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Take my money, HBO

takemymoneyhbo.com

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Re: Take my money, HBO

#211

Post by jamesrcole »

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…

a la carte cable will never happen (given the current power structure and regulatory environment)

which suggests the question, how long will the current power structure and regulatory environment be able to last?

Re: Take my money, HBO

#212

Post by AjithAntony »

egypturnash wrote: post #198
peeters wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

Then donate the discs to someone who likes to collect physical media.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#213

Post by dbbolton »

kin wrote: post #206
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 wai…

Not watching the show is absolutely an option. Not one human being is obligated to watch any television show. I think what you mean is "these people really want to watch the show", and that's true. I know some people who really want to take oxycodone. The government won't let them buy it from a pharmacy legally, so I guess they should be justified in stealing it and then leave a donation for what they think is fair compensation.

Waiting for the DVD to come out is also an option unless you know for a fact that it will never happen (which neither of us does). It's not going to kill anyone to wait 6 months to see a show. Maybe they would lose interest in the show by then and not buy the DVD, sure. If that's the case, then who's going to care? Maybe it's not an ideal option, but it is an option nonetheless.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#214

Post by algorias »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #203
masklinn wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Well it is definitely a reason why the alternative offered isn't a good one. lots of things people do have "silly" social reasons, so don't dismiss those factors out of hand. Also, "taking money from the pockets of others" is an incredibly biased way to frame the discussion, and doesn't help at all.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#215

Post by waterlesscloud »

sixQuarks wrote: post #210
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"?

It's interesting that GoT is relatively low budget for what it is, roughly $60 million a season or thereabouts.

Netflix dropped $100 million for a season of House Of Cards, so it's entirely possible we'll see more of this kind of thing out of them.

And I'm firmly convinced the right people could raise GoT scale budgets through crowdfunding. The right time and talent just have to come along. It'll happen in the next couple of years.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#216

Post by waterlesscloud »

algorias wrote: post #214
waterlesscloud wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Well it is definitely a reason why the alternative offered isn't a good one. lots of things people do have "silly" social reasons, so don't dismiss those factors out of hand. Also, "taking money from the pockets of others" is an incredibly biased way to frame the discussion, and doesn't help at all.

In what way is money not being taken from the pockets of others?

The rationale that someone wouldn't buy it anyway doesn't hold when the argument is that they want it so much they can't wait for it.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#217

Post by kin »

divtxt wrote: post #17

Also, take my money, Showtime!

showtime has pretty good content but i'd definitely pay less for it. have you seen hbo go? full seasons of all hbo content + great collection of new release movies.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#218

Post by lmm »

philwelch wrote: post #161
matwood wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There's decades of good TV to watch. You don't need the newest stuff. Who only reads books that came out last week? If you've never watched The Prisoner or Fawlty Towers, for instance, you can get access to them cheaply and watch a TV episode every day for about a month. And it'll be better than almost everything you could get with a TV subscription today.

There's a lot of enjoyment to be gained from watching the same shows as your friends at the same time, and that's easier to co-ordinate when that time is "when it airs".

Re: Take my money, HBO

#220

Post by akurilin »

rickmb wrote: post #209

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 specia…

Pirating these shows in the US often leads to nasty threatening letters from the content owners, and that's the best case scenario. You learn pretty fast not to do that again. Maybe I'm just an awful pirate.

I have been willing to pay HBO anywhere between 10 and 30 a month for years to get access to all of their content on demand on the web. Really glad someone took the initiative to let them know about it. Not that it will necessarily do anything, but at least the customer desires will be very visible.

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