Where Can You Stream TV episodes?

[00slash00]

I haven't had to worry about where to stream tv shows in a while, since I have Netflix. However, I have been powering through How I Met Your Mother and they obviously don't have season 8 yet, since it isn't finish. I was going to try sites like tvlink and such but apparently all those sites require membership to watch episodes and Hulu doesn't even have How I Met Your Mother. Do you have any suggestions for where someone can go these days to stream television episodes for free? I really dont want to have to wait for season 8 to show up on Netflix

 

[Aris Khandr]

For free? Comcast runs some shows on demand on their website. But that is only if you have them for cable. If not, some things are available on Hulu for free, but most are paid.

 

[tippy2k2]

A lot of the standard TV networks (ABC, CBS, etc.) have the shows on-demand on their website. It's how I get my weekly shot of "Shark Tank" (LOVE that show!)

I went to CBS.com and they are indeed one of these networks. However, they usually only have a few of the most modern episodes available (with your example: Episodes 14-16 of Season 8).

Otherwise, the only other options that I know of are the naughty options.

 

[tippy2k2]

Kinda sucks that whoever has the power to, hasn't capitalized into the TVSHOW torrenter market, since so many new shows come out, only available on demand in their country and available on other services much later.

I 100% agree with that. I'm not certain where I heard it (I believe the Escapist Potcat but I could be mistaken) so I'll just take what I heard and pretend like I did the research! Take THAT society!

http://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-most-pirated-tv-show-of-2012-121223/

(This is a list of the top ten most pirated shows. I'll list them so you don't HAVE to go to that site but I wanted my source listed)

1 Game of Thrones
2 Dexter
3 The Big Bang Theory
4 How I Met Your Mother
5 Breaking Bad
6 The Walking Dead
7 Homeland
8 House
9 Fringe
10 Revolution

Most of these shows are pirated because they are not available for people to legally obtain (or they take fucking forever; Game of Thrones Season 2 is JUST coming out on Blu-Ray today).

Now maybe my doe-eyed, rose-tinted glasses for humanity is messing with my brain but I have one almost sure bet that would drop piracy rate considerably: Make this shit available for people to watch. People have money and will give it to you so they can watch what they want. Barring that, people have time and will sit through ads to watch what they want.

I'm about as anti-pirate as they come but even I recognize that you can't really stop it; you can only give people the tools to work with. If the only tool to watch recent Game of Thrones is going to be piracy; they'll use it. However, give them a tool that let's them watch it right away like pirates AND gets you money and I guarantee a decent amount of people will use it.

 

[lechat]

they would also want to release the eps before the pirates do. i know ppl who literally can't wait the extra 2 hours for an ep to air on TV and instead download an early release from a torrent

best bet would prolly be to release the eps a day or 2 early on their website in slightly reduced quality (most release groups wont copy them then)

 

[tippy2k2]

The only reason I believe this happens is because of the exclusivity the channel gets. If that's not a problem, I don't see why some executives haven't thought of this. Just make it as easy as buying something on Steam/Blizzard and let users click+download a show.

I'm not strongly piratish or antipirate, I just think it's a really stupid decision to not tap into that market, especially since costs are fucking minimal (some sites have links to streams for free) and they can only gain.

I thought that Netflix had everything after it's aired (I dont live in a Netflix friendly country so I don't know).

If the opposite is true, then 90% of the people who watch Game of Thrones watch it pirated.

Hell, why not even go as far as copying thepiratebay, and selling stuff on their for money, or credits. That shit would be bigger than facebook.

Netflix only has a limited amount of shows (and of those shows, they do not come on as they come out; they come out onto Netflix when the DVD comes out). Shows on premium TV like Showtime and HBO (Hey! #1 and #2 on the list!) are not on Netflix at all; they have their own stupidly expensive streaming service. This is also the case for HULU and Amazon's stream service (to the best of my knowledge at least).

 

[Aris Khandr]

I am very strongly anti-piracy, so I'll finally be able to watch season two of Game of Thrones tomorrow. My friends of less stringent moral fibre watched it almost a year ago now. They would have happily paid HBO (via Amazon) months ago for the right to watch the show, but HBO has been withholding it. So now they'll only get money from me, rather than from a few people.