Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » HBO

Game Of Thrones To Be Most Pirated Show Of 2012

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:30:04 +0000

Game of Thrones is a medieval fantasy TV series created for HBO based on George R. R. Martin’s series of fantasy novels. The first season debuted in April 2011 and it has been renewed for a third season. It has won numerous awards at the Emmys and Golden Globes. As the show’s popularity has been increasing so has the number of people illegally downloading the episodes.

BitTorrent tracking company Big Champagne said that the show has been downloaded over 25 million times from public torrent trackers since early April. The episode that aired on April 30th was downloaded more than 2.5 million times per day.

“It certainly appears to be the most pirated show of the year,” stated Big Champagne senior media analyst John Robinson. “The fact that it’s consistently at the top of the Pirate Bay’s top one hundred TV show chart seems like a pretty in-your-face leading indicator of the huge volume at which this is being shared.”

HBO has also made sure that people are unable to watch the program online anywhere. It is not available through Hulu or Netflix. Only Season 1 is available on iTunes. “This is absolutely a reaction to the show’s not being available elsewhere online,” stated Robinson. “It’s a very tricky game trying to create this kind of scarcity.”

TV Show Debate Leads To Michael Podniestrzanski Throwing His Cousin Joshua Ross Through Front Window

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:16:48 +0000

Game of Thrones has some passionate fans, especially Michael Podniestrzanski and his cousin Joshua Ross. The two “got into a verbal altercation” about HBO show. After they debated which characters was going to win a battle, the two physically assaulted each other. Podniestrzanski ended up throwing Ross through the front window. Podniestrzanski was arrested for misdemeanor domestic battery and was held in county jail. [TV Squad]

Google TV Signs Up Turner, NBC, HBO, and NBA As Content Partners

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:06:38 +0000

Google TV was introduced five months ago and the company wrote a blog post today to discuss who some of their new content partners are. The new partners are Turner Broadcasting (TBS), NBC Universal, HBO, and the NBA.

TBS will be working to optimize their most popular websites for being viewed on Google TV. Turner Broadcasting runs the websites for TBS, TNT, CNN, Cartoon Network, and Adult Swim.

NBC Universal is working with Google TV to build a web application for CNBC Real-Time. This way you can track your favorite stocks and access news feeds.

HBO will add hours of programming to Google TV with the HBO GO application. Authenticated HBO subscribers will be able to access all of their favorite HBO content on-demand in an enhanced website for Google TV.

NBA built an NBA Game Time web application that lets you follow game scores in real-time. Other companies working on Google TV applications includes The New York Times, VEVO, Pandora, and Napster.

[Google TV Blog]

HBO Launches Video Clip Website ComedyFetish.com

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:01:00 +0000

Considering all the attention that cable TV shows are getting from being available on Hulu and YouTube, HBO programs are sometimes forgotten about. But now HBO has lauched a new website called ComedyFetish.com which features video clips from all of the seasons of HBO’s TV shows such as Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

The clips are short enough in length so that it does not take away from the show and psychologically makes the consumer want to buy the DVD to relive those moments in the show. Around the clips are links to BarnesAndNoble and iTunes for those specific episodes.

“We’ve assembled an impressive group of comedy clips and a variety of fun ways for consumers to sample and enjoy these terrific HBO shows before committing to a purchase,” stated HBO VP of Marketing Meredith Ketchum.

One of the mistakes that ComedyFetish makes right off the bat is the ability to embed these videos on to other websites. How else will the content spread and traffic grow on their website?

[via VideoBusiness]