
HBO is going after HBO Now users overseas - qzervaas
http://www.avclub.com/article/hbo-going-after-hbo-now-users-overseas-218335
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venomsnake
Have they no shame! How dare they to give us money and pay for content.

And that kids is why torrents are still the best way to watch TV. Free, no
ads, higher quality, faster download speeds, no bullshit ...

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anigbrowl
Yup - because if they don't, their Australian licensees will sue _them_. When
HBO originally made the deals to supply content to Australian Pay TV
companies, that deal almost certainly included a clause giving the Australian
company territorial exclusivity, because nobody wants to pay anything to
compete with the original supplier, and HBO either didn't want or wasn't able
to set up its own infrastructure in Australia. So although the technological
environment has changed, HBO is still bound by the terms of whatever contract
it signed until it expires. There's no way to know because contracts are
private* but typically entertainment industry contracts involve 10-year terms
and one-time renewability options.

* though maybe you could work it out from studying companies' annual reports, and maybe some kinds of contract _should_ involve a public filing.

(from qzervaas): _Australian pay TV is a scam._

Well yeah, but you live on an island and are relatively isolated
geographically, which comes with an implicit economic cost that gets amortized
over everything else.

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qzervaas
Understood, but we're still taken advantage of massively by so-called
Australian Rupert Murdoch.

Example: Formula 1 bait-and-switch. It was on free-to-air HD (one of the few
HD programs actually shown in Australia).

In February (one month before start of new season), Channel 10 (partly owned
by Fox) switched the rights to Foxtel (pay TV). To watch it in HD on Foxtel
will cost about $80/mo.

Free To Air in Australia is dying a slow death, but there's no reasonable
alternatives. Major sport here is shown in SD, except randomly if they maybe
decide to upscale it, or show it in 1440x1080i (very rare though)

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anigbrowl
Oh, can't disagree with you there. I'm from Ireland and though we're less
geographically isolated than Australia being an island nation I grew up seeing
many similar monopolistic abuses.

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qzervaas
I know a number of people here in Australia doing this. My argument to them is
now they're just paying extra to pirate since the content isn't licensed here
in this way.

Australian pay TV is a scam. It's the only way in Australia to see GoT, but HD
isn't a default option. That'll be $10/mo extra thanks.

