Streaming cable content online?

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Antares
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Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2006 3:44 am
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Streaming cable content online?

Hi guys, I think this discussion is valid also within the field of MechaTalk, since there have been talks an attempts of streaming animation content directly.

I recently became aware of Take My Money, HBO!.
It appears to be a fan asking to have HBO content to be made available to him (and others) via fast net connection, instead of buying the whole set. The reason why this is now trending is that HBO's series have been massively popular, Game of Thrones especially, and people find they don't want the entire cable package to get a single series. Hence, they get it illegally online.

The cable package is, of course, more profitable to HBO, and it is their tried and true business model. However, this site (and myself) find that the business model is getting obsolete, and ignores considerable options for revenue.

Let's face it; people want instant gratification these days. The second season of GoT looks like it will become the most downloaded series of all time. That means they want the new episode of GoT within 48 hours of it being broadcast, and the PirateBays and whatnot make that possible quite effortlessly. Sure, some of them just want it for free, too. And it's not just American fans, but also Europeans who don't even get HBO to begin with (over here HBO belongs to a larger cable package that costs more than in the US, and all shows are sent at least a month later than their US airdate). The fans demand more; they find themselves thinking they are entitled to faster service, or equally entitled to get their content elsewhere.

Without getting the content online, you'd have to wait for the DVDs, and in my case the GoT Season 1 boxset just arrived in early June after being pre-ordered before the end of 2011. And I'm not alone; GoT sales have already exceeded all other HBO DVD sales, including The Sopranos. So this shows there still are people willing to pay, but they will pay later, when they can (over here one of the primary reasons for DVD purchase is often subtitles in your native language).

So should HBO bow to fan pressure? Or is it actually market pressure, and ignoring it will mean continuing to lose more and more money to downloaders. Netflix and other companies have started to work this idea, but it's still quite limited. Over here we get our cable basically over the web anyhow these days (fiber optic cable is being massively invested in), with rentals and all services included, but not yet TV shows.

I guess what I am asking here is, how do you see this possible shift in streamed content shaping up? I admit I am not fully familiar with how HBO does business in the States. Also, I'm not sure if the experiments in uploading anime straight online are still continuing, and what were the results of that, from the perspective of the producers and consumers both.
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