HBO Now Putting Some Shows Online Totally Free (After Losing Viewers, Of Course)

from the so-that's-how-it-works dept

Mon, Mar 3rd 2008 8:22pm — Mike Masnick

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.

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Filed Under: free, hbo, in treatment, online, tv shows

12 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 3 Mar 2008 @ 10:08pm

A four letter word, starting with F
No small wonder people are against it. If people were simpler, I could see their rationale that giving something away for free == no money made off of it.

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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Stephen, 3 Mar 2008 @ 10:22pm

What the hell happened to HBO anyway? Sopranos, Carnivale, Deadwood, Rome -- these were amazing projects. Now they have NOTHING. What happened? Giving it away wont make any difference.
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moe, 3 Mar 2008 @ 10:40pm

Re: HBO has nothing
Apparently you've never watched "The Wire." And this "In Treatement" show is supposed to be pretty good, too.
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Bobbknight, 3 Mar 2008 @ 11:06pm

HBO
OMG Have you tried to watch in treatment, I started one night and after 10 minutes I wanted to gouge my eyes out and plunge hot pokers into my ears.

Who wants this? Even if free!
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Le Blue Dude, 3 Mar 2008 @ 11:33pm

Re: A four letter word, starting with F
Basic economics tells us that man, no matter how irrational otherwise, is perfectly rational when making economic decisions. This is the model which many companies claim to operate off of. Top economists claim that the people in charge of businesses, and the general populace, and any person, or group of people you care to name is perfectly rational, moving to maximize value for cost, creating economic balance depending on the supply and the demand.

I'm calling bull on that. Mankind is not perfectly rational. Ever.
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Chris, 4 Mar 2008 @ 2:46am

No Good
Then there is always the "conception" that so many of todays society seem to have, "if it's free it must be bad."
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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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2008 @ 3:08am

Re: Re: A four letter word, starting with F
The economic model of homo rational is known to be outdated, anyway.

Now we're trying to update it with the true homo sapien economic model by studying behavioral economics.
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noname, 4 Mar 2008 @ 6:15am

Re: Re: HBO has nothing
The Wire is vastly overrated. I've watched all of it. It's not even worth free.
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Arc, 4 Mar 2008 @ 7:09am

The moronic consumer, in wishful, childlike greed and with plenty of help from the evil conscienceless "marketeers" still believes in the concept of something for nothing or "free".

What a nation of rubes.
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rep, 6 Mar 2008 @ 2:19pm

HBO
Finally unsunscribing to HBO. What was appointment TV in this home for years is now over. Boy, someone over there f*cked up big time.
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mike mckalaster, 23 Feb 2010 @ 1:53pm

HBO is now gone
we had HBO in our home for years, it seems as though they throw all there good shows out at the exact same same time, then when the season has ended you are stuck watching the same 5 movies for months on end.. I finally gave up and decieded to keep my 15 bucks a month. congrats HBO you just lost my 180 bucks this year.. and next year and the year after that ect ect ect..
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Anonymous Coward, 20 May 2011 @ 5:52pm

greeddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd
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