# How can I cancel HBO and still watch GoT? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263 "2013-01-06T16:29:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![satoridt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@satoridt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/satoridt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263/43 "2013-01-07T16:24:59Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > \*bang bang bang \*Goes another nail in Netflix’s coffin. And we’re all the losers - what we’re seeing is a turf war for the center of the streaming universe. > > Netflix could have held it, but made one wrong decision after another and now is too weak a player to hold on. Grab a comfy seat for another several years of erratic availability, overlapping costs, high prices and general hassle. Don’t bet on any winners right now. I would bet on an as-yet-unknown that may not even exist yet. You know Netflix just signed an exclusive deal with Disney right? The 10 year universal contract was largely in response to that. Netflix is also expected to bid on and win the rights to all Sony content. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263/44 "2013-01-07T16:50:36Z")
I have HBO, so if you want I’ll just tell you what happened after each episode airs. Not sure what all the names are, so it’ll probably be a lot of “the one dude with the beard” and “not the chick who showed her boobs last time, but the other one.” ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263/45 "2013-01-07T16:54:40Z")
> [@satoridt](#): > > You know Netflix just signed an exclusive deal with Disney right? The 10 year universal contract was largely in response to that. Netflix is also expected to bid on and win the rights to all Sony content. I will stand on what I said. NF has many problems and they are scrambling for traction in ways they never should have had to. Get back to me in a year and we’ll re-examine the matter. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263/46 "2013-01-07T17:04:19Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I have HBO, so if you want I’ll just tell you what happened after each episode airs. > > Not sure what all the names are, so it’ll probably be a lot of “the one dude with the beard” and “not the chick who showed her boobs last time, but the other one.” That’ll be at least as illuminating as most of the discussions here. 🙂 Is that the guy with the beard and the fur overcoat, or the other one? ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263/47 "2013-01-07T18:23:27Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > That’ll be at least as illuminating as most of the discussions here. 🙂 Is that the guy with the beard and the fur overcoat, or the other one? NO SPOILERS!!! Regards, SenorBeef ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263/48 "2013-01-07T23:01:09Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > \*bang bang bang \*Goes another nail in Netflix’s coffin. And we’re all the losers - what we’re seeing is a turf war for the center of the streaming universe. > > Netflix could have held it, but made one wrong decision after another and now is too weak a player to hold on. Netflix _never_ could have held it. Just like HBO doesn’t want to sell you their best single show a la carte, every content producer in the world wants to leverage their hits to gain regular subscribers to their own distribution channels. That’s how you make the most money. As long as the law allowed rental of physical media like DVDs, Netflix could be a single distribution point. There was a brief period where that was true, and Netflix was king, then another brief period where content owners hadn’t figured out how valuable digital distribution rights were and there were some contracts with holes in them. But now that everyone knows the game, market segmentation is in full swing and prices are going back up. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263/49 "2013-01-08T17:04:35Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > NO SPOILERS!!! > > Regards, > SenorBeef You’re not in the Pit, **Bob Ducca** , and this is jerkish. Knock it off immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263/50 "2013-01-08T17:52:11Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > HBO knows they’ve got gold with this show and they’re kinda being jerks about it. But it’s their show, so their rules. It’s frustrating, but I don’t think I would consider them jerks because of it. It is a fairly expensive show, and HBO wouldn’t be able to pay for it if their only revenue for it was people paying $2 per episode through Amazon or whatever. > [@LawMonkey](#): > > Around here, there’s a bar that shows it, which is where I go to watch, even though I have HBO. You might be able to find something similar–it’s fun to watch with a crowd. Oh, I hadn’t thought of doing that! I remember some bars doing that for Walking Dead, hopefully some do it for Game of Thrones somewhere convenient for me. That would be awesome. > [@NitroPress](#): > > Which is so freaking irritating - if you’re trying to catch up on a show, you can’t do in in the week or so between DVD release and season premiere unless you totally gorge on the disc set. We’ve had to record two or three episodes of a new season before we could start watching it. It’s not just HBO, either - FX and AMC do the same thing. > > I can’t quite picture what marketing decision goes into releasing a product at what might be the most useless point in its lifespan - people buying it to catch up don’t have time, and fans who already saw the season aren’t likely to watch it with any haste while the new season is out. I understand (I think) that they think the synergy of the disc release and the premiere catch limited attention spans, but after about the third or fourth show we were trying to catch up on just as the new season started… well, that led to the decision to dump cable altogether. I’ve wondered about that too. It makes no sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263/51 "2013-01-08T17:52:51Z")
GoT runs for 2 and a half months out of the year, why not just subscribe while the show is actually on? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263/52 "2013-01-08T18:25:20Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > As long as the law allowed rental of physical media like DVDs, Netflix could be a single distribution point. There was a brief period where that was true, and Netflix was king, then another brief period where content owners hadn’t figured out how valuable digital distribution rights were and there were some contracts with holes in them. But now that everyone knows the game, market segmentation is in full swing and prices are going back up. I think it’s still true that the law (i.e., the “first sale doctrine”) allows rental of physical media like DVDs. It’s just that we all want digital media to be as easily available and there is no corresponding right. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263/53 "2013-01-08T19:18:38Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I think it’s still true that the law (i.e., the “first sale doctrine”) allows rental of physical media like DVDs. It’s just that we all want digital media to be as easily available and there is no corresponding right. That’s what I was trying to say, but I didn’t do a very good job of it. Thanks for the clarification. It’s not that the law is changing, it’s that the law only covers physical media. There’s no first sale rights for digital media. I still have the DVD service from Netflix because, while I like the convenience of instant, being able to get anything is more important to me. I am not looking forward to the future content fiefdoms that we’re going to get once we no longer use physical media (which is protected for rental by law) and go solely to digital distribution (which there is no requirement to allow rental by third parties). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263/54 "2013-01-08T19:23:20Z")
I can’t remember the name, but one startup let customers stream movies without getting streaming rights by actually playing the DVD in their data center and sending the stream directly to that customer’s home. The idea was that they were protected by the first sale doctrine. I don’t think the company exists anymore, so perhaps there was a flaw in the legal argument. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263/55 "2013-01-09T00:52:22Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I can’t remember the name, but one startup let customers stream movies without getting streaming rights by actually playing the DVD in their data center and sending the stream directly to that customer’s home. The idea was that they were protected by the first sale doctrine. I don’t think the company exists anymore, so perhaps there was a flaw in the legal argument. It was called [Zediva](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros._Entertainment_Inc._v._WTV_Systems,_Inc.). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-cancel-hbo-and-still-watch-got/646263.md?page=2)