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Take my money, HBO

takemymoneyhbo.com

281–290 of 316 posts

Re: Take my money, HBO

#281
post #97
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…

"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 have stopped watching it, as I find what they show just too aweful, and only delivered at certain times (and on most channels interupted by commercials).

But I have nothing against tv shows per see.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#282
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

True, but there's also a pretty rich DVD-lending culture in my experience as well.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#283
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

[deleted]

Re: Take my money, HBO

#284
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

[deleted]

Re: Take my money, HBO

#285

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…

One minor correction for you. It's rare that a popular show is available hours after the original broadcast. Usually a few minutes and sometimes before the show even airs on the west coast.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can't make a relatively simple change and capture that market (read the dcurtis article linked above).

I just read that. Interesting. One quote stood out at me though: >Our content, exclusive. It's the only place you can get it. And we believe there is value in exclusivity. You say value, others say needless and overpriced hurdles. And there's nothing exclusive about the average torrent site :)

What they're really trying to say is that their's value in scarcity. Unfortunately there is, in reality, very little scarcity thanks to the Internet.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#287
post #165

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.

I hardly watch TV. Basically because my entertainment demands are asynchronous. I need entertainment on-demand when I need it. I can't adjust my schedule to the TV's schedule. TV is for people who can sacrifice something else for the sake of a show. I can't and I won't because my time is worth doing something else. And when I need entertainment there are other things that fill that need. Its like the radio, I turn it…

You could Tivo or DVR, or watch content made for TV on DVD/Blu Ray.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you want the experience without compensating the people who made the experience possible. It's entirely possible to compensate them if the experience is valuable to you. Not doing so is wrong. Sorry, but that's how I see it.

What if you download it and then buy it later.. what would you call that?

I do this with movies sometimes. I don't always feel like watching things in my crappy local theater, so I'll buy a ticket online, and then torrent the film.

Still illegal, but.. my conscience is at least clear.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#289
post #278
post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought shows on blue-ray that Hulu has to watch once simply because of the advertising and bit-rate. So, IMO you can compete with free . It's just harder.

And then some blu-rays still include unskippable advertising anyways. It makes me feel like I cannot actually purchase content. I can only pay for the privilege of watching advertisements + content.

9 times out of 10 (possibly even more) the "ads" on a DVD/BR are trailers (also a form of content) for other movies by the same people involved in the movie you're about to watch. I don't really have an issue with that. There is usually at least one trailer for a movie I've not seen and it reminds me to. And in my experience, I've usually been able to fastforward through them even if you can not directly skip them. Aside from the Anit-Piracy and FBI things, I've never seen an actual commercial for a product (Pepsi, Honda, etc) on my rented/purchase disk.

Re: Take my money, HBO

#290
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…

I dropped cable tv last year, haven't looked back!

I still pay the cable company for my data connection. They will change their business model, the only question is will they survive the changes brought on by new technology. There current business model has very little chance of working in the long term.

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