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Take my money, HBO

takemymoneyhbo.com

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Re: Take my money, HBO

#201

Post by masklinn »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #184
pretz wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Key phrase in OP: "at the same time as the show airs"

Strangely, I find I'm capable of waiting a few months.

Sure, why not, or waiting for ever and not watching it at all.

Issues: the marketing blitz and news don't wait for a few months, and the various communities around the show don't wait either, "waiting for a few months" means ignoring the marketing blitz (easy), deftly skipping all news of the show to avoid spoilers (annoying), being completely split from any possible community built around the show (annoying, and often a significant loss) and finally avoiding significant interactions with colleagues who watch the show, because they probably won't remember that you're not watching it yet when discussing the episode which just eared (downright shitty).

Meanwhile pirating the episode has none of these drawbacks, it's available hours after the broadcast on every country on the planet in high quality.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#202

Post by masklinn »

vibrunazo wrote: post #174
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…

Why do humans are always trying to oversimplify that which is already simple? People choose to pirate because their impression is that the pros (easier, no drm, cheaper) outweigh the cons (risk of getting caught, risk of all art ceasing to exist). That's all, just a simple pros vs cons we all quickly do for every decision we ever do in our lives. No need to try to find cheap pseudo-psychological explanation to why pe…

> risk of all art ceasing to exist

That isn't even a remotely realistic worry. Humans have been creating art and "giving it away" ever since they've been humans. There is a risk that more "expensive" art will stop being funded (though even that is a stretch right now), but there is no possible realistic threat that art will cease to exist short of a mass extinction.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#203

Post by waterlesscloud »

masklinn wrote: post #201
waterlesscloud wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strangely, I find I'm capable of waiting a few months.

Sure, why not, or waiting for ever and not watching it at all. Issues: the marketing blitz and news don't wait for a few months, and the various communities around the show don't wait either, "waiting for a few months" means ignoring the marketing blitz (easy), deftly skipping all news of the show to avoid spoilers (annoying), being completely split from any possible community built around the show (annoying, and oft…

OK, seriously? Watercooler discussion is the rationale now? That's a reason to take money from the pockets from the 1000s of people who worked months or years to make something you like?

Really?

Re: Take my money, HBO

#204

Post by dagw »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #184
pretz wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Key phrase in OP: "at the same time as the show airs"

Strangely, I find I'm capable of waiting a few months.

For many people TV-shows are a shared cultural event. Discussing the show is at least as big a part of the experience as watching it. Remove the shared experience and the show loses much of its total value.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#205

Post by [deleted] »

biot wrote: post #199
jquery wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

Re: Take my money, HBO

#206

Post by kin »

dbbolton wrote: post #71

The message I get from posts like these: "I am entitled to watch show X right now. If the owner of show X won't sell it to me instantly, then I have the right to pirate it." 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 ava…

But I would say the nature of this post is more along the lines of X is only available as A-Z at 10x$. If X were available as X for $, I would but it.

There are 2 types of pirates out there. Some really feel they have the right to do so. Some do it knowing it is wrong but they have no other way to access the content and if there were a Paypal set to donate to support the show would do so.

Not watching the show or waiting for the DVD to come out really is not an option. Waiting is not the point we're discussing.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#207

Post by Apocryphon »

runako wrote: post #55
akira2501 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see his argument.. but why not just partner with ISPs? If HBO doesn't want my $8 directly, then why not let AT&T (or whoever) charge me an extra $8/mo along with my DSL (or whatever) bill and get HBOGO? It would be nearly identical to their current model, but with different types of subscriber organizations distributing their content for them.

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…

These media maneuverings is truly a game of thrones.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#208

Post by function_seven »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #193
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?

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 subscribe…

Just to clarify, Time Warner Cable is no longer related in any way to Time Warner. They've licensed the name since 2009.

This clarification does not change your point, however. A conglomerated cable channel owner benefits from any one of their channels driving access to all of them. If HBO did circumvent the cable operator, they may be hurting their brothers and sisters in the process

Re: Take my money, HBO

#209

Post by rickmb »

It's ironic that the amount in the form is in US dollars.

In much the rest of the world, it's already pretty much game over. A whole generation has learned to "pirate" these shows because it's the only available option.

This is the reality in 2012 outside the US: ordinary people in offices and on schoolyards are discussing TV shows that aren't legally available in those countries. It's not considered anything special anymore, it's no longer just a small "secret" club of geeks. It has become so common it's hard to imagine "legal" services will ever get a foot in the door after over a decade of neglecting these markets.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#210

Post by sixQuarks »

cletus wrote: post #145

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 ha…

What if some great writers from HBO left to join a new "startup" with deep pockets and willing to bet on internet only distribution. And what if they create a big-budget show that's awesome like Game of Thrones. Would you pay for that "channel"?
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