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Game of Thrones The Most Pirated TV Show of the Season
TheGift73 sends this excerpt from TorrentFreak:
"With nearly 4 million downloads per episode, the HBO hit series Game of Thrones is the most pirated TV-show of the season. Worldwide hype combined with restricted availability are the key ingredients for the staggering number of unauthorized downloads. How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory complete the top three, albeit with significantly fewer downloads than the chart topper. ... While there are many reasons for people to download TV-shows through BitTorrent, airing delays and HBO's choice not to make it widely available online are two of the top reasons."
Game of Thrones, one of the best selling TV shows on blu-ray.
The oatmeal covers this pretty well. When people complain and are waving money at you and you don't want to take it, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Om, nomnomnom...
Why does it matter? Haven't we had enough discussions on this particular topic?
HBO hates money.
I can't think of any online TV show viewers that buffer the video in any appreciable way. Downloading the show via BitTorrent is pretty much the only way to guarantee the show can be watched on a slow connection, or, in the case of HD video, viewed at all without constant underruns.
I tried hard to pay for this show, and I couldn't do it. They made it nearly impossible to get. So I pirated it.
$900/year is NOT cheaper than buying something that receives OTA HD.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Too bad they didn't monetize. Now they can't (realistically) complain that they lost any money to illegal downloads -- they didn't give anyone a chance to do otherwise.
Can you think of a model better than artificial scarcity for financing the sort of production values seen in such a series?
Downloading the show via BitTorrent is pretty much the only way to guarantee the show can be watched on a slow connection
You can watch the show on a connection as slow as dial-up if you go to Amazon and buy the complete first season on DVD.
Yes, damn that HBO and all their damn advertising...
We've had a 1000+ post flamewar over this not even a month ago.
your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
HBO doesn't have commercials during the show.
The top 3 are all "nerd" shows. No surprise they'd no how to use the internet to get what they want. How many of those 4 million will buy the Thrones DVD once it's released? I bet most of them.
Season 1 of Game of Thrones is running against:
Captain America: The First Avenger
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Source Code
And just for the sake of completion:
Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)
âoeThe Doctor's Wifeâ (Doctor Who)
âoeThe Drink Tank's Hugo Acceptance Speech,â Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon
âoeThe Girl Who Waitedâ (Doctor Who)
âoeA Good Man Goes to Warâ (Doctor Who)
âoeRemedial Chaos Theoryâ (Community)
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
What the fuck? I thought the whole point of paying for HBO (I had it once long ago) was it was "premium" content, no ads?
If they've gone to regular ad sponsored content then what the fuck is the $15/month for?
$900/year is NOT cheaper than buying something that receives OTA HD.
Last night's NBA semifinal game was not shown OTA. It was shown on ESPN, another network that, like HBO, refuses to sell Internet streaming subscriptions a la carte. WatchESPN.com uses the same sort of verification of cable television subscription that HBO Go uses.
Above is a giant troll, or a moron.
Seriously, mod down. There are no goddamn ads.
Who should have the right to determine "what should be asked", and why?
I can sort of get why people pirate GoT (although I don't agree with it... I can understand it)... because it's my understanding that it otherwise requires a subscription that isn't necessarily practical or convenient for many people.
But the other two are on network television, and I'm not sure why a person would bother pirating that when there are almost certainly more legitimate ways to access it I'm not a fan of HIMYM, but I do like Big Bang Theory, and I've had absolutely no difficulty watching it online this season, completely legally, every single week.
Maybe this is just a Canadian thing, but CTV, the Canadian network that carries Big Bang Theory, puts a lot of their programs online one day after airing it, and people have 7 to 14 days to watch it. BBT is up every Friday.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I just downloaded the entire second season a few days ago and began watching it. I have no interest in overpriced cable/satellite television. I'll probably pick it up on Blu-Ray next year, just like I did after pirating the first season. That's a lot better treatment than most of my pirated goods get. :P
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
Ads on HBO, wow the lies that people will tell to justify their deeds.
Wait until next spring for Season II to start on YLE, or pirate. (I'm not prepared to get a cable package for one show.)
I'm waiting actually, mostly because I have very little free time. I suspect a lot of people are less patient here, a lot of my friends seem to be.
.: Max Romantschuk
What I want to know is what how does the pirated rate correlate to the legitimate view of the show and the revenue of the HBO. Because the amount of pirating in absolut terms less concerning if there is still healthy profiting by HBO in spite of, or because of...the pirating.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Assuming it's even available on DVD, which Game of Thrones isn't.
Walmart.com has a listing for the first season. Or are you referring to DVD region coding?
You can buy that after the third season is on the air. You could think of the $90 per month for cable TV plus HBO as the price to see seasons of Game of Thrones before they hit DVD, just as the exorbitant price of movie tickets plus refreshments is the price to see feature films before they hit DVD.
in the knowledge that none of the anime fansubs I download will ever be "the most pirated show of the season".
The typical Cable channel only charges 50 cents per month (less for news channels, more for TNT/USA). Even expensive channels like ESPN are only $3/month. There's no way I'm paying 90 for HBO
HBO is only $10 if you're already buying ESPN and the rest of the $80 expanded basic package that your cable operator makes you buy before you're allowed to buy HBO. I was referring to the price for people who have "cut the cord", that is, dropped pay TV in favor of Internet-only service.
If I want Thrones I will buy the DVD for considerably less money.
And stay a season behind, which other people who have posted comments to this story find unacceptable.
I pirated the show because I can't stand the total ripoff cable is in my area. I then bought the DVDs, the video game, the audio CD, and the books in print, digital, and audio versions. So I really don't want to hear it when someone says pirating is losing them money.
I would gladly pay $3 an episode on iTunes if it could be put up at the same time as it "aired" on HBO East Coast Feed.
I paid the silicon price to watch GoT!
The second season isn't available at all
Please read my reply to Anonymous Coward.
Id be willing to bet Breaking Bad will give GoT a run for its money once the final season starts
I thought the minimum stream speed (like hulu and youtube) was 300k.
Not if you use DVD or Blu-ray. You order a video using a slow Internet connection, and a copy of the video is mailed to you on a disc. Two providers who never underestimate the bandwidth of a mail truck full of DVDs are Amazon (for purchases) and Netflix (for rentals).
we need to be like Canada with theme packs / and where you can buy the cable box (with out the $6-9+) outlet fee.
Last night's NBA semifinal game was not shown OTA.
$900 is still much more than an NBA League Pass...
Most sports now I think offers some way to get videos of the games outside cable systems.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Most sports now I think offers some way to get videos of the games outside cable systems.
Most of these Internet-only "league pass" type services black out any game shown on national pay TV or on regional pay TV.
Only four millions? Sounds a tad low.
The powers that be should live in the now and get with the program. Roll out a Crunchyroll type service so that anyone/anywhere can pay and watch their shows without arbitrary boundaries and restrictions. In today's interconnected world it is *unthinkable* to wait a week or a month... Heck even hours to watch the latest TV series and I suspect there is a sizeable and growing amount of purists among European viewers that refuse to watch the dubbed versions.
The old media distribution systems need to fuck off and die already.
Has anyone considered that HBO or other providers might have an exclusivity contract with their carriers?
Has anyone considered that HBO should have seen this coming and not renewed those exclusivity contracts the last time they were up for renewal?
slashdot was subject to irrelevance and clickhunting, how could it not be, what kind of massmedia post is this
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
As for #2 in the article, why can't I get a single package with just CNN, HLN, TNT, TBS, TCM, Cartoon Network, and HBO?
I'm having trouble understanding why it's such a big draw. After all the hoopla about how it's being pirated so much, I myself even downloaded it to check it out. I made it through s01e01 and halfway thru s01e02 and got utterly bored with it. I'm now torn between trying to finish up the second episode and give s01e03 a try or just delete the crap and reclaim the space on my array.....
Do I like the books? Yes. Although I continue to lament George R. R. Martin's less than expeditious writing, I can't say I've been disappointed by it. Fans are another matter, they come off like a bunch of pricks.
But that's unrelated to the show, which is almost unrelated to the books. Seriously, the books have quality. The TV show? Lacks any redeeming merit except for the occasional titty show and the opening. And that's not good enough. The scenes are lame, the acting worse, the dialogue muddy. If I hadn't read the books, I wouldn't know what's going on. Which is sad, because they left out the best parts.
And I'm told they've decided to go further afield this season. Whatever. You should have made your own series set in the world, not tried to BADLY depict the books. Obviously HBO is buying all the critics, because this show is such an unmitigated hunk of dreck that I can't understand how people are even talking about it.
I'd rather watch the Golf Channel or QVC. Spare me more stories about this nonsense.
I don't buy this "I can't legitimately buy it now, so I have an inalienable right to pirate it from them". There will be a legitimate way to view (read: $$$) it later, e.g. when it's released on DVD or Netflix. Seems like if people are so willing to do the right thing, they should be willing to wait.
Season 5 of Eureka is currently being aired, the last episode is slated for July 16.
[Following two sports] doesn't make your sig any more accurate
Which is why it says "live sports", plural. Cable gives you football during football season and hockey during hockey season.
If they had only allowed you to buy it at $1 an episode without DRM, most people would probably go for that. Not all of them, but I think most of them.
4mil downloads per ep * 10 episodes * $1 - 15% who still won't pay is about 35 million.
Maybe $40 mil of $45 mil if they charged more per episode. That's money they could have had that's just.... gone.
Completely agree but to extend this, you have to make it available to everybody, at the same time, at the same price, anywhere in the world.
A lot of piracy stems from people not waiting to wait days while US fans are backflipping in ecstasy about the latest episode. Or they just can't get it. Personally, I'd have to subscribe to Sky and then Sky Atlantic and then buy the HD upgrade. All so I can receive 900 channels I don't give a flying toss about and one where there's 10 hours a year worth of programming I'd like to pay for. I'd be paying £360 a year, just for a season of GoT. Something isn't right with that.
If you ignore the problem and stagger international releases (or don't provide them), people are going to turn to what's easiest: torrents. The faster media companies recognise that the internet, its netziens and their commercial demands are all international, the quicker they'll make a superbuttshitload of money.
$1 for mobile/SD. $1.50 for 720p. $2 for 1080p. Even if you say only 50% buy a copy, that's still tens of millions of dollars you wouldn't neccessarily be getting otherwise.
I could not care any less about the show, but you need a 80+ $ a month cable subscription AND a premium fee to get that channel, for what? A couple shows and some shitty old Tom Hanks movies?
Dont boo-hoo at me cause people who want to watch it are getting it while your raking in the cash with a fucking steam shovel with a false premium / scarcity model.
Not only would I pay $10-15 a month for HBO, I would also give them all my demographic information so they could show me a few short, targeted ads. I watch Parks and Rec, HIMYM, and a few other popular shows online in exchange for a few minutes of ads, but most of the ads are for Cadillacs (which I cannot afford) or tampons (which I can afford, but for which I have no need). Surely with $15 cash and valuable ad knowledge they could make more profit than they do now off of me ($0). I'd happily pay that for The Wire, Bored to Death, GoT, Curb, and their military miniserieses.
Plus which, they felt Bored to Death was so bad they took it off the air, I mean at least put that on Hulu.
I'd be just as happy going to a sports bar to watch the game
Not if you want to watch with your kids. "It is a Class C misdemeanor for a minor to recklessly be in a tavern, bar, or other public place where alcoholic beverages are sold, bartered, exchanged, given away, provided, or furnished." (IC 7.1-5-7-10(a))
Not watching it is also an option.
Choosing this too often makes you look like someone from an article in The Onion: Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own A Television
HBO has actually responded to the Take My Money HBO campaign in a way, albeit via Twitter.
The TechCrunch article in question basically goes over the math based on the fact that the average person is willing to pay $12/month, and comes to the conclusion that it's not enough to replace the revenue they would lose, on top of the higher costs of having to directly serve up content.
The Atlantic also has a good article up covering the revenue and business realities, and is a good companion piece to the TechCrunch article.
TL;DR: HBO responded saying that cord cutters wouldn't pay enough
No, you don't. I moved from the US to Canada, and cable here is outrageously expensive. We're talking 60 dollars a month for basic cable with absurd rental fees for the cable company's special box if you're not willing to buy it outright. Want to buy HBO to add to your package? Yeah, you can't. You have to buy it as part of one of your beloved theme packs, for 20+ dollars a month, but you also get a the Rogers Movie Channel, playing the greatest hits of movies that were new 5 years ago!
Cable here is even more of a scam than in the US. I pay for Netflix Canada. I maintain a 15 dollar a YEAR vps with a US IP address for VPN. For the ANNUAL price of one MONTHLY Rogers bill I cover all the TV and movies they could ever hope to fleece me for. Most other shows I really want to see I can see on network websites, especially with a US VPN. The only things I end up downloading? True Blood and A Game of Thrones, because they won't let me get them any other way.
Anyone still paying a monthly cable subscription is a sucker.
The cable company would be happy to sell you a single package with just those shows. Small catch: it would cost a bit more than what you are now paying for all the shows. People have the mistaken impression that they should get a discount for the shows that they don't watch. But it costs the cable company nothing extra to deliver those shows to you. You are paying the cable company to deliver the shows that you do watch, same as everybody else. It's just that the cheapest, easiest way for the cable company to deliver everybody the shows they do want is to provide them all with all the shows and let them self select. They would save nothing by not providing you access to the shows you don't want; in fact, providing you with more individualized service would increase the cable company's costs, so clearly they would have to charge more.
So are you ready to pay more for fewer channels?
But of course, they would lose the high price that they are able to charge the cable companies for exclusive access to HBO shows. That could easily amount to more of a loss than they would gain by selling the shows separately.
But it costs the cable company nothing extra to deliver those shows to you.
How so? I thought the cable company paid a royalty to the networks for each subscriber. Or do you claim that the conditional access infrastructure is more expensive to maintain for a package of six "basic" Turner channels than it would be for a package of six or so HBO channels?
The cable company carries out market research, so they have a good idea what the viewership is for all of their channels, which determines what they are willing to pay for each channel. So they won't save any money by denying you access to channels you don't watch--they'll just incur extra costs of managing access on an individual basis
and if thats the model they choose that will make them the most money, so be it, but they have to stop complaining about piracy. Cord cutting is only going to continue, so that money will start. I got my first apartment a year back, and decided not to pay for cable, and I haven't missed it. Unless I come into some ungodly large amount of money and free time in the future, I'll never order a cable subscription
All your 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 are belong to us
So if somebody chooses to run their business in a profitable manner, they have no right to complain about being ripped off? That's pretty strange logic.
It's just easier to download the copy then to create my own copy from the DVD's I have... especially with that DLNA-something crap.. and the PS3's limits on what it can receive and show...
I guess technically I'm not a pirate though (just a downloader), so may not be applicable >.>
If you get robbed, and everyone tells you to lock your doors and it wont happen, but you don't do it and continue to get robbed, do you have the right to complain?
All your 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 are belong to us
Absolutely. You are not the one who is choosing to behave in an unethical manner. The fault is with the guys who choose to rip other people off.
and full of torrents
an increase in taxes combined with a large amount of government funding
That's not far off from the BBC's TV licensing model. But this encourages region coding because the citizens of only one government will have paid for the production. And apart from the existing Corporation for Public Broadcasting, it'd never fly in the United States with the "Tea Party" movement and Grover Norquist's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" that have taken over what is now the majority party in the legislature.
The main reason for pirating foreign tv programmes for most people I know is that those programmes are simply not broadcast where they live and that it takes ages for BRDs or DVDs to appear in the shops, even if it ever happens.
-what you think it means. Nobody feels 'entitled' to a movie.
I've thought about this for quite a bit and I think a better word to throw around is 'opportunity'. For both parties. People have the 'opportunity' to download something they desire for free and somewhat easily vs. paying a lot of money and jumping through hoops. If DRM/no infringment was perfect, I think HBO would still only see a minor uptick in subscribers.
On the other side- it is a missed 'opportunity' to make more money off of something that obviously has a lot of demand at a better price and availability. The math example in the GP (GGP) above is a perfect example of the missed opportunity. Another example- think of the 'Angry Birds' game at $1, loads o cash, very little infringement (who's gonna download a cracked version for a $1 game?), lots of sales.
I think the Game of Thrones will go down in history this year as an example of change in the entertainment history in digital business models; or if they don't, an example of a great missed opportunity by HBO.
If I couldn't pirate Game of Thrones I might possibly buy the BluRay, and then share it with my friends. For other channels that rely on advertising I'd just PVR the shows and skip the ads anyway, although I suppose they still get paid something for them no matter what.
As it happens I will probably get a boxed set of Game of Thrones when the price becomes reasonable and I'm sure I can rip it to my media centre without the stupid unskippable crap. Piracy really is not the problem here, it is simply that I am unwilling to pay what they are asking and no amount of anti-piracy schemes will make me pay more.
Interesting Virgin Media will give me cable TV on top of my current internet+phone bundle for under £5/month extra. I don't really want it because they don't carry NHK World (free on Freesat) and I would have to have an pointless STB when my TV already has a card slot and HD decoder. Still, I'd give someone £5/month for legal downloads on a par with what I get for free, which isn't really much (DRM free, 720p or better, high speed download, MKV format, no ads, maybe four or five shows a week).
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
If I couldn't pirate Game of Thrones I might possibly buy the BluRay
But then you'd also have to import a Blu-ray Disc player from the appropriate region. You'd also be running a season behind, leaving you wide open to spoilers.
if they do something stupid nobody buys their product, and the most accommodating company fills their void in the marketplace.
Except that copyright means that no one else can fill this void legally. Thus a more accommodating company will provide it illegally.
literally thousands of cheaper or free alternatives
What's the close substitute for Game of Thrones? Perhaps the entire debate is one over the definition of "close substitute". In that case, the argument cannot continue until someone defines a "close substitute" for a television series.
And you can stick your sanctimoniousness up your ass.
We all pay the iron price.
You can't expect to send out people advertising and showing your goods in Riverrun or Dorne, and then let them explain that to buy them you need to go to Kings Landing or wait a year.
"The more prohibitions there are, The poorer the people will be" -- Lao Tse