5 ms·

And thousands now feel completely justified in pirating their shows. I can't help but think that HBO is losing out here by not listening to their customers.

by AUmrysh 14y ago

phene 14y ago
I certainly do, since I will never purchase a cable subscription and it costs me internet access and HBO nothing for me to pirate their shows.
pavel_lishin 14y ago
The "completely" part seems a bit excessive. You could always pay for cable and buy a DVR. (Full disclosure, I download content, so my horse is not particularly high, and I'm not even on it right now.)
- jaems33 14y ago
  Or not watch it all. Crazy idea.
  - guard-of-terra 14y ago
    Why not? It's good!
    - jaems33 14y ago
      Because it's not zero-sum. There are plenty of incredible sources of leisure, entertainment, or culture outside of what HBO produces. Not to mention one can wait for the shows to be on Blu-Ray.
      - guard-of-terra 14y ago
        But why ignore this incredible source of culture? No blu-ray releases where I live, I don't know anyone who owns blu-ray and don't have one. So there is no reason to not torrent them.
- bgentry 14y ago
  He said they feel justified. That's different from saying they are justified.
- patrickk 14y ago
  What if you don't live in the US? You hear about these fantastic shows coming out of the States, try to find where you can watch them...wait for months if you are lucky, otherwise pirating is your only option if you want to see them. A highly seeded, HD torrent is usually available hours after the show aired in the states. That's what HBO is really competing with. Until they address this latent international demand, piracy will continue. Most internet users are outside the US[1]. In a way they should be grateful they're producing great shows that boost the HBO brand (for free), at least then they can monetise the pirates down the line if they're smart. A bigger problem would be if people simply started watching shows from rival networks. [1] http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=it_net_user&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=region&idim=region:SAS:NAC:MNA:LAC:ECA:EAP:SSA&ifdim=region&tstart=-301971600000&tend=1307401200000&hl=en&dl=en&ind=false&q=internet+usage+statistics http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&#...
- kittxkat 14y ago
  Not if you live outside the US. I honestly think that "unavailability" is the cause of 90% of pirating. Not because people don't want to buy stuff, they simply can't.

And thousands now feel completely justified in pirating their shows. I can't help but think that HBO is losing out here by not listening to their customers.

by AUmrysh 14y ago

And thousands now feel completely justified in pirating their shows. I can't help but think that HBO is losing out here by not listening to their customers.

phene 14y ago

I certainly do, since I will never purchase a cable subscription and it costs me internet access and HBO nothing for me to pirate their shows.

pavel_lishin 14y ago

The "completely" part seems a bit excessive. You could always pay for cable and buy a DVR. (Full disclosure, I download content, so my horse is not particularly high, and I'm not even on it right now.)

jaems33 14y ago
Or not watch it all. Crazy idea.
- guard-of-terra 14y ago
  Why not? It's good!
  - jaems33 14y ago
    Because it's not zero-sum. There are plenty of incredible sources of leisure, entertainment, or culture outside of what HBO produces. Not to mention one can wait for the shows to be on Blu-Ray.
    - guard-of-terra 14y ago
      But why ignore this incredible source of culture? No blu-ray releases where I live, I don't know anyone who owns blu-ray and don't have one. So there is no reason to not torrent them.
bgentry 14y ago
He said they feel justified. That's different from saying they are justified.
patrickk 14y ago
What if you don't live in the US? You hear about these fantastic shows coming out of the States, try to find where you can watch them...wait for months if you are lucky, otherwise pirating is your only option if you want to see them. A highly seeded, HD torrent is usually available hours after the show aired in the states. That's what HBO is really competing with. Until they address this latent international demand, piracy will continue. Most internet users are outside the US[1]. In a way they should be grateful they're producing great shows that boost the HBO brand (for free), at least then they can monetise the pirates down the line if they're smart. A bigger problem would be if people simply started watching shows from rival networks. [1] http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=it_net_user&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=region&idim=region:SAS:NAC:MNA:LAC:ECA:EAP:SSA&ifdim=region&tstart=-301971600000&tend=1307401200000&hl=en&dl=en&ind=false&q=internet+usage+statistics http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&#...
kittxkat 14y ago
Not if you live outside the US. I honestly think that "unavailability" is the cause of 90% of pirating. Not because people don't want to buy stuff, they simply can't.