Here's some potential irony for everyone.
I believe, and I could be wrong, that HBOGo is a trial run for them giving all of you THIEVES! what you want. Streaming on demand HBO without buying cable. Right now, the only way to get HBO is via cable. That's just how it was all setup. But, they know this is not the future. So, as a FREE add-on, they now give all HBO subscribers streaming access to all their content. There was no price increase. There was no announced price DEcrease that was then canceled because they added HBOGo. So, it's just free. UI tweaks are made. Platforms are added. Everything moving along fine. Ok, now, let's stress test this bitch. "You are aloud to share your passwords with friends and family. In fact, we encourage it." Sure as shit, it's over taxed and goes down. Who complains? All the freeloaders!!
I bet, by the time they start charging for HBOGo, it's solid. Meets demand. Multi platform. And is awesome. Instead of applauding HBO for rolling out a new product correctly, we are complaining that it's not done NOW and for FREE.
Flag this post for review 1 year from now and lets see if I'm right.
HBO still stuck in 20th century
Have you read something about that, or just speculating? That's the first I heard of it. If just speculation, I would bet against it. You can't buy cable TV channels ala carte, the entire industry fights against that. I don't see HBO allowing you to buy their product in a way that screws over Time Warner Cable.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Cakedaddy wrote:GORDON wrote:It's a good thing Time Warner doesn't buy the Visio TV company. I would hate to have to buy a new TV just to watch the show.
Snowball much?
But it already happens. I don't need basic cable to watch the show streaming, yet I am required to have it to watch it. A year of basic cable is way more than the cost of a new TV.
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"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Pure speculation.GORDON wrote:Have you read something about that, or just speculating? That's the first I heard of it. If just speculation, I would bet against it. You can't buy cable TV channels ala carte, the entire industry fights against that. I don't see HBO allowing you to buy their product in a way that screws over Time Warner Cable.
You've always had to buy premium as part of cable because that was the only distribution method available. HBO didn't want to install their own cable network across the country, so they used TW/Comcast's. There are other options now, and HBO (and others. Many of them have streaming options now) are investigating them.
That would be awesome if true. I would get on board with that, because you could prolly watch all the other HBO-created content, too, and whoever else they could sign a contract with. It's great they are trying to reinvent the wheel yet again and not have to share with Netflix and Amazon Video streaming. But like I said, I bet a dollar it (streaming HBO without Time Warner... Comcast buyout? no idea how that changes things) wont happen within 5 years.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Did you know, back in the day, you could buy your OWN satellite dish and install it in your backyard and then buy only HBO? Everything was a la carte. You paid HBO direct. You paid Showtime direct. You paid ESPN direct. You paid that Chicago sports station (don't remember the name) direct. etc. And it was all really expensive. People who lived out in the country had to do this because cable (with it's bazillion channels you didn't want to have) wasn't available. But they wished it was because you got 3 times as much for less money. My parents had to do this. They paid more for their content and had far less than I did with cable. Cable companies really did get bulk prices/savings that they passed on to their customers. And they always had to wait for the dish to move and aim at a different satellite to change channels.GORDON wrote:But it already happens. I don't need basic cable to watch the show streaming, yet I am required to have it to watch it. A year of basic cable is way more than the cost of a new TV.Cakedaddy wrote:Snowball much?GORDON wrote:It's a good thing Time Warner doesn't buy the Visio TV company. I would hate to have to buy a new TV just to watch the show.
But anyway, this is becoming a long post to make a point. We don't know for sure that a la carte pricing is what we want. It sucked when it was available.
Also, this just in 2 years ago. Seems like a pretty manageable, small test market to me.
I will actually start taking bets on my one year prediction.
$1 bet, I say you will not be able to stream HBO in the United States within the year without having basic cable. Done.
Curious... do you still have the library of movies you copied when you had that Blockbuster subscription a bunch of years ago, when you would rent several movies per month for a flat fee of $10, then copy them? I remember you thinking that was really clever at the time.
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Curious... do you still have the library of movies you copied when you had that Blockbuster subscription a bunch of years ago, when you would rent several movies per month for a flat fee of $10, then copy them? I remember you thinking that was really clever at the time.
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"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
I do.
At no point did I say I didn't participate. I am only arguing that it is stealing and I only did it because I was too cheap to pay for the content legitimately. I did the same with BSG. I watched those CDs you gave me instead of buying the DVDs because I was too cheap to buy them.
But for the record, I don't watch those copies because the quality sucks, I've since bought legit copies, and you can get the content in other legitimate ways. I should probably go ahead and destroy that evidence though.
You weren't implying I was a hypocrite where you?!?! I have pirated. And in EVERY case, it was because I was too cheap to pay for it. But, I can't think of the last time I did it. I have a legit copy of Windows 7 pro. I haven't copied a movie in forever. Any DVD I have ripped is from one that I bought. Catching up with BSG on CDs might have been the last time I pirated. But again, my only motivation was that I didn't want to pay for it.
At no point did I say I didn't participate. I am only arguing that it is stealing and I only did it because I was too cheap to pay for the content legitimately. I did the same with BSG. I watched those CDs you gave me instead of buying the DVDs because I was too cheap to buy them.
But for the record, I don't watch those copies because the quality sucks, I've since bought legit copies, and you can get the content in other legitimate ways. I should probably go ahead and destroy that evidence though.
You weren't implying I was a hypocrite where you?!?! I have pirated. And in EVERY case, it was because I was too cheap to pay for it. But, I can't think of the last time I did it. I have a legit copy of Windows 7 pro. I haven't copied a movie in forever. Any DVD I have ripped is from one that I bought. Catching up with BSG on CDs might have been the last time I pirated. But again, my only motivation was that I didn't want to pay for it.
Cakedaddy wrote:You weren't implying I was a hypocrite where you?!?!
A little. You were doing a bit of name calling earlier that I thought was a little excessive, so I was knocking you down a peg.
Although, people like you helped put BB out of business. Well done! To my knowledge I haven't put anyone out of business yet.
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"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
And you might win the bet. I saw another article where HBO explained why they don't want to step on the toes of cable providers. One strong argument, you can't buy cable without getting HBO shoved down your throat. They said "80,000 cable reps everyday cramming HBO down subscriber's throats. Why would we want to lose that?". Cable companies are HBO's marketing.
Oh cunt rare (that's what spell check suggested so I'm running with it). I helped keep BB afloat with their excessive late fees/penalties that I incurred at various times. They were getting theirs. It was the content creators/distributors that I was stealing from.GORDON wrote:A little. You were doing a bit of name calling earlier that I thought was a little excessive, so I was knocking you down a peg.Cakedaddy wrote:You weren't implying I was a hypocrite where you?!?!
Although, people like you helped put BB out of business. Well done! To my knowledge I haven't put anyone out of business yet.
I have heard... somewhere... it is either illegal for content companies to control the means of distribution.... or it should be illegal... or they are fighting to make it legal.... I don't remember what I read.
How do you feel about a single company providing the content, controlling how you receive it, and telling you how you can consume it? I want to say other industries have been broken up over less, but that was before "bribe your lawmaker" was a $9billion/year business.
How do you feel about a single company providing the content, controlling how you receive it, and telling you how you can consume it? I want to say other industries have been broken up over less, but that was before "bribe your lawmaker" was a $9billion/year business.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Just because it's not tangible doesn't mean it's not theft. You can call it something different (a word to describe acquiring ideas without paying for them), but the principle is still the same.
No, it is not the same at all. I strongly disagree with what you have said and question the basis of your sense of morality. Do you see a difference between what the law says is right and wrong and what morality would claim is right and wrong? Do you not see degrees in wrongness? Do you consider rape to be exactly the same crime as simple assault?
You are arguing that you aren't too cheap to pay for it, because you'd give them a dollar for something they have priced at $5.
No. I'm arguing that I will pay them the $15 that they have asked to be paid for it, but I won't pay the $120 it costs to get the cable package I don't want that would then give me the opportunity to pay that $15. Can you not see a distinction between $15 and $135, especially when only $15 of that goes to the actual support of the product I'm attempting to purchase?
All this having been said, if HBO starts selling access to HBOGO I will probably sign up immediately so I can pay them for Game of Thrones. And then never use it, because it's too awkward and inconvenient and requires special bullshit to make it work. So I'll keep on doing what is convenient and works and pirate the thing I've paid for anyway. Because it's not about the money for me and never has been.
I have pirated. And in EVERY case, it was because I was too cheap to pay for it. ... But again, my only motivation was that I didn't want to pay for it.
Some people in this world have motivations for doing things that are not identical to yours. I suspect you will not believe this is possible, however.
"ATTENTION: Customers browsing porn must hold magazines with both hands at all times!"
There are different degrees of theft. Minor/major stuff. Even the law breaks that down. Never said or implied that stealing someone's entertainment is the same as stealing someone's kidney as far as evilness. But, they are still both theft. One is definitely worse than the other.
They are able to charge $15 because. . . who knows? They said that cable companies bare the cost of much of their marketing. They bare the cost of distribution. The cost of billing. etc. The cable company is HBO's managed services provider. And that service costs money and they sell their services based on a model that works best for them. But, this model is too expensive in your opinion and you choose not to participate in it. Would HBO only cost $15 if they had to install fiber/coax all over the country to get the signal to you? Of course not. And as I pointed out above. Back when you could a la carte HBO, it was much more expensive than buying it as an add-on to cable.
They are able to charge $15 because. . . who knows? They said that cable companies bare the cost of much of their marketing. They bare the cost of distribution. The cost of billing. etc. The cable company is HBO's managed services provider. And that service costs money and they sell their services based on a model that works best for them. But, this model is too expensive in your opinion and you choose not to participate in it. Would HBO only cost $15 if they had to install fiber/coax all over the country to get the signal to you? Of course not. And as I pointed out above. Back when you could a la carte HBO, it was much more expensive than buying it as an add-on to cable.
Stannis Baratheon would have us all burned alive for our varying degrees of lawbreaking.Troy wrote:Oh cunt rare, I wish there was this much discussion in the actual GoT thread. (not really)
Rolling 2-3 HBO-GO password deep over here, btw. Come at me.
I have never looked at HBOGo. Is it an app like Netflix that I can watch on devices and phones, or is it PC only?
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Not sure about phones, but since it runs on Ipads I bet it runs on Iphones.GORDON wrote:Stannis Baratheon would have us all burned alive for our varying degrees of lawbreaking.Troy wrote:Oh cunt rare, I wish there was this much discussion in the actual GoT thread. (not really)
Rolling 2-3 HBO-GO password deep over here, btw. Come at me.
I have never looked at HBOGo. Is it an app like Netflix that I can watch on devices and phones, or is it PC only?