by Ellen Seidler | Copyright, Film, Piracy, Politics, TV
Leading the piracy parade is ‘better than an Emmy’? Please, speak for yourself Mr. Bewkes…
According a story yesterday in AdWeek, another well-paid executive linked to the HBO hit “Game of Thrones” is once again singing the praises of online piracy. Last time it was HBO’s programming president Michael Lombardo, now Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes has joined the chorus.
…in response to a question about whether the network kinda-sorta regards the extensive theft of HBO’s flagship show, Game of Thrones, as a compliment, Bewkes said, “I have to admit it, I think you’re right.” The much-discussed fantasy series is HBO’s most popular, and “if you go to people who are watching it without subs, it’s a tremendous word-of-mouth thing,” the exec told investors. “We’ve been dealing with this for 20, 30 years—people sharing subs, running wires down the backs of apartment buildings. Our experience is that it leads to more paying subs. I think you’re right that Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world,” he said. “That’s better than an Emmy.”
Yeah sure, easy to say if you’re CEO of Time Warner and have a huge hit like HBO’s “Game of Thrones” on your hands. But really, given that you work in the media industry Mr. Bewkes, didn’t you have a clue as to the impact your glib “soundbite” would have on an already hyperbolic debate over online piracy and copyright reform?
Fine Time Warner/HBO, feel free give your show away and boast that the record (pirate) downloading of Game of Thrones episodes is a hunky-dory thing for your bottom line. In your case, it may well be….more power to you.
The problem is that when Jeff Bewkes muses to a reporter that, for a hit show like Game of Thrones, piracy is “better than an Emmy” it can lead the general public to assume the same reality applies to all content creators. Certainly piracy apologists are likely to make hay–and headlines–out of it.
Perhaps creators whose works have been massively pirated can take some solace from Bewkes’ success, but the fact is his experience (and that of HBO programming) is not one matched by their own. The Time Warner CEO likely doesn’t have much difficulty paying bills (or financing his next production) like so many do. Many filmmakers don’t have the reach (or deep pockets) of HBO and, like it or not, for them online piracy (driven by black market profiteers) is a detriment to success–not a sign of it. Bewkes’ self-serving proclamation does little to advance or clarify the debate over how best to mitigate the corrosive impact that online piracy (for profit) has on artists.
Next time CEO Bewkes should choose his words more carefully and explain that for HBO, the popularity of Game of Thrones is a measure of success that helps generate buzz that’s good for business–but that it’s important to differentiate between their distribution landscape and the one faced by so many others.
If he feels his words were misconstrued (webcast available here) he should clarify his remarks sooner rather than later for the sake of those whose livelihoods do suffer because of unchecked online theft.
by Ellen Seidler | Copyright, Piracy, TV
By now it’s old news that HBO’s hit series “Game of Thrones” is currently the most pirated show on TV (followed by the CBS comedy “The Big Bang Theory”). In today’s LA Times, Alexandra Le Tellier published a piece “If you want to watch ‘Game of Thrones,’ pay for it.” explaining how online piracy is not something to be celebrated, but rather an activity that ultimately undermines our art and those who toil to make it (not just the well-paid executives).
She calls out director David Petrarca, who’s directed 2 episodes of Game of Thrones, for his ill-conceived comments that the rampant piracy of the HBO series did “more good than harm” because it helped generate “buzz.” It’s a sentiment that has been echoed by others attached to the show. As I wrote in an earlier post, HBO’s programming president Michael Lombardo made similar tone-deaf comments recently in Entertainment Weekly:
I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but it is a compliment of sorts…The demand is there. And it certainly didn’t negatively impact the DVD sales. [Piracy is] something that comes along with having a wildly successful show on a subscription network.
Ms. Le Tellier argues that studios have marketing departments whose job it is to create such buzz and zeros in on the heart of the issue when she writes:
It should be up to the creators and stakeholders to decide how to distribute their programs for consumption and nurture “cultural buzz.”
Exactly! From my earlier post on Michael Lombardo’s comments regarding Game of Thrones piracy:
…a man with the stature and success of Mr. Lombardo should know better than to blabber on in such a thoughtless way about an issue, that for many filmmakers, cannot afford to be taken so lightly. Sure, it would be great if everyone had the reach and resources of HBO, but the fact is we don’t, and for us–no matter how you spin it–piracy is not a positive. The arrogance Lombardo showed in blithely dismissing piracy’s impact on HBO’s bottom line did a huge disservice to the many content creators for whom piracy negatively impacts both their bottom line and their livelihoods.
Ms. Le Tellier asks the question that so many of us do. If piracy is allowed to flourish unchecked, and even be celebrated by some, “What happens to art when artists can no longer afford to make it?” Her piece is spot on and I urge you to read it in its entirety here.
by Ellen Seidler | Copyright, Piracy, TV
HBO’s programming president Michael Lombardo recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the massive piracy of their hit series “Game of Thrones” and in doing so gave pro-piracy apologists a glorious soundbite:
“I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but it is a compliment of sorts…The demand is there. And it certainly didn’t negatively impact the DVD sales. [Piracy is] something that comes along with having a wildly successful show on a subscription network.”
Lombardo’s hubris was magnified as he went on to stick his foot further down his throat by adding:
“One of my worries is about the copies [downloaders are] seeing,” Lombardo said. “The production values of this show are so incredible. So I’m hoping that in the purloined different generation of cuts that the show is holding up.”
Come again…He’s more worried about production values than piracy? I’m sorry, but a man with the stature and success of Mr. Lombardo should know better than to blabber on in such a thoughtless way about an issue, that for many filmmakers, cannot afford to be taken so lightly. Sure, it would be great if everyone had the reach and resources of HBO, but the fact is we don’t, and for us–no matter how you spin it–piracy is not a positive. The arrogance Lombardo showed in blithely dismissing piracy’s impact on HBO’s bottom line did a huge disservice to the many content creators for whom piracy negatively impacts both their bottom line and their livelihoods.
For HBO, the popularity of “Game of Thrones” translates into mega-bucks. Embracing worldwide piracy of the show as a sign of success is a choice made by HBO and, more significantly, it’s a clearly a choice they can afford to make. If only we should all be so lucky. Mr. Lombardo should have considered the impact of his words on an online audience that does not necessarily appreciate nuance. He should have known that by inferring that piracy’s impact on “Game of Thrones” was positive, his choice of words would only serve to propagate the false narrative that piracy is somehow “good for business.” It’s a generalization that will, thanks to Lombardo’s glib comments, likely be applied to other pirated movies, music and art. If it’s good for HBO how can it not be good for everyone else?
Mr. Lombardo attempted, rather meekly, to put the genie back in the bottle when he (sort of) qualified his remarks to EW by saying, “We obviously are a subscription service so as a general proposition so we try to stop piracy when we see it happen, particularly on a systematic basis when people are selling pirated versions.” Clearly, however, the damage had been done as the meme that “HBO says piracy is a compliment and doesn’t hurt sales” spread like wildfire across the web.
I wrote this the other day in my post “Pick a Side, But Don’t Call it Piracy” in response to the band Ghost Beach’s lame “artists for or against piracy” campaign, but it’s appropriate to repeat here:
When artists choose to give their work away, they’re not choosing to support piracy, they’re choosing to offer their creations to the public at no cost. It’s a distribution decision any artist is free to make, but please don’t call it piracy…
I’m sure Mr. Lombardo has a nice car, hefty bank account, and few financial worries. Too bad the same can’t be said to the many creative artists, independent and otherwise, who aren’t so lucky.
This week, Mr. Lombardo clearly made himself into an April Fool…
