Game of Thrones DVD...must be a bad joke.

[santz]

I dont know what OP is talking about, 55 seems like a decent price at launch for a show like Game of thrones in which each episode is 1 hour each.

Surely prices will go down with time, so if the OP wants to wait, he can.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I dont know what OP is talking about, 55 seems like a decent price at launch for a show like Game of thrones in which each episode is 1 hour each.

Surely prices will go down with time, so if the OP wants to wait, he can.

Not to mention is a great show, you can't really miss a scene...you'll be lost in the end.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Feel free to watch GoT from Amazon, Netflix, or iTunes. What? It's not available from those places? Well...damn.

Feel free to speak with your wallet as well but don't pirate the episodes and claim some bullshit about how it's not available anywhere else online because I am watching the first season of GoT right now on HBO Go. Oh, you don't have HBO Go? You mean that you don't pay for premium content yet you feel you deserve the same to access to that premium content as those who DO pay pay for it?

I don't expect to access something I don't pay for and it's fucking beyond the pale that there are those who somehow believe they are so special that they should have access to whatever they want whenever they want it. Media companies own that content and don't owe you a damn thing.

Some people on the internet need to get over their entitlement attitude. Media companies don't owe you guys shit. Until you realize that you simply won't get it.

Er...ok? That is kinda the point. We have one avenue for accessing the content if they so choose, and instead of them realizing that actually reduces their revenue, they just say people pirated it and that's why they had less revenue.

Um, no? I never said I was entitled to anything I didn't pay for. What the fuck? Nowhere have I justified piracy or said I'm pirating it just because I don't like their prices. I think its telling that you seem to somehow think that is the case though. Its completely irrational, and odd, you sound like these companies.

Some people need to get over their ignorance and actually look at what these companies have already done and are trying to take even further.

Again, people are speaking with their wallets and these companies are just accusing them of pirating the content instead of realizing there are a ton of other factors that are at play that can quite easily explain why they have somewhat lower revenue than they expected to have (see, that's another point you ignore, a lot of their figures of lost revenue are based on their own expectations, which are quite often, out of whack).

 

[Glayde]

The blu-ray pre-order prices are $35 which is pretty reasonable in my opinion. Mainstream vendors, amazon and bestbuy.

 

[dwell]

LotR Blu-ray is $75 for less content.

 

[dainthomas]

LotR Blu-ray is $75 for less content.

Actually the run time of all 3 LOTR EEs is 682 minutes. Plus a crazy amount of (largely rehashed) extras. Game of Thrones is 561.

But yeah, lol at anyone who complains about $35 for 561 minutes of quality content.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

My wife is victim of my bitching about this. I have internet, and basic cable, runs about $70/month. That's about all we can afford, but I could dish out another $10-15 a month or so if HBO would provide a web service or something like that. In order for me to get it now, I would have to pay ~$120/month or more because of the way cable companies tier their packages. I just wait for the local Library to buy it, then I watch it for free. Why they don't want more customers at $10-15 a piece is beyond me...

I doubt that HBO doesn't want more customers. The issue is that their primary revenue is tied to exclusive contracts with cable/sat providers. Offering a web service would woo premium package customers away from those providers, and in some cases current customers might drop their service completely. The big contracts that HBO gets from cable/sat cos would have to be renegotiated to lower prices because of the non-exclusivity and to compensate providers for the loss of customers. They would be robbing Peter to pay Paul.

There are also additional costs that would have to be considered like developing a nationwide media distribution infrastructure and billing/payment processing.

Companies love to make more money whenever and wherever they can. I have little doubt that HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax all have researched offering streaming distribution to non-cableco customers as a possibility, particularly after the success of Netflix. It's a no-brainer that they would look into it. Since none of them have taken a step in that direction it can only be concluded that they don't feel the risk is worth the reward at this point in time. That may, and likely will, change some time in the future.

 

[BladeVenom]

HBO is owned by Time Warner. They want to sell you cable.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I doubt that HBO doesn't want more customers. The issue is that their primary revenue is tied to exclusive contracts with cable/sat providers. Offering a web service would woo premium package customers away from those providers, and in some cases current customers might drop their service completely. The big contracts that HBO gets from cable/sat cos would have to be renegotiated to lower prices because of the non-exclusivity and to compensate providers for the loss of customers. They would be robbing Peter to pay Paul.

There are also additional costs that would have to be considered like developing a nationwide media distribution infrastructure and billing/payment processing.

Companies love to make more money whenever and wherever they can. I have little doubt that HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax all have researched offering streaming distribution to non-cableco customers as a possibility, particularly after the success of Netflix. It's a no-brainer that they would look into it. Since none of them have taken a step in that direction it can only be concluded that they don't feel the risk is worth the reward at this point in time. That may, and likely will, change some time in the future.

As the older generation of TV viewers dies off, they'll change their tune. But for now, they'll just have to deal with pirating instead of catering to the upcoming generation. The longer it takes to change...the more money they're losing.

 

[dustb0wlkid]

$29.99 according to OP's link. Waste of ranting found.

 

[MrChad]

$29.99 according to OP's link. Waste of ranting found.

The OP is from October of last year. The pricing has dropped since then.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

As the older generation of TV viewers dies off, they'll change their tune. But for now, they'll just have to deal with pirating instead of catering to the upcoming generation. The longer it takes to change...the more money they're losing.

It will take more than the older generation dying off. It will require that content delivery moves wholesale from cable/sat to internet/streaming devices. That's slowly happening but it's not there yet. At this point there isn't the base of users for HBO to make the move.

They aren't really losing money either. Keep in mind that if they did accomodate those who would pay for HBO over internet they would lose revenue from cablecos in the process. Making, say, $50 million a year from internet users at the cost of, say $100 million lost from cablecos is not actually making money.

Besides, pirates are the exception, not the rule. Many who do want to watch GoT but don't have HBO have enough scruples not to steal that content and have enough patience to wait for the DVD/BD release.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

The OP is from October of last year. The pricing has dropped since then.

It wasn't available last October. The DVD/BD was recently released. OP was speculating at the time.

 

[ch33zw1z]

It will take more than the older generation dying off. It will require that content delivery moves wholesale from cable/sat to internet/streaming devices. That's slowly happening but it's not there yet. At this point there isn't the base of users for HBO to make the move.

They aren't really losing money either. Keep in mind that if they did accomodate those who would pay for HBO over internet they would lose revenue from cablecos in the process. Making, say, $50 million a year from internet users at the cost of, say $100 million lost from cablecos is not actually making money.

Besides, pirates are the exception, not the rule. Many who do want to watch GoT but don't have HBO have enough scruples not to steal that content and have enough patience to wait for the DVD/BD release.

Sucks for us as consumers. They'll attempt an even tighter strangle hold before they realize money is slipping through their grasp.