On the one hand this reinforces that cordcutting will continue to be a second-class citizen in terms of first-run/same-season content, but on the other hand, making it easier for people to discover Six Feet Under is a great thing.
Really? I just finished re-watching it and found the later seasons to be incredible. Better than the first two. Especially the climaxes of seasons 3, 4, 5. I definitely got more out of the second viewing, I had much more focus on character arcs than plot.
Different strokes, I suppose. There was a lot more black comedy near the beginning instead of just the grim realism of people making the same mistakes over and over again.
Don't be a tool. Just pay for it. It's been available on DVD for years now, is available on HBO Go, and is now available on Amazon for non-subscribers, and has already been available for non-subscribers on iTunes for years.
For one, because you're hurting your own cause. Watching GOT and talking about it helps to reinforce HBO's position as the a premier programmer with the kind of cultural cache others would kill for. They're still profiting from you, just not in a directly financial way.
If everyone without an HBO subscription refused to watch GOT then HBO might actually be inclined to re-examine their subscription options.
I'm not a believer in the "if everyone just did their part" strategy. Not with this, not with the environment, or any other big issue.
Market pressure is already pushing HBO towards a non-cable option, they're just moving into it kicking and screaming because the current way has been immensely profitable for them.
You seem to entertain a rather convenient set of beliefs and opinions. I pay a pretty hefty price because I do not share them (and go out of my way to 'do my part').
That is not my position. I gladly pay for many season tickets of shows through Amazon, but HBO does not provide this option (or on any competing service).
Sure, but that doesn't entitle you to just take it since you don't agree to their terms. Just like I can't demand to drive a Ferrari because paying $200k for a car is out of my price range.
I'm entitled to have a sequence of bits on my computer, and to play that sequence of bits in an application capable of doing so. Since I'm a good person I'm willing to give money to the person/company that came up with the sequence of bits but I don't feel obligated to do so if they make the terms wildly out of my favor, that is I'm forced to also purchase other sequences of bits that I have no interest in.
As for your Ferrari example, some day it will be trivially easy to 3D print a Ferrari and we'll be going through the same thing with physical items as we are going through with IP today.
This mindset baffles me. You're entitled to Game of Thrones, and are justified in pirating it because you don't agree with the terms under which it's made available?
Therefore your excuse for not legally paying for content is: "I'm cheap and break the law because there's only a very small chance I can get in trouble." Not bad...not bad.
Would you also consider people from countries that have those services blocked, as you nicely put it, tools? Are you aware that there's people outside of the United States?
