Bub wrote on May 23, 2016, 07:25:
Imagine if you walked into your local supermarket and wanted to buy a box of your favorite cereal. But they won't sell you one box, they want you to sign up for a subscription, of one box a month, plus a shopping cart full of groceries you don't want, food you hate, and crappy quality junk food you would never buy on your own. All of this for 10 to 20 times what a single box of cereal would cost.
Cable companies steal and rob, so I don't have much sympathy when the circle comes around and bites them.
This post is problematic on a few levels.
1. To follow your analogy, it's perfectly fine to go to the back of the store and swipe a few boxes of cereal while they're unloading the truck and not looking. Thing is, you'd never have the stones to do that. And we wonder why content companies keep resorting to ridiculous bullshit like DRM and copyright infringement settlement letters.
2. Let's look at the cost that you claim, "All of this for 10 to 20 times what a single box of cereal would cost."
- Price of a season of GoT on disc: $43
- Price of a season of digital episodes: $39
- Price of HBO Now during the run of GoT: $45
HBO Now costs a few dollars more and lets you watch "live." And who knows, maybe you'll find a few other shows you like: Deadwood, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, John Oliver, Rome, etc., all shows with massive critical and popular acclaim. Hard to imagine the only thing HBO offers that you enjoy is GoT.
3. "Cable companies steal and rob, so I don't have much sympathy when the circle comes around and bites them." You do understand that HBO is not a cable service provider like Comcast right? And that you don't need a cable subscription to order HBO Now? And I'm unaware the last time HBO stole from and robbed its customers. Links?
RIP RedEye9. We miss you.