HBO Now Putting Some Shows Online Totally Free (After Losing Viewers, Of Course)
from the so-that's-how-it-works dept
Back in January, we noted that HBO was experimenting with putting its TV shows online in a way that could be viewed at no additional cost for people who were already subscribers to HBO. Apparently, it's now expanding that program and allowing at least one show to go online totally free, both on its own website and on YouTube. Of course, it's only doing this on a new show, In Treatment, that is on five nights a week and has rapidly lost its initial audience. So, perhaps the network is recognizing that giving away the show for free might help entice a new audience. Unfortunately, it appears the network is still hedging its bets, only putting some of the show online. With a show that is shown every night of the week, you'd think they'd want to do everything possible to make it easy for folks to catch up and continue watching the TV version, rather than losing interest as they get left behind after missing a few episodes.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
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Filed Under: free, hbo, in treatment, online, tv shows
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A four letter word, starting with F
But people are not simple. People are complicated. And with something like a TV show some people are damned weird (ala StarGate fans).
If Star Trek was released for free on the Internet in DVD quality rips, the franchise would not lose any money. All the conventions and collectibles would still be sold, possibly by even more people but at least by the same ammount of people.
Oh, and fans will still BUY the DVDs because they want the extra features. Casual watchers will just be happier. It's win freaking win.
But they won't do it. Because Free is a dirty word.
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Re: A four letter word, starting with F
I'm calling bull on that. Mankind is not perfectly rational. Ever.
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Re: Re: A four letter word, starting with F
Now we're trying to update it with the true homo sapien economic model by studying behavioral economics.
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Re: HBO has nothing
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Re: Re: HBO has nothing
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HBO
Who wants this? Even if free!
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No Good
It's amazing to me how many people will pay more for something thats simply acceptable within their society of piers, IE: Name brand items come to mind. I am not so naive to believe all things are equal, but not being suckered by today's marketing gimmicks is not particularly a hard thing to overcome... Or shouldn't be.
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What a nation of rubes.
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HBO
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HBO is now gone
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