ArsTechnica reports that HBO plans to use the much-reviled "broadcast flag" to tell DVRs that they are not permitted to record any HBO content on them.
First, is HBO really that stupid? DVRs are the trend in home television watching. What could they possibly be thinking trying to swim upstream like this?
It's not like HBO has a revenue stream that is threatened by commercial-skipping. NBC, CBS, etc., I could almost see feeling threatened. After all, if you watch their shows on your DVR, you're likely to skip the commercials. The less commercials watched, the less valuable they are, the less NBC, et al, can charge for them, and that's a theoretical path to lost revenue. I don't think it's as bad as all that, but at least I could see "some semblance of logic" to that.
But with HBO, I pay them a monthly fee. It doesn't matter if I watch Sopranos, don't watch it, or record it on Sunday and watch it two weeks later. They still got paid just as much as they ever could have.
HBO wants to slave you to their timeslot, force you to sit down on Sunday evenings and watch what they put in front of you.
Well, I tell you this right now: I will have none of it.
If HBO decides to do this, I will happily discontinue our HBO subscription, because the only thing we use it for is to watch Sopranos or Entourage episodes. If I have to "sit down when HBO says to sit down", I'll simply refuse, save myself $15 a month, and, here's the kicker, I'll just download them off of BitTorrent, and push that HD stream out from the computer to the TV screen (and anyone who thinks that the broadcast flag will really prevent hackers from getting HD streams to share, please lay off the pipe).
Wow. If they did this, I would cancel it right away. I can wait 12 hours to grab the Sopranos or whatever else I want to watch (three or four other shows) off of Bittorrent. Fuck them.
Really, I don't even understand why it would make any sense to do this.
Ok, I read the article, and my opinion is now: So fucking what? I've never used On Demand for anything other than quasi-porn.
Little confused after reading that. I originally read that they wouldn't allow recording of VOD content, not "regular" HBO/Cinemax.
While we might not like it, if they have a VOD service, which by name and nature is on demand, and they don't want to allow you to record it, that's their right as the service. Dont use it if you don't like it.
I would STRONGLY object to not being about to record for my own personal use standard, non-VOD HBO/Cinemax.