rickwebb:

parislemon:

Hollywood’s core piracy “problem” is perfectly captured in this one cartoon by The Oatmeal.

In fact, I’ve had this exact debate with myself. I really want to watch Game of Thrones. But I’m not an HBO subscriber because I’m not a cable subscriber and unfortunately, the two go hand-in-hand, no matter what I’m willing to pay.

Speaking of “willing to pay”, okay fine, I can’t get Game of Thrones on HBO, but I’m willing to pay a quite a bit of money to get it via iTunes. Wait. Nope. Can’t do that either. At least not for a few more months — well over a year after the first season wrapped.

Netflix? Nope. Not streaming or DVD/Blu-ray. Amazon? Nope. HBO.com? Not unless I’m a cable subscriber. 

So my options are…

…

…well, I only have one option. Thanks Hollywood!

[via Yun on Twitter]

I sympathize with this line of thinking, but HBO is not the worst offender at all. HBO is $12 a month. That’s $120 a year. That’s probably a bit steep for a blu ray box set of one show, but it’s perfectly reasonable for 2 season-long blu ray box sets. And for that $12 a month you get HBOGo, which is awesome, and let’s you watch every single HBO show streaming, on demand, whenever you want it, in HD. 

For anyone who claims they would be happy to pay for a show, the price is more than reasonable, provided that HBO keeps making awesome stuff. But, then, of course, if it stops making awesome stuff, and it’s no longer worth it, you can just stop paying. 

Game of Thrones, alone, is 10 hours of film a year. That’s 5 feature films. That would cost you about $50 alone in the theater. 

So if you like Game of Thrones, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Bil Maher, True Blood and Entourage, you’re paying an effective rate of $2 an hour for anytime, anywhere streaming content. It’s really not that bad. You also get a really great selection of movies.

Of course, to pay HBO that $12 a month, you have to buy basic cable, and that is annoying. I wish they would just let you pay $12 a month to HBO Go. I don’t know why they don’t. Are there licensing issues? Are there concerns it would erode their core subscribership? I can’t see how that would happen. But, yes. It would be nice to be able to just buy HBO Go. It’s annoying that they don’t. But most people in America have cable. If you already have it, the $12 a month are totally worth it. Also, I suspect it won’t be long until they just offer it. 

But regardless, HBO is a really good deal. Yes, it’s about 80% more than Hulu Plus or Netflix, but it’s pretty awesome, and not an unreasonable price. 

All of this, mind you, is available right away, and for a good long time after the show airs. All of The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and Band of Brothers are still up there.