is HBO's 1990's biz model hurting them?

[RainDog]

I would like to watch Treme. I would pay to watch it per episode on iTunes.

but I cannot justify paying for a full cable package plus premium channels in my current financial situation. that may change (as far as financials, but I STILL do not want to pay to subsidize Fux News, religious assholes and movies I didn't want to see the first time around in order to see ONE SHOW on tv.

The technology exists to put Treme on iTunes. what is lacking is the insight by HBO into real lives of people - like the ones they portray on shows like The Wire or Treme.

I don't go to movies much anymore either. With my kids, they always think popcorn is a staple and I cannot justify the waste money of 20.00 for a bag of popcorn. They go to the movies and they spend their own money on that, but I don't spend mine that way.

anyway, a show about the lives of people who have been brought down by the systemic corruption at the highest levels of power and the impact that has had on people's lives is a show that would appeal to more than the privileged classes.

those who cannot budget for 20.00 popcorn but would be willing to go 2.50 per episode are the "good guys" in the show. but apparently not in real life.

[Dappleganger]

1. Wait for it to come to Netflix.

Then you can watch an entire season at once.

[RainDog]

5. by that time it will also be on free sites online

but that's not the point.

the point is that the show is missing sales at this moment when interest is at its peak.

that's not how you generally roll out a show, hoping for the biggest returns in the shortest amt. of time.

something like Treme will attract loyal viewers and they aren't necessarily the same viewers that are tuning in to other shows with big audiences... so those audiences don't go to any segment of the market.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

2. Have you tried torrents?

I don't know how you feel about downloading shows/movies, but a show like Treme is tailor-made for torrents.

[RainDog]

4. I really try to obey the law

I've never done the torrents thing... I don't know how - I was always afraid of getting malware or something from them.

I have watched somethings online that weren't "officially" supposed to be there but not when a show (as in the case of Treme) was/is actively going after those sorts of things (like sidereel, where you can just watch but not download.)

maybe I should become more... dangerous. :)

[Starbucks Anarchist]

7. For David Simon, you should.

;)

The Wire is one of, if not my all-time favorite show. It's hard to choose between that and Battlestar Galactica.

The torrents I've found aren't loaded with malware, though I do have a Mac FWIW. Pirate Bay and Isohunt are the two main torrent sites, if you want to check them out. If you need any help, let me know. I've used torrents to watch Mad Men and The Shield because I don't have cable. It's definitely helpful.

[rcrush]

3. Whats Treme?

And if people cant get an easy hassle free way to buy TV shows online they will just torrent them. Not everyone will but enough people will for HBO to be missing out on a big market.

[RainDog]

6. Treme is a new long-form tv show from the guy who did The Wire

...which some people think is the greatest show ever on tv. (I own The Wire on dvd, courtesy of a xmas gift... and it is great tv.)

the show is set in New Orleans and has many of the same cast members that were in The Wire in diff. roles. Plus whazzername from Deadwood and John Goodman and Steve Zahn, whose character I loved in Out of Sight.

it's set in NOLA three months after hurricane katrina.

it has some GREAT music from local musicians. (I have seen the first couple of episodes, fwiw.)

anyway, people want to watch stuff when it's convenient for them to do so and rewatch when they feel like it, not when a tv programmer tells them to watch it.

that's the here and now, like it or not.