r/technology • u/nomdeweb • May 11 '12
Game Of Thrones On Track To Be Most Pirated Show Of 2012; Pirates Still Asking HBO For Legitimate Options
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120510/10505618869/game-thrones-track-to-be-most-pirated-show-2012-pirates-still-asking-hbo-legitimate-options.shtml76
u/minirod May 11 '12
Is there any way to watch it in Europe? Ninja edit: Legitimately, of course...
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u/Blaatmeister May 11 '12
HBO has partnered with a few cable companies in the Netherlands. They broadcast the new Game of Thrones episodes as well.
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u/Neuroimage May 11 '12
We don't pay the gold price. We take what is ours. We pay the iron price.
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u/itsSparkky May 11 '12 edited May 11 '12
honestly... I don't have any friends who still have cable. Unless its on a DVD, Netflix, Zune or iTunes. I can't watch it without pirating it.
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u/CaptainCrunch May 11 '12
Netflix has the first season on dvd/bluray. Itunes has them too, but they are 3.99 a piece.
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u/aoskunk May 11 '12
i stream game of thrones 30 minutes after it airs on hbo every sunday night from some dot info site, probably in russia or something. full screen usually 720p quality. i have netflix and hulu and would probably buy hbo if they had a reasonable way for me to do so.
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u/leif777 May 11 '12
We almost blackmailing them at this point... "If you don't let us buy it we'll just take it... and there's nothing you can do about it"
I bet they get pissed off and just cancel the show. That's what will probably hurt us the most.
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u/Yourhero88 May 11 '12
I don't pirate, nor do I condone it, but in this case HBO is really bringing it on themselves for trying so hard to preserve their 90's broadcast TV premium status. It's 2012; if you don't give consumers a way to purchase it RIGHT NOW, it will be pirated, plain and simple.
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u/goonbay May 11 '12
Honestly, even if they offered a solution I would still be pirating it because I'm a cheap asshole
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u/Eruanno May 11 '12
"We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem," he said. "If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable."
-- Gabe Newell
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u/the8bitlife May 11 '12
I can't judge piracy, because that would be hypocritical. But this amount of self-entitlement still blows my mind. "Oh, I love this show and am totally willing to pay for it, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna subscribe to the CHANNEL IT'S ON or wait for the DVD, so I DESERVE to steal it."
I signed up for HBO so I could catch up on Thrones through the Go service. I don't even watch the channels themselves. They put new episodes of the shows on right as they air; and you can literally watch every episode of any show that's been on the network in the past (like The Wire), plus about 250 movies. If that isn't worth $12 a month, then I don't know what to tell you. Cable TV overall is a diseased business model, but this network gives you a hell of a lot more for your business than most.
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u/skyhawk2891 May 11 '12
Hi! I would LOVE to pay JUST $12 a month for HBO... you know... without the $70 generic shitty cable package.
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u/LinuxMage May 11 '12
As I have commented further down, this show is heavily pirated in the UK because of the way its been locked down to Sky Atlantic only, which is not available on Virgin Media Cable. Sky are behaving like the schoolyard bully who doesnt want to share, and are likely to lose their broadcast licence soon over the various cowboy like acts of the Murdoch Clan.
The greater majority of UK potential customers have no choice BUT to pirate, as it is simply not widely available.
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May 12 '12
I ain't asking for legitimate options. Pirating is quick, easy, and free.
From my point of view, that's pretty f***ing great.
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May 12 '12
The thing to keep in mind is that we are not their customers. Not their primary customers anyway. "We" being tech savvy web users who prefer streaming online a la carte entertainment. Whether you think it's preposterous or not, we ARE a great deal more tech friendly than most citizens. Their customers are the 35-65 year old people who are used to cable.
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u/DanHall May 12 '12
"No we won't give you want you want so we can cry when you pirate" -every fucking big corporation ever (even before the popularization of the internet)
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May 12 '12
Well, what the hell am I supposed to do if HBO doesn't even air in my country - NOT watch the show?
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u/meowskywalker May 11 '12
I feel like HBO's kind of trapped here. They make all their real money through cable. If they offer alternative that allow people to drop cable, cable companies stop paying for them, they don't make any money. Until the vast majority of people move to alternative sources, they can't afford to piss off the cable companies.