HBO Shuts Down Bar's Game Of Thrones Viewing Party
from the no-fun-allowed dept
Winter is coming. Again. Or, it has come back already, or still, or whatever. Look, I don't know, I just love Game of Thrones. Lots of other people like it too, which means that lots of people watch on HBO...and a lot of others watch it through illegitimate sources, making it the "most pirated" of shows. Part of the reason it's so pirated is that access has traditionally been restricted to those with HBO cable subscriptions. Still, HBO being pissed over some fans pirating the show is understandable.
Less understandable is HBO going after non-pirate fans, such as a GoT viewing party at a local Brooklyn watering hole.
HBO recently sent a cease and desist letter to the owners of Videology bar in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, asking them to stop their Game of Thrones weekly viewing parties.Yes, HBO, you have indeed taken these kinds of actions for well over a decade. But things have changed over that decade that you might want to pay attention to. Cable subscriptions are in the decline, for instance, meaning that content producers are going to have to find other avenues to keep consumption at the same levels. Also, and you probably noticed this...Game of Thrones is insanely popular and profitable, even with all of the actual piracy going on. Targeting a bar that holds a party for fans of the show isn't just useless, it's plainly damaging to the brand, the fanship, and the spread of the fanbase. I mean, is anyone really suggesting that the patrons who attended this viewing party were all planning on immediately cancelling their HBO subscriptions, and instead planning to watch their beloved show at the bar every week? Or is it more likely that these patrons all probably are HBO customers who just want to get in a group once in a while and collectively watch their show? And how many new fans will miss on the opportunity to jump into the GoT fervor because this event isn't going to take place?
"As a pay subscription service, HBO should not be made available in public establishments," a spokesperson for the network told the Daily News "When it does happen, it is of particular concern when there is an attempt to profit off the programming. We have taken such actions for well over a decade."
The bar in question seems to get what HBO doesn't, of course.
"Seeing that many other bars in the neighborhood and around the city were showing it, we made the assumption that HBO believed, as we do, that public screenings were in the best interest of both HBO and the fans, since GOT is enjoyed on a deeper level as a communal event," co-owner Wendy Chamberlain told the NYDN. "But in the end, it's not up to us."And so HBO misses another opportunity to grow the show's fanbase and brand, if only it could just behave in a human and awesome way for once.
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Filed Under: bars, copyright, game of thrones, viewing party
Companies: hbo
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Well, perhaps there's the first mistake. Unless I'm very much mistaken, such venues tend to pay for special licences for sports and other types of entertainment so that they can hold similar kinds of events. I'm sure the venue would be happy to pay a reasonable mount of money to hold a successful weekly event based around the content. Are HBO saying that they literally don't give this as an option, and demand that they be paid nothing instead?
"We have taken such actions for well over a decade."
So, you've been shutting down parties for fans of your content for a decade without thinking you might make money by offering a public licence? Would this be the same decade where you refused to let people access your content without paying silly amounts of money on a cable subscription they didn't want? Then acted surprised when people bypassed the blocks? Probably.
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Why should the bars be permitted GoT night and not the local theaters?
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Is that so hard to understand?
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Obviously, the current arrangement is beneficial to HBO or they wouldn't continue doing it.
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Correction: Some lawyers that HBO retains think it's beneficial to THEM.
We don't know if anyone in HBO looks at this situation and thinks yeah, let's shut down GoT night at local bars. Let's make that company policy.
And what's scary is that corporations run on automatic pilot, which is how we get internet activation DRM, QTEs in video games and the Battleship movie.
(Those are the first examples that come to mind.)
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...and to HBO in a number of different ways. This is a situation where both parties can benefit if the terms are amicable. Instead, they just pissed off a bunch of their own customers, both those who would have attended the screening and those reading articles on this shutdown.
"Obviously, the current arrangement is beneficial to HBO or they wouldn't continue doing it."
Correction - they *think* the current arrangement is beneficial, or at least they believe it benefits them more to pretend it does than to admit it doesn't.
They're definitely protecting a business model that's getting frayed at the edges, and they're locked in to some degree with existing cable network agreements and the like. There will be a side that we're not seeing here, but on the face of it, there were several choices, and this is the least positive one for both parties.
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Whereas my calculation is that the occasional bar-party would serve as promotional.
So yeah, it's a way to build up cultural hype and draw in new viewers.
Because people like to share their lives and culture with each other.
If you stop them from sharing your culture, you stop your culture from becoming culture.
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But just FYI those types of licenses are priced based on occupancy and can cost thousands of dollars per event.
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Few people are going to cancel their subscription and/or stop buying merchandise because they saw the show at a bar. But, a public showing might not only convert new fans, but also attract those people who are currently pirating the show because they don't want the huge overhead of a cable subscription to begin with.
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Business Class
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On the other hand, do we really want drunk New Yorkers reenacting scenes from this show at 3AM?
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Viewing party
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Taverns, restaurants, private clubs, prisons, lodges, factories, summer camps, public libraries, daycare facilities, parks and recreation departments, churches and non-classroom use at schools and universities are all examples of situations where a public performance license must be obtained. This legal requirement applies regardless of whether an admission fee is charged, whether the institution or organization is commercial or non-profit, or whether a federal or state agency is involved.
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I'm not so sure that this is true as a blanket statement. For example, if you hold an invitation-only event and those invitations go to your 100 best customers, I'll bet that it would be considered a public performance.
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Is that a legal definition? The explanation provided by HBO? or by the MPAA?
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Then they auto shut off all the set tops that have a black screen or no image. I bet they could set it up to happen automatically.Or, they use thermal. Never underestimate how low these companies will go.
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Bigger question
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over a decade
Quite a bit over a decade - I recall a bar I worked at around advertised we were showing some Leon Spinx fight, so I'm guessing around 1980. Packed bar, everyone watching the "pre-show", and then...
..NOT AVAILABLE ON COMMERCIAL ACCOUNTS...
Lots of REALLY annoyed drunks out that evening...
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What is the Bar's TV license?
I mean, you pay extra as a bar or commercial establishment to get the public viewing license rights for the channels.
Sounds like overreach to me.
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Re: What is the Bar's TV license?
Presumably, HBO's service will have its own licences that may or may not exclude public performances. If they don't offer that option, it will be a licence violation even if it's fine with other channels.
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The way to fight this is with shame...
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Bronx vs Brooklyn
Not that it matters from a story point of view, but Williamsburg is in Brooklyn, not the Bronx. As it says in the quoted section of the article...
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Dear HBO
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fixed that for you
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Videology isn't in the Bronx
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Of course, given that, it might be a good idea to let them see what they're missing... but television companies just seem to be stupid. There's only one time a year when I watch non-downloaded television—when I stay with my family over the Christmas break—and it's like they're going out of their way to advertise their crappiness. It's all reruns, often in "marathon" format (and pre-empting normal programming), with incessant advertising. Any thoughts of ever getting cable vanish after a day or two of that...
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but we already pay
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well..
Really, I can't fault HBO for doing this. Have friends over to your house to watch the show? Sure. no problem. Have a bar and using it to get customers in? Ehh....
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