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The Oatmeal on GOT/HBO subscriptions


Brienne the Beauty

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  • 2 weeks later...

The show will likely not be on Nexflix even when the DVDs are released. None of the HBO original shows are on Netflix and I seem to recall that the price HBO quoted Netflix to steam thier material was waaay too high for them to pay.

I wont pirate it but I also wont go through the hassle of signing up for HBO (by asking my landlord). I'd love to pay HBO money to be able to stream it but they only let subscribers stream material. Its an outdated system but they'll learn in the next couple of years as more people leave the cable market in favor of Netflix and Hulu Plus accounts and it becomes a more profitable demographic.

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http://theoatmeal.co...game_of_thrones

Honestly, he makes a lot of good points. In this day and age, why can't we subscribe to HBO on its own, online? Why do we hand control to the pirates like this?

Of course, it will be on Netflix shortly when the DVDs are released.

It's a funny comic, but his points aren't very compelling*. His/her basic stance is that s/he can pay for HBO and watch the show early, or not pay for HBO and watch the show when it comes out on DVD/iTunes/Amazon Instant Video, but that s/he thinks pirating the show is a viable option because s/he doesn't want to pay for HBO and s/he doesn't want to wait. That's not a very sympathetic argument (s/he already had the option to pay for the show at iTunes, so you'd think s/he could've at least said, "Well, I'll pay for the whole season at iTunes, and then downloading the episodes with a torrent is just sampling something I've already paid for."). It's kind of weird timing, too, to put this cartoon out there with only about a month or less to go until the DVD/BluRay/downloadable versions are released. His/her argument is sort of analogous to, "I don't want to pay sticker price for a new car, and I don't want a used car, so I'll steal a new car." HBO doesn't release episodes on iTunes straight away and doesn't release DVDs of their shows as quickly as other channels because they are trying to protect their subscription base, which provides them with a lot of their revenue.

Here are some articles talking about the Oatmeal comic and this issue. This article talks about newer methods studios are using to combat piracy, so they're not just handing control to the pirates.

*ETA: I guess I should probably add that I shouldn't make the assumption that the author of the comic is condoning pirating TV or movies. S/he may just be making the point that this is what leads to illegal downloading, but the problem with that argument is that shows & movies that are made much more available than HBO programs are still widely torrented, and it's not extremely clear that HBO would make more money by putting out DVDs/BluRays/downloadable versions of shows quicker. They could probably make more money by allowing people to subscribe to an online version of HBO (like HBO Go) without making them subscribe to the cable TV version of HBO, but the problem there, as I understand it, is that HBO has been in close business with the cable providers for decades, and they don't like the idea of suddenly being able to be cut out like that, so HBO is sensitive to their situation. The counter-argument to that is probably that people need to pay for internet service, too, which is provided by many of the same companies that provide cable TV, so they're getting paid either way, but people are going to have the internet either way, and cable companies want them to pay for both internet service and cable TV. And I agree that sucks and will probably not last forever, but it's the situation right now.

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HBOs subscriber base is very profitable and if they sold the episodes individually they'd lose out on the (I'm guessing) large number of people whose main reason for subscribing is one or two particular shows. Again, this model will become less profitable or the alternative will become more profitable as more people stop having cable subscriptions. Additionally, getting HBO is a lot more involved than most people think. You often need to upgrade your basic cable account before you even have the option of subscribing to HBO so the cable companies would ultimately be losing money.

Large corporations tend to resist cultural/paradigm shifts and the cable companies and HBO are no exception. The article makes some nice points but I think a combination of carrots to balance out their sticks would be more useful. Its easier to pull people than to push them. I just hope they adapt to the changing environment and market more quickly so that I don't need to go over to a friend's house to watch AGoT, as much as I like my friends.

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I would love to sub to hbo. But unfortunately I live in the UK so In order to see s2 I have to sub to sky Atlantic which means I need to buy sky tv which I did not have to do last year as I could sub to the online sky player which they have changed so I have to buy a tv box at the same time.

I may be too desperateto see the show. So I may seek out otherways to see s2 but this does not mean I don't support HBO. I just don't want to support Rupert Murdoch.

My 2 pence.

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