The state of the TV industry and Game Of Thrones

It has occurred to me of late that the TV industry is missing a trick just like the music industry did. Apple made an announcement a while back that they had done a deal with HBO and that a new service called HBO Now would be launching on Apple TV. This service was to be a monthly subscription to allow streaming of HBO content to Apple TV via the HBO Now app. It was all tied in to launch just before Game Of Thrones Season 5 premiered.

I was well up for that so tried to sign up to the service. It turned out that although HBO Now was available in the US it was NOT going to be available in the UK for a long time, possibly never. The reason for this is that HBO had done a long term deal with Sky to carry content. I have no interest in signing up for year long contracts with Sky with bloated packages just to try and get access to Game Of Thrones.

In this modern age it is time for the companies to unbundle from the big providers and give us little folk the chance to go more Pay As You Go, or monthly subscription to get access to their content. I would quite happily pay for that. I do with Netflix, Amazon Prime as well as NHL and WWE content without the need to be tied into contracts with major companies. THIS is the future and to prevent piracy the providers need to get a bit more savvy with the way that they deliver content. The digital age had a MASSIVE impact on the music industry because they wouldn't adapt, the same will happen to the TV industry if they aren't careful.

So, today we were watching Game Of Thrones. Season 5 started last night. I was given the four leaked episodes on a memory stick so we had a good catch up (and it saved me downloading them myself)! I look forward to watching the remaining episodes once they are available. I still have my $15 per month set aside to make up for any shortfall that HBO might get as a result of their short sightedness. I have no issue with paying for content if it is made available to me on reasonable terms!

As you might have gathered Game Of Thrones is still an excellent show but I won't put out any spoilers as I am sure you can find them online anyway!