General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: HBO admits piracy is a ‘compliment’ that doesn’t hurt sales [View all]cbdo2007
(9,213 posts)They have the technology and the ability to make shows available in a fair and profitable manner to everyone and they refuse to do it because the cable companies have a monopoly and you have to subscribe to some type of cable service (still in 2013) to be able to get the premium channels, even if that's all you watch.
In the next 5-10 years the future of TV and Movies is the same as what's happened in the music industry. Imagine Netflix streaming with 100,000 more options all available at the push of a button for $25/month. All new shows from all networks, and full catalogs of just about any past show you can think of. Any movie you can think of, all available on demand, anytime.
Hell, even on network shows, which are available for free on the network website the day after the show airs, the technology is there to be able to watch them with no problem......but they just can't get it to work properly and whenever I try it on NBC.com or CBS.com or wherever it locks up half the time and doesn't work.
If you think it's a fair playing field in music, movies, and tv shows with the consumer vs the corporation, it isn't nearly as black and white as "downloading is stealing". Look at digital movies....you buy a movie on DVD and there are free programs available that will rip it to your computer so you can watch it on your portable device. You are doing what you want to do with something that you own. That wasn't good enough for the movie studios....so they copy protect the DVD and then SELL you the digital copy along with the DVD for an extra $5. Nobody is here accusing them of stealing.