MANY of my friends are following the series Game of Thrones. It is now on its seventh season. It is touted as one of the most-watched TV series in recent memory.
As I write now, episode 6 will soon air in a few days.
While its success is undeniable, they have another problem that was reported in the news – a dragon they cannot slay.
Hackers were able to hack into the HBO servers, and made off with a lot of files. A few days before the 4th episode was supposed to be aired, the actual episode was actually being shared all over the internet.
The reports said that hackers wanted a few million dollars to stop leaking Game of Thrones and other TV programs of HBO.
Victims
This is not the first time it happened. Netflix was reportedly a victim when one of their programs, “Orange is the New Black,” was also aired prematurely because the company failed to pay ransom.
Past incidents also indicated that the 2014 film of Sylvester Stallone, “ Expandables 3” made very bad box office numbers because it was already leaked by the hackers before it was shown in theaters.
I am writing about this this because Episode 6, which was supposed to be aired on Sunday in the US, is now available in some sites. I guess as technology becomes more sophisticated, crime will also evolve into different operations targeting different victims.
Content wars
The internet is alive because of TV and movies. It has been reported that during the early evening, almost a third of all internet traffic comes from just one provider – Netflix, which is a streaming medium for people to watch videos. Netflix has become an important source of movies and TV shows.
However, the success of Netflix reflects one other development – the war for content.
In order to get where it is now, Netflix started producing its own shows. Of course, HBO is also producing its own shows. Amazon also got into the business of streaming content, and now also produces its own shows.
Apple has also announced it will set aside $1 billion not only to set up streaming, but also to produce its own shows.
Disney has also announced that it may stop licensing its content to other providers, and operate its own streaming service.
So as usual, content will still be king.
u2022•••••
Nearer to home, we have had many complaints from friends because the Uber car service has been suspended for a month.
Many friends have complained of missed meetings and also complaints all over social media about taxis becoming very selective in their passengers and overcharging.
Uber and other services are basically disruptive, but we need to change our regulations and rules to reflect that, and also not affect the existing players.