Take my money, HBO • Hacker News Board

Re: Take my money, HBO

#191

Post by runako » Wed, Jun 06, 2012, 5:50 AM UTC

akira2501 wrote: post #177

runako wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because this is an act of war against other carries that currently carry HBO. Those carriers can drop HBO and cause revenue to drop much faster than broadband-only HBOGO subscribers will bring in new revenue. It's trading an existing, stable, proven revenue source for one that is none of the above at scale. Edit: This is a summary of one of HBO's arguments. The dcurtis post examines a couple of other arguments. Posit…

I'll wait and see how Netflix does on producing original content; HBO seems really good at it. Over the years they've shot some amazing shows and the product speaks for itself. Even though I am a current Netflix subscriber I would still easily add HBOGO to my monthly bills for premium access to their content. Also.. their largest carriers also serve a lot of cable internet, for most it wouldn't be adding a competitio…

>> their largest carriers also serve a lot of cable internet, for most it wouldn't be adding a competition so much as adding another way to get at subscribers money.

The status quo is that the typical HBO sub has a cable bill over $150/mo, because he already has broadband. Helping that subscriber cut the cord and go Internet-only (while unbundling HBO) will therefore result in a lower cable bill for the subscriber. A portion of the money the subscriber saves comes out of the carrier's pocket. This is the classic trading of analog dollars for digital pennies, and carriers will resist it as long as they are able (in the absence of a new big revenue source).

Regarding positioning: HBO is very good at producing content, but so are a lot of the organizations that provide content to Netflix (e.g. CBS, NBC, TNT, Showtime, Disney, etc.) $8 gets you access to all of those vs. a hypothetical $5 to get the output of a single studio. It's going to be very hard for HBO to hold the line on pricing in that environment.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#192

Post by wildster » Wed, Jun 06, 2012, 5:50 AM UTC

This is the tweet showing on the page: @sgbakerr I would pay $0 a month for a standalone @HBOGO subscription and pirate all my @HBO programming takemymoneyhbo.com #takemymoneyHBO

Re: Take my money, HBO

#193

Post by forrestthewoods » Wed, Jun 06, 2012, 5:52 AM UTC

waterlesscloud wrote: post #182

technoslut wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that cable companies will drop HBO. They are the primary channel that cable companies have in pushing higher priced channel packages and would have to deal with consumer revolt.

This is the annoying thing about the argument, that there's any chance whatsoever that the cable companies would drop HBO. There's zero chance that would happen. Zero. Here's a question- Cable channel AMC makes Mad Men available for purchase on Amazon Instant Video the day after it airs. As far as I know, no cable systems have dropped AMC as a result. Why not?

The fear isn't cable channels cutting HBO. The issue is consumers cutting their cable subscription. The single biggest danger to HBO is consumers getting rid of cable.

The AMC network owns AMC and a few artsy channels I've never heard of. Time Warner owns HBO, TBS, CW, TheWB, WarnerBrothers, Kids WB, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, CNN, and a little more. I've heard that HBO gets $7 per each of it's 29 million subscribers. The parent company, TimeWarner, gets an even larger number per cable television subscriber.

If TimerWarner could sell it's content ala cart and make more money than they currently do off subscriptions I'm sure they'd do it! They have wisely invested in the creation of HBO Go such that if the day comes where that's a more profitable venture, and there are no contractual roadblocks, they'll flip the switch in an instant.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#194

Post by teej » Wed, Jun 06, 2012, 5:52 AM UTC

waterlesscloud wrote: post #182

technoslut wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that cable companies will drop HBO. They are the primary channel that cable companies have in pushing higher priced channel packages and would have to deal with consumer revolt.

This is the annoying thing about the argument, that there's any chance whatsoever that the cable companies would drop HBO. There's zero chance that would happen. Zero. Here's a question- Cable channel AMC makes Mad Men available for purchase on Amazon Instant Video the day after it airs. As far as I know, no cable systems have dropped AMC as a result. Why not?

Dish Network dropped AMC just a few days ago. Dish says it's because of ratings.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#195

Post by kin » Wed, Jun 06, 2012, 5:52 AM UTC

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…

Mm, I see where you're coming from but that's not really the point here. It's more a matter of here's a great show that I want to support. But, I don't want to support the cable companies charging an arm and a leg for junk. I solely want to support the content creator (HBO) and its distribution service (HBOGO). Both are excellent quality and I want to pay for it and it alone. But, I can't.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#196

Post by waterlesscloud » Wed, Jun 06, 2012, 6:05 AM UTC

teej wrote: post #194

waterlesscloud wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the annoying thing about the argument, that there's any chance whatsoever that the cable companies would drop HBO. There's zero chance that would happen. Zero. Here's a question- Cable channel AMC makes Mad Men available for purchase on Amazon Instant Video the day after it airs. As far as I know, no cable systems have dropped AMC as a result. Why not?

Dish Network dropped AMC just a few days ago. Dish says it's because of ratings.

That's because of a wholly unrelated dispute.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#197

Post by intranation » Wed, Jun 06, 2012, 6:07 AM UTC

WildUtah wrote: post #143

smackfu wrote: post #22

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")

Does $225 include radio, or is that a separate license? And is a black and white teevee cheaper?

Not sure about radio, but black and white TVs are cheaper (£49 vs £145.50).

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/media-centre/news/black-a...

Re: Take my money, HBO

#198

Post by egypturnash » Wed, Jun 06, 2012, 6:09 AM UTC

peeters wrote: post #163

burke wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

> Similarly, I pirate Game of Thrones, but would happily pay up to $5 per episode if it were an option. I will not buy the DVDs, as I have no desire to see it again. If I could buy the DVDs at the same time as the show airs (without getting off my couch), I would happily do so. How about when you pirate the episode, you put the $5 aside, and when it's released on DVD, buy the DVDs, regardless of whether you want to w…

Having stuff you don't want cluttering up your life is a perk?

Re: Take my money, HBO

#199

Post by biot » Wed, Jun 06, 2012, 6:12 AM UTC

jquery wrote: post #189

biot wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is with calling it win/win: > Choosing to pirate Game of Thrones is a win/win. I get > the content I want and I don't enrich cable executives Both wins are wins for the pirate with no consideration to others. This is a parasite's definition of win/win.

This parasite would be happy to give HBO money. HBO doesn't want it. Not my problem.

We are in agreement that HBO's business choices aren't your problem. That's a non sequitur. I'm talking about your actions, not HBO's.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#200

Post by guynamedloren » Wed, Jun 06, 2012, 6:22 AM UTC

rhplus wrote: post #156

IbJacked wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The part I tried to stress was "fair compensation", but perhaps that's not the correct legal or contractual term. The closest real-world analogy I can think of is this: you want to by a DVD but cashier is ignoring you. So, you slap a $20 bill on the counter and walk out with the DVD. Of course, the analogy fails because we're not talking about a physical product and the way copyright is set up allows the copyright ho…

> The closest real-world analogy I can think of is this: you want to by a DVD but cashier is ignoring you. So, you slap a $20 bill on the counter and walk out with the DVD

Wrong. In your scenario, the DVD in question is for sale, and is clearly listed as such with a price and all. You know exactly how much it costs, and you give that much money. And the transaction occurs in a place that is designed for this very purpose. There is no confusion or grey area here.