companies would sooner or later result in a higher cut being paid to them, less marketing of HBO by the cable companies to its customers, etc.

Basically there is an economic cost to breaking exclusivity whether it is explicit or not.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#146

Post by graue »

matwood wrote: post #106
sneak wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Nah, I'm not really into Pokemon." http://xkcd.com/178/ (Am I the only one who still doesn't give two fucks about four fucks about television shows?)

I don't really get the anti TV people. Like any medium there is good and bad. TV definitely has its share of bad, but there is also some pretty good entertainment. Books, magazines, websites, etc... there is always going to be more crap than not, but for some reason I never read about people bragging about giving them up.

It's not purely an issue of TV being "crap". Books, magazines and websites just aren't mass media in the same way TV is. For many people (maybe not for hackers), talking about TV shows is like talking about the weather — it's a common bond that helps you get comfortable with someone you've just met. I'd guess those of us who watch less/no TV feel left out of those conversations. But we still want to make connections, so we look for others who made the same no-TV-watching choice. It's a way to find reassurance that our choice didn't completely isolate us.

(I don't watch TV, but the above is my best attempt to explain the greater phenomenon behind posts like the GP's — not a personal statement.)

Re: Take my money, HBO

#147

Post by jack-r-abbit »

shpoonj wrote: post #49

I wouldn't pay a single cent to HBO. I would, on the other hand, pay $40 via iTunes per season of Game of Thrones. Networks are outdated. Stop trying to change them and adapt like the rest of us.

For an outdated network they sure have managed to create a product that is so awesome that sane, rationale people can't even wait to get it.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#148

Post by notJim »

ZenPsycho wrote: post #132

Why isn't HBO's business failing a palatable option? Businesses fail all the time, why can't HBO?

I'm not sure if this answers your question, but HBO produces incredibly high-quality content that a lot of people fear would go away.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#149

Post by IbJacked »

guynamedloren wrote: post #123
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.

Theft and copyright violation are not comparable. Both may be illegal, but they aren't the same. Would it be illegal to build a replica of the Porsche for myself?

The GP's example was bad because he mentioned taking a product or service, rather than making a copy of something and keeping it. I'm assuming he didn't mean it the way it reads.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#150

Post by mixmastamyk »

matwood wrote: post #106
sneak wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Nah, I'm not really into Pokemon." http://xkcd.com/178/ (Am I the only one who still doesn't give two fucks about four fucks about television shows?)

I don't really get the anti TV people. Like any medium there is good and bad. TV definitely has its share of bad, but there is also some pretty good entertainment. Books, magazines, websites, etc... there is always going to be more crap than not, but for some reason I never read about people bragging about giving them up.

True... just like the thumpers vs atheists debate it may be a overreaction to the anti-anti-TV people. I have real relatives who are incredulous when I tell them I don't know anything about American Idol or Snookey or Justin Bieber or the most-annoying current commercial (and don't care to know). A bit infuriating and tempting to brag about not having a head filled with garbage.
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