HBO says it will terminate the HBO Now accounts of Canadians who use a DNS or VPN

[Igster]

In an email obtained by the Financial Post, HBO tells individuals that used a DNS or VPN service to create an HBO Now account that it will terminate their account without issuing a refund.

http://mobilesyrup.com/2015/04/22/hb...ccess-the-app/

[cDnStealth]

Originally Posted by Igster

http://mobilesyrup.com/2015/04/22/hb...ccess-the-app/

So they're turning away people who are paying to watch their shows... seems like a fantastic idea. This is why people turn to pirating.

[Looch City]

[To Be Quite Honest]

It's almost like they believe there are no options for people...

[Hack&Lube]

Don't blame HBO, there is probably a legal or contractual reason why they must play hardball due to how the rights have been bought and paid for by Bell.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Don't blame HBO, there is probably a legal or contractual reason why they must play hardball due to how the rights have been bought and paid for by Bell.

Exactly. They have to at least make an attempt to do something otherwise they risk getting sued by their partners in other parts of the world.

HBO Canada is jointly owned by Bell and Corus. They just licence the name and programming from HBO. Time-Warner (HBO's owner) doesn't have any ownership stake in HBO Canada.

I'm sure they'd rather take your $15 a month to sell you HBO Now than whatever small amount per subscriber they receive from Bell and Corus, but on a larger scale, they don't want to endanger their partnerships with Bell and Corus (at least until they know they can get more selling directly to the viewer).

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Don't blame HBO, there is probably a legal or contractual reason why they must play hardball due to how the rights have been bought and paid for by Bell.

Consumers don't care about things like that. A paying customer wants to be able to watch certain shows that our American counterparts can enjoy, but for whatever reasons Canadians cannot. Politics be damned. If it's Bell's fault, HBO's fault, people don't care. People want to watch the shows and will find a way to do so.