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Originally Posted by psyang
That may be, but either the downloaders were HBO subscribers, and so already paid money to get access to the show, or they weren't, in which case I doubt that the majority of them paid for a streaming service or for the DVD release (which would be the only other way to pay). As a result, they were fans for a show that they paid nothing for. Easy to be a fan like that.
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There have been studies done that P2P sharing can at times increase interest and REVENUE in a certain product that is illegally downloaded. This has been explained many times on here.
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HBO does lose money if you consider that such people could have waited and purchased the show when it became available. As I said above, I doubt the majority of the downloaders actually paid any money for the show.
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I do believe this is simply not true. People that are inclined to illegally download a certain 'product' wouldn't necessarily 'buy' that product if it weren't available for illegal download. But on the other hand, being able to illegally download a 'product' can lead to certain 'illegal down loaders' to pay for something, after they realize that what they downloaded is worth paying for. I have done this myself, as have many others on here and elsewhere.
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Blaming HBO is a bit backwards too - sure, they didn't provide timely access. But really, it's their show, they can do what they want. Is it really someone's right to watch a show?
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I never said it was a 'right' to watch the show. I said that if HBO doesn't provide timely access to the show, they shouldn't be surprised if people use illegal methods to watch it.
On the other hand, providing legal and 'easy' methods to watch movies/TV shows, or listen to music, has led to a decrease in piracy. These are FACTS.
So based on that, I think we can all assume that if HBO were available to Europeans and other countries throughout the world, people might actually subscribe to their service instead of just downloading the TV shows.
In fact, if the episodes were available on iTunes the day or week after they aired, I'm pretty sure many people would gladly pay the money.