Pirates Love Game of Thrones

[Deshin]

This is one of those shows where it's VERY easy to get spoilered into oblivion and seeing as my local cable provider (Malta) only JUST started airing Season 1 then yeah... am I really going to put myself through the hell of waiting *that* long to watch something as awesome as GoT when literally everyone in the local pub is going to be talking about it like a day after it comes out?

 

[Petromir]

In Britain, the only legal way I can watch Game of Thrones is via Sky broadcasting. I refuse to subscribe to anything owned by Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation (effectively, in any case), thus piracy is my only option to watch the show I want to watch above all others.

"I don't like the legal method of obtaining things for arbitrary reasons, therefore copyright violation is absolutely fine".


Yeah that doesn't sound so good when you rephrase it, does it?

Nope, that sounds absolutely fine to me.

Not giving some much as a penny to the Murdochs is genuinely a moral issue for me, and therefore copyright violation is acceptable in light of the fact that there are no other channels by which I can access the show legally at all, thus piracy is my only option.

Of course, I could just not watch the show at all, but I love the books and hold copyright laws in contempt anyway.

There is a perfectly legal way that avoids giving money to sky, wait for the bluray/DVD .

That you don't and yet claim moral reasons for avoiding letting murdoch have your money is hardly a ringing endorsement of your morals.

 

[Suave Charlie]

I have sky at home, I do not at my uni house. Fuck paying for sky purely for a single show.

 

[Tjebbe]

Ohnoes, they get their show distributed without having to pay or do anything for it!

Seriously though, that is what happens when you have customer demand but don't satisfy it; people will fill their demand themselves. 'Selling' it only through expensive full subscriptions is not meeting customer demand. Neither is releasing it through other channels months and months later. All this talk of piracy is simply a sign that there is a market they are failing to tap into.

Yeah I downloaded them (legally here, btw), and I'll get the DVD set as well, or maybe even the blurays if the digital restriction problem has been solved by then (have a bluray player, but can't really play much on it since it's not an "official" one, so sticking to DVD for now, oh hey look another potential customer that is currently spending his money elsewhere).

 

[johnnnny guitar]

Another one here who "acquired" the series early in my country then bought the boxset first chance I got.
I'm sorry but the time of releasing shows months after a US realease are LONG FUCKING GONE if there is not a significant online international service for a popular show you will have piracy problems like....... well like game of thrones.

 

[dthree]

HBO says that they don't have the structure set up to deal directly with customers, which is why they still go only through cable systems and won't sell HBO Go directly to you. Comcast, Verizon, etc handle billing and customer service. (I don't know who's responsibility it is for HBO Go's customer service though.) I see their point.

However, why don't they parnter with Hulu or Netflix.? If they don't want to sell shows ala carte they could just offer HBO GO as a premium option on top of your Netflix or Hulu service. That way those customer-facing companies can handle the billing and customer service. If you've seen the "take my money" site, its clear people are willing to pay at least $10/mo for it, and often quite a bit more.

Now I don't think that this idea has never occurted to HBO, but since they get a fuckton of money from the cable systems, they aren't about to go help people "cut the cord". Just so you know how much money we are talking about, HBO has said that they know how much pirating is going on and they aren't concerned about it.

 

[Irridium]

Really? No one? Alright, I'll do it

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones

I was gonna post this as well

Pro-tip HBO, if you want people to buy the show, make it available to buy. Otherwise they'll go to someone else who's selling it/giving it away for free. Then you're kind of fucked when it comes to selling it.

 

[sindremaster]

Well if it didn't take months for the show to air in my country I wouldn't have to pirate it. I buy the show on blu ray when it comes out anyway so they get my money in the end.

 

[Tohuvabohu]

Really? No one? Alright, I'll do it

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones

I wonder if this really makes up the primary reason for so many people pirating the series.

From my observation, HBO has Game of Thrones latched onto it's channel exclusively. And HBO isn't available as part of basic-cable packages, and requires some sort of premium more-awesomer cable just to get the chance to watch this one show.

And I hate that. It just strikes me as such an ancient way to get people to buy into your premium-cable "service". Well back in the mid-90s this sort of thing might have worked since people had no other options. But now, people don't need to deal with that shit.

Forcing a show with such high-quality production put into it to be completely exclusive to their channel with no legitimate means of watching the show elsewhere online seems like HBO is shooting themselves in the foot. Why make it so difficult to watch your show? Shouldn't you be making the show available to as many people as possible?
It's like saying "Hey we've got this totally awesome high quality and imaginative show for you to watch BUT WE DON'T WANT YOU WATCH IT UNLESS YOU ARE PART OF THE SUPER EXCLUSIVE HBO CLUB"

I imagine there'd be tons of legitimate viewers out there if Game of Thrones was more accessible and available through other services.

That being said, no I don't pirate Game of Thrones. And no I don't have cable. I go over to a friends house to watch the series since he owns it, and I'm looking into buying the Blu-Ray boxed set soon since I really like the show a lot. But if the newest episodes were available on Netflix or Hulu or something of the sort....

 

[Quiet Stranger]

I use to pirate the episodes as well but then I got HBO so it's no problem for me now!

 

[Woodsey]

You'd think that'd persuade them to make an international streaming service that they could stick some ads on to, but no.

If TV companies are going to be obnoxious about this sort of thing, people are going to tell them to fuck off.

 

[Gitty101]

I just waited for the lovely Blu-rays to come out. Enjoyed it at my own pleasure in lovely high-def. Will do the same for the second Series.

 

[Xanthious]

it's not 1788, we can't just take what we want when we want it.

I don't mean to be a contrarian here or anything but, leaving the legal and moral aspects aside for now, if we are talking about music, movies, TV, games, software, audiobooks, comics, phone apps, etc you can indeed take what you want when you want it. In fact in most cases you can do it with impunity . . .from your living room . . . in your pajamas

 

[HellenicWarrior]

I download all my Game of Thrones to stay up to date, and I buy them on blue-ray when they're released. I want to support the show because it is AMAZING (and box sets are just awesome), but pirating it is the only legitimate way for me to watch it on time in Sydney.

 

[Dissentient]

"I don't like the legal method of obtaining things for arbitrary reasons, therefore copyright violation is absolutely fine".


Yeah that doesn't sound so good when you rephrase it, does it?

If they don't provide a convenient way of buying their things, I don't see any reason why violating copyright is not good. They bought it on themselves. Or maybe they just don't care enough. They don't deserve their money in any case. Why would anyone pay for something that they can get in a more convenient way for free?

 

[knighteyes]

I pay cable and download the torrent. I used to record on a vcr many years ago, now I download what others recorded.
I live outside the US, so the online options are off. But cable here has the show in the basic plan, no overprice.

 

[MrTub]

The only way to see Game of thrones season 2 (currently at episode 5) is to buy a Canal digital subscription that costs 219Swedish kr a month and I sadly will not pay that much for just one or two good shows which isnt even up to date.