HBO Plans to Combat Game of Thrones Piracy, Sort Of

[nsane.forums]

Last week Game of Thrones director David Petrarca said that piracy isn’t hurting his show, and that it may actually help to build an audience. Several of the show’s actors, on the other hand, have a more negative view towards piracy and equate it to stealing. HBO is not amused either and the TV-network has a plan to counter piracy in 2013. Will it be good enough?

With 4.3 million downloads per episode, Game of Thrones was the most pirated TV-show on the Internet last year.

With the third season of the popular TV-series premiering at the end of the month, this questionable honor has been brought up a few times in the media.

Last week the show’s director, David Petrarca, noted that these unauthorized downloads actually do more good than harm. According to the director, pirates are partly responsible for the “cultural buzz” the show needs to thrive and survive.

Some of the show’s actors are more reserved though. Talking to the BBC actors Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) mentions that he has mixed feelings about the “most pirated” title.

“There is a little part of you where you go, yes, we’re the most pirated .. But then you go… This is really bad isn’t it,” he says.

The actor hopes that some of the pirates will end up buying a DVD or Blu-Ray, but he clearly has his doubts. “At the end of the day it’s stealing. I know it doesn’t feel like it but it is, and it’s not right.”

Rose Leslie, who plays Ygritte, understands that HBO is not going to be thrilled about the ‘achievement’ but sees the massive piracy as a compliment nonetheless.

“I suppose it’s a bit of a backhanded compliment, isn’t it? I don’t think HBO will be too happy, but yes, one way or another that’s a huge compliment. Not just to me but to the show as a whole,” she says.

For their part HBO admit they are somewhat to ‘blame’ for Game of Thrones’ high piracy rates. In previous years it was impossible to view the show legally in many locations, and HBO will do better on this front in 2013.

Jeff Cusson, HBO’s senior vice president of corporate affairs, told Forbes this week that Game of Thrones will be available in 176 territories very shortly after the U.S. release.

“We think the key to combating piracy is to make content like Game of Thrones available worldwide within the smallest window possible…to 176 territories within the week of the U.S. premiere,” Cusson says.

It’s unclear what “territories” Cusson is talking about but more availability is certainly a good thing. Whether it’s good enough remains to be seen, as even a 24-hour delay may be too much for die-hard fans of the show.

In addition, it’s not ideal that some people have to buy a full HBO subscription just to see one show. To many people this feels like a waste of money. After all, you don’t buy a full car if you only need the rims.

If HBO really wants to tackle the high piracy numbers it probably has to take more drastic measures.

What would make a serious dent in the piracy rate is if HBO began selling a worldwide season pass for Game of Thrones alone, allowing people to see the entire season on their favorite device, without any delays for a reasonable price.

HBO is not oblivious to this option but would rather stick to their full subscription model with its regional limitations. Apparently, the network believes that this is the best long-term strategy.

This means that they can probably take another “most pirated” title for granted.

View: Original Article

[Marik]

lol @ “At the end of the day it’s stealing. I know it doesn’t feel like it but it is, and it’s not right.”

I'd like to see just how much warez this guy has on his pc :lmao:

[edwardecl]

Why don't they offer something like, pre-order the season on bluray for whatever the price of that is plus pay an extra $5 and have it available when aired online or on a cable chanel. Everybody would be happy then (well the pople who want to buy it that is). Would boost bluray sales I would think at it's premium price rather than people buy it when it's cheap. Win-win. Doubt they would think of it like that though.

[xpmule]

I wonder what other actors think when their show gets cancelled ?

I was talking to the main actor recently for the show Ugly Americans

and he told me (first person to be told anywhere) the show is not going to continue..

I asked "Mark" to give me anything i can share publicly and he told me simply put he's waiting by the phone..

and that he hasn't heard anything about new episodes etc..

This show has an abnormally long production time in Toronto and based on the previous seasons

it should have aired already never mind started production.. so its pretty clear it's another good show that is dropped :(

So yeah i wonder how the guys like him feel about the rich and popular crying about phantom "Lost revenue" ?

People go to mind boggling crazy lengths for advertising and promotion yet "this is bad isn't it" lol

aside from putting a ton of cash on their pockets..

also HBO needs to be reminded of some common sense / wisdom..

necessity is the mother of invention.. provide the services or products people need and / or want or someone else will .

I support file sharing and not greedy babies fantasizing and jerking off to the thought of gleaning cash of file traders.

they probably get rock hard and their panties are probably drenched at the mere thought of taking cash out of file sharers pockets.

It's not about lost revenue its about greedy people being pigs !