

Game of Thrones Most Pirated TV Show of 2012 - Pr0
http://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-most-pirated-tv-show-of-2012-121223/

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jsz0
I have HBO and I still pirated every episode of Game of Thrones last season.
It’s just a lot easier for me. I am not interested in my life revolving around
TV schedudles so watching it on linear HBO is not something I’m going to do. I
won’t make the commitment to be in front of my TV every Sunday night at
exactly the same time. Just not interested. If that was my only choice I
probably wouldn’t watch it at all. The DVR I get from my cable company should
solve the linear TV problem but it really doesn’t because it’s such a low
quality product. Sometimes it fails to record things. The UI is really clunky.
It’s not uncommon to see digital distortions and other problems with the way
it records. It also has very little space available to do much HD recording.
It’s also not a multi-room DVR so if I record Game of Thrones on my living
room DVR I can’t watch it in my bedroom unless I physically disconnect and
move the box. They do offer multi-room DVRs however the cost is just too high.
I won’t pay that much for the privilage to rent such low quality equipment.

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baddox
I hear great things about HBO Go, and I thought it was free for all HBO
subscribers. Have you tried it?

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ollysb
When I want to watch content the first thing I do is check to see if it's
available to buy on itunes. If it is I pay, if not I go to pirate bay and
download it, simple as that. I've just started watching The Killing season 3.
I was only introduced to the series a few months back so I bought seasons 1
and then 2. Season 3 isn't available to buy so unfortunately I'm pirating it.
To be honest, for the money, I'd rather have it on itunes, I don't have to
search for a decent version and I can watch the first episode while it's still
streaming. As a bonus it gets added to my 'collection' in itunes.

I'd actually like to reward good content with my money. I've often wondered
what would happen if the pirate bay had a tip jar for each download. The money
would go to the company that had created the content. Obviously it's
complicated, HBO for instance, being tied up in cable contracts, would
probably not be able to actually collect the money.

There's lots of talk amongst those who pirate about how they would pay for it
if they could. I for one would like to put my money where my mouth is.

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Yossarian_Lives
I know there will be a lot of people feeling extremely vindicated in their
suspicions that if HBO offered Game of Thrones for legal download they would
rake the money in. Let's take a second to work through the counter-argument
though.

Instead of asking why they don't cash in on the clear demand, why not ask
yourself how HBO & Co would operate if they did sell shows by the episode and
direct to consumers. If you're looking for a proxy, the outcome probably
wouldn't be a million miles from the networks, where audience levels translate
into ad revenue, which means shows live or die very quickly. Look at Fox's
2010 series Lone Star. Despite having the best-rated pilot of any of that
season's debuts, it was cancelled after two low-rated episodes.

Have you ever asked yourself why HBO, Showtime and AMC have the track record
they do in producing great TV of movie-rivalling production value and movie-
topping narrative chops? The simple answer is that they run a subscription
model and that gives you a lot of freedom. In the first instance, a
significant part of HBO's subscriber base is there for boxing first and
foremost: money in the bank for the programming arm. In the second instance,
once you're paying for something monthly, you're actually quite unlikely to
cancel it even if you don't extract the full value from your subscription (see
cinema all-you-can-eat memberships). Above all, it allows you to operate from
a stable base of yearly income and that completely flips the consideration of
which programs stay and which programs go. It's simply a consideration of
opportunity cost; is there a better series that could fill this slot?

The subscription model is precisely the reason that HBO is able to swing for
the fences on things like Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, which are both
enormously expensive undertakings. It's entirely because the shows are able to
prove themselves over seasons, and not episodes, that subscription-driven
channels are able to make them. And even then the judgment of whether to
continue is usually based on creative satisfaction and not cold, hard audience
figures - both the Wire and Treme kept their places on the roster despite
comparatively lousy viewing figures.

The problem with a subscription model is that it has to be all or nothing. If
you start giving people a way not to subscribe, they won't. They'll just pay
to watch episodes as they become available. That's not even to get into the
practicalities of carrier relations and all the added considerations that
throws into the mix.

tl;dr: Game of Thrones might be a no-brainer for selling legal downloads, but
things like Game of Thrones don't get made by companies that use that business
model for very good reasons.

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dlss
"Piracy is almost always a service problem" - Gabe Newell

I understand that HBO has some sort of proprietary online video watching
service, but speaking as someone with no TV and no desire to pay for basic
cable merely to enable my paying for HBO, I do with HBO would take Gabe's
quote to heart.

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k-mcgrady
I know I'm pointing out the obvious but people can wait for the DVD or buy it
via iTunes when it becomes available. The show is shown on different networks
throughout the world at different times/dates so just putting on online
immediately for everyone isn't really an option. It might take 12 months but
eventually you can get it in a format you want for a fair price.

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tibbon
That's the thing though, they could make it available on iTunes immediately at
the same time as the air it on TV. I'd pay for it. But they take too long to
get it up there.

The concept of releasing in different parts of the world at different times is
outdated. Release worldwide all at once.

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jsz0
It takes some time to do voice-overs and make the other small changes required
for localization. They would have to accept a considerable delay to do a
worldwide release at once. Given the amount of money HBO is investing in these
shows upfront it's not unreasonable that they want to start seeing some
revenue from the big English speaking market as quickly as possible.

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tibbon
Release everything in the original language as quickly as possible. Then screw
around with voiceovers and such. There's people in other parts of the world
that understand English, and people in the US that understand languages other
than English.

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mhartl
In this context, The Oatmeal is on point:
<http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones>

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Avalaxy
I really love AGOT, and the only reason that I'm pirating it is because it's
basically the only way to view it in my country. I'd love to watch it on the
television the same day it is released in the US, but that's not gonna happen.
Other countries are always later.

The second reason is that torrents just work really good and are very fast.

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jimfl
I have a DVD player, and a broadband connection. Without getting into
something (cable, set top streaming, torrents) for which there are investments
in time, energy, and money, there is no legal way for me to watch the second
season of game of thrones.

Once I get into something, there's a lot of other content available. Cable is
the least flexible. Streaming is buying into a walled garden which might
disappear in a year, or change TOS, or some other distasteful eventuality. If
some popular show drives me to piracy, and I make that investment of time and
energy, then that's how I'm going to get all the rest of my content from then
on out.

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michaelochurch
Honestly, I don't have a major moral problem with piracy. It's the lowest tier
of price discrimination. The vast majority of people who pirate would simply
not pay for the content if piracy were an option. There are content creators
who _encourage_ piracy because they have a better chance of becoming viral
(and making more money) if it occurs.

I pay, when I can. I have enough money, and if I pirate, then I'm
disenfranchising myself because, in pop culture, money is a vote. If I don't
pay (vote) then I can't complain about garbage being produced because I'm a
non-contributor. Piracy was OK when I was a college kid with very little
money, but now that the cost of content is trivial in comparison to the time
it costs me to watch something, I feel like I should take the legit route.

However, I don't buy cable. It's too expensive given that most of the channels
I'll never watch, and Time Warner Cable is the epitome of Suck. Why should I
pay so much for such terrible service? I am not going to "vote for" TWC just
to watch Game of Thrones, which only requires a cable subscription because HBO
was beaten into submission by the bad guys.

So I say: until HBO will take your money directly, pirate on.

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jiggy2011
That certainly works if everyone pays for stuff they like. In which case you
could certainly extend this pricing out to most products.

For example if I buy a meal at a restaurant I am only obliged to cover the
direct costs incurred (and maybe something towards overheads) by the
restaurant in providing me with that meal, any profit is discretionary.

Without a large enough test it's difficult to draw any conclusions about how
successful such a model would be for any given market rather than specific
things like Humble Bundles.

I certainly do still see plenty of people who can afford a new car and a
holiday every year pirating movies etc and still complaining if something
sucks.

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azakai
Hmm, the torrentverse has surprisingly good taste,

> Game of Thrones

> Dexter

> Big Bang Theory

> How I Met Your Mother

> Breaking Bad

> The Walking Dead

> Homeland

Well, except for the last one ;) I kid, I kid.

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Tycho
Kind of puts the 'make better content and people will pay for it' argument to
bed.

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w1ntermute
Then again, TBBT and HIMYM are on that list.

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Tycho
TBBT is the only recent comedy I've been enjoying.

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w1ntermute
Have you watched _Community_?

I personally can't stand shows with laugh tracks.

