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Comment by k-mcgrady | Hacker News Reader

I know I'm pointing out the obvious but people can wait for the DVD or buy it via iTunes when it becomes available. The show is shown on different networks throughout the world at different times/dates so just putting on online immediately for everyone isn't really an option. It might take 12 months but eventually you can get it in a format you want for a fair price.

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This show is not aired in Russia. And I can agree that eventually it will became available in some format. Maybe even translated (I, personally, do not care much about translation).

What about Japanese shows?

For example: Bakemonogatari was aired in 2010. It is available in DVD in Japanese (maybe Korean/Chinese). In 2012 there is still no official English/Spanish/Russian/other release.

But there are a lot of fan translations. So, piracy is only way.

That's the thing though, they could make it available on iTunes immediately at the same time as the air it on TV. I'd pay for it. But they take too long to get it up there.

The concept of releasing in different parts of the world at different times is outdated. Release worldwide all at once.

>> "The concept of releasing in different parts of the world at different times is outdated. Release worldwide all at once."

But it's not that simple. HBO isn't a worldwide network. They need to make deals with lots of different networks in different countries and that takes time. Those networks then need to fit the show into their schedules.

> But it's not that simple. HBO isn't a worldwide network. They need to make deals with lots of different networks in different countries and that takes time. Those networks then need to fit the show into their schedules.

National networks are similarly outdated. This is the 21st Century, for crying out loud.

If a bunch of kids can propagate high quality 1080i/720p copies of television broadcasts around the world literally within half an hour of the show airing in its native market, the content owners themselves can manage the same.

It takes some time to do voice-overs and make the other small changes required for localization. They would have to accept a considerable delay to do a worldwide release at once. Given the amount of money HBO is investing in these shows upfront it's not unreasonable that they want to start seeing some revenue from the big English speaking market as quickly as possible.

Release everything in the original language as quickly as possible. Then screw around with voiceovers and such. There's people in other parts of the world that understand English, and people in the US that understand languages other than English.

Gee, that sounds like their problem, not mine.

In Europe it's SKY that screens GOT. It's unwatchable because there is a long commercial break about every 10 minutes. Just recently I bought series 1-5 (65 episodes) of mad men for €55. I won't watch GOT again until I get it on a box set.

I recommend Sky+ to you.

That would be an idea, what's holding us back is when our house was built it had 1 satellite cable properly run through our walls and a sky+ box needs 2

Sky+ works fine with one feed, just with the obviously reduced functionality (i.e. you won't be able to record one thing while watching another)

I didn't know that.

When your friends are talking about the latest episode just after it airs, waiting a year isn't necessarily practical.

That doesn't make piracy OK, but it certainly makes it a lot easier for many people to justify.

How do you know people who pirate it are not buying it on DVD when it comes out?

How moral is it for someone in one territory to buy from a different territory? Because, to the business, that's just as bad as pirating. Which is why you can only change the region on your DVD player (Apple, MS) 5 times, and why there are laws preventing shops telling people how to make their DVD machine region free.

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