According to +TorrentFreak "The latest episode of Game of Thrones has broken the record for the most people sharing a file simultaneously via BitTorrent. More than 193,000 people shared a single copy yesterday evening, and roughly 1.5 million people downloaded the episode during the first day."
I'm not sure what the content providers expect. I pay for Internet but don't have cable TV. In order to have HBO Go, Charter requires cable TV…. which makes no sense as HBO Go is for Internet. If I had cable TV I could just watch it on TV. There will always be that will pirate but for a fair price people would pay for it. But nobody I know who doesn't have cable is going to subscribe, THEN pay for HBO on top of it, just to see one show…. even one with dragons. The gatekeepers need to step into the modern times with the rest of us.
http://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-sets-new-torrent-swarm-record-140415/ img via TV.com
HBO Go only checks once to see if you have a cable subscription. We didn't have an HBO subscription for 6+ months but could still log in and watch the shows.
Damn I love this show – Got addicted and have watched all 3 first seasons in a week'ish cause my boss had the Blue Ray Seasons. I am always afraid of downloading because I work for an ISP and we are always doing DMCA notifications for the media companies to people downloading music and movies. Do you download? If so was it good?
HBO has said they basically don't care if people steal it, because they are still making gobs of money.
I buy all the DVDs…but don't have HBO.
I may (or may not) play the torrent game myself. But HBO GO is far more than just one show. It's a streaming app that is quite amazing and rarely fails, unlike others. The bonus content is quite wonderful too. I'd highly recommend borrowing someone's password, which HBO has often said they really don't mind.
HBO GO also makes the episodes available minutes after they premiere typically. That's a lot faster than any BT site especially in 1080 resolution… erm, so I hear. 😉
I would gladly pay for HBO Go if I didn't have to have a cable service to go with it. I have a really hard time understanding why, with so many people ditching cable and using online streaming, why companies continue to basically ignore a potentially large customer base.
I'd not mind paying for HBO Go as a separate entity, or as part of my Netflix subscription.
They probably make too much money bundling with cable providers for that to happen any time soon though.
+Candice D It'll happen, likely with HBO leading the way. For now, I'm fairly certain there are exclusivity contracts that are in place that prevent streaming without cable.
+Sarah Rios Yeah but since I don't have cable… can't sign up for HBO Go. Catch-22. Tho that's awesome you've been able to keep it.
+Brian Mitchell Season has been excellent. Also… Seedbox + vpn.
+Candice D It's because they can charge you for blocks of content (the cable companies). Much of it you might not want, but if you want the science channels… oh that's extra… sports fan? oh that's extra too. I'd gladly pay for HBO Go, or just GoT individually.
Amen, yes there will always be people who pirate, but if you make your product easily affordable, there will be a lot less Pirates!
Its just paying the iron price.
So my choices are pay for cable and also pay for HBO so I can use HBO GO or nothing? I will choose "or" every single time.
+Chris Cain That's your choice. There is another choice, as previously stated, that HBO really doesn't care if you share a friend's HBO GO password. The idea behind this being that hopefully if you enjoy their programming, you would support them in some way.
Well I have HBO GO so I technically have access to many of their series…ahem*
+Chris Cain Yup. And I bet a lot of other people feel the same way.
+Dan Pawlak I don't see how that actually helps HBO all that much. I suppose some people could already have cable and then use someones GO password and decide to just upgrade to have it on their TV but I bet that's not the norm.
This is why Netflix will end up sitting on the iron throne.
hahaha Christopher!
HBO Go is free with your paid cable subscription to the HBO network.
+Paul Spoerry You can support their programming in other ways besides subscribing: pitch in some dollars toward your friend's cable bill from whom you're borrowing the HBO GO password; buy DVD/BluRays of the HBO Series you enjoyed watching on HBO GO; etc.
+Dan Pawlak I don't usually use physical media. I tend to look at it more like I do bands. Buy the tshirt cuz the band gets more from it. For GoT I bought the http://smile.amazon.com/Game-Thrones-Pop-Up-Guide-Westeros/dp/1608873145
+Paul Spoerry Then you're already supporting the content you like. Cool. Find a mate with a HBO GO password to share, offer to kick in some a few $$ and enjoy.