HBO Max might be in a little trouble

And people do, by going to torrent sites for the single show that they want, instead of getting a subscription.

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Which is fine… however, I would very much like creators to get paid for what they do, and it seems like the more people torrent, the more likely the content companies will look for ways to screw them over to maintain their own profits.

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I have Amazon Prime for the free shipping so that gets me Prime Video. I have Disney+ because Star Wars. That’s it. Everything else can suck eggs.

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Aside from the fact that much of the content is what just aired on NBC, they actually do have good original content on there as well as films from Universal and shows from the old Sci-Fi Channel (I’m avoiding using the current name). It’s nowhere at the level of the other major streamers, though. I probably wouldn’t have it if it didn’t come with my internet. To their credit, they’re one of the least expensive services.

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I have Prime as well, mainly for shipping. I share Netflix with the fam so i’m not paying for it but if they go through with stopping password sharing i’m definitely not paying for it. My SO has Disney+, and because i’m a nerd i have subs to Crunchyroll and Hidive for new anime show releases. Frankly i don’t think i would get HBO unless my SO specifically were to ask me to get it.

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I think there’s a few problems with HBOMax.

  1. Problems with tentpole content- they’re losing Harry Potter soon. They may be losing Doctor Who to Disney+ (at least the new episodes, and I’m sure that Disney+ would love the old content, too.) The DC Universe content doesn’t seem to catch fire with audiences as much as Marvel’s content- I suspect the weak movies and the overabundance of TV shows on other networks has robbed DC’s content of the “must see” feel that Marvel still has.
  2. The AT&T customers- a lot of customers of HBOMax got it free with AT&T service. I have never paid for HBO Max- I get it free with my Internet service. Is that arrangement going to continue? Will AT&T users be forced to pay for access at some point? If so, how many will convert? And by the way, how much does AT&T pay Discovery for those users? Are they providing the same revenue per customer as a regular HBO Max customer paying every month?
  3. Weak management at Discovery- I suspect the execs at Discovery are overvaluing the content on their portal, thinking it’s the equal of HBO Max’s content. Spoiler alert- it ain’t. I’ve had subscriptions to both. Discovery’s content is perfect for basic cable, but not for a binge watcher. In the streaming space, scripted content is still king, and Discovery doesn’t have much good content in that space.
  4. Netflix caught a cold, so every other streaming service has the flu. Now that Netflix is showing that streaming is a harder product to sell in a post-pandemic world with inflation, investors aren’t in love with the competitors anymore. Disney can handle that, because they have other revenue, and that Marvel IP is still a cash cow.
  5. DC Comics is cursed. No, seriously. I suspect that the DC Comics business is still holding onto the bad karma from screwing the Superman creators. Think of all the businesses and brands that have been hurt badly while aligning with DC and its various corporate parents Kinney National (with a bad financial scandal in the 70s), Atari (HUUUUGE losses), the Ted Turner networks (remember when Ted Turner went from being worth billions to a billion or less overnight?), AOL, Time magazine, AT&T, Sports Illustrated…I mean, many of these are unrelated to DC Comics, but man, there’s a trail of corpses there.
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This also doesn’t bode well for the future of HBO Max or Discovery. It might explain the Batgirl canceling, though.

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Wat the actual fuck.

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breaking bad bullshit GIF

I got my geek rage on now…

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Absolutely. But human nature being what it is, people will generally take the route that is easiest or less complicated for them.

Online piracy was actually dropping before streaming services proliferated. Now it’s going back up, because some people won’t pay $5/month (or whatever) for access to a single show.

Not buying it.

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Literally. I have no idea what “lean in”, “lean back”, “genredom”, and “fandom” are even supposed to mean in this context.

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“Where is Taxicab Confessions” is what I wanna know. Emmy award winning documentary work and the one thing I’d actually hope to catch running whenever I visited my one friend with cable back in the day. I’m 100% confident there is other good early content not being made available, but that’s the one that sticks in my craw.
PS. Love love LOVE DC/Ghibli … and am not sneezing at TCM or CN nor any other ‘hub’ channels either.

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A lot of the early “Made for HBO” films are not available. In the late 80’s they had a trio of interesting “Mossadsploitation” films that are not available anywhere except maybe Youtube
(I am a bit of a military/espionage history buff)

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Ever seen Doomsday Gun? That would probably count as Mossadsploitation, because the Mossad spy on Gerald Bull and try to stop him working for Iraq.

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I saw Sword of Gideon decades later on one of the Starz channels. Maybe HBO has been selling off most of their old TV movies? Or at least the broadcast rights?

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I forgot about that one. Good call.

I know what fandom is (meaning the active fan base for a cultural thing), but the others are just made up BS… I guess lean in might mean active participation in fandom (cosplaying, fanfic, making art, etc), but that’s very dominated by women and girls, and frankly, almost always has been. In my experience, men and boys tend to focus more on the authority of the text, while women and girls tend to engage more creatively with texts.

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Yeah, the genredom vs fandom thing has me confused because I’ve always associated fandoms with genre fiction. So I don’t know what they’re talking about.

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Ted Danson Yes GIF by The Good Place

I think that they’re saying that sci-fi/fantasy is fandom, and romance or reality TV are “genre”?

Some fucking suit made that list up, I’d wager… a suit that has not clue about fandom at all…

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