SAN DIEGO, February 19, 2013 – Game of Thrones fans who’ve held out subscribing to HBO and resisted pirating a copy can now get Season 2 on DVD or Blu-Ray, or download the 10 episodes from iTunes.
The price tag: Blu-ray with HBO Select ($79.98) and DVD ($59.99) for a five-disc set; iTunes is $38.99 for all of Season 2 or $3.99 per episode.
Why haven’t you been able to get GOT: Season 2 on Netflix? Or Season 1 for that matter? It wouldn’t matter what price Netflix was willing to cough up for the rights, HBO is too concerned about losing ongoing subscriptions by making some of its more popular series like Game of Thrones available via Netflix for much less money. It’s the same for Showtime.
HBO has its own online streaming service, HBOGo, and it would much rather build its own brand than work with Netflix. So people without HBO accounts either have to wait until months later, or feel compelled to pirate a copy.
Which is exactly what milions of people have done, making Game of Thrones the single most pirated program in 2012 with 4.28 million illegal downloads according to website Torrent Freak as reported here in Communities.
HBO and Showtime aren’t alone here. Major movie studios are also Netflix holdouts, waiting until well after Blu-Ray and DVD versions of popular films are released before giving Netflix the right to offer them.
Dame Diana Rigg joins the Game of Thrones Season 3 cast as lady Olenna Tyrell, grandmother of Margaery. Photo: HBO/Helen Sloan.
Some fans got excited thinking they could get their hands on GOT: Season 2 via iTunes in December, but then felt duped when all they got at the time was a sneak preview, and learned they were actually paying in advance for today’s release.
If you cough up for the Blu-Ray or DVD edition, you’re getting some extras for the higher price tag.
On the DVD edition, the extras include:
- A 30-minute feature about creating the epic Battle of Blackwater Bay in the final episode, including exclusive interviews with the cast and crew
- A roundtable discussion with a half dozen of the key actors including Emilia Clarke and Lena Headey about their experiences shooting Season 2, moderated by executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
- Profiles of seven major characters, narrated by the actors who play them
- Commentaries by select cast and crew including Benioff, Weiss, Martin, Emilia Clarke, and Peter Dinklage
- A discussion by author George R.R. Martin, Benioff and Weiss about the portrayal of religion in Game of Thrones
Actor Peter Dinklage returns as Tyrion Lannister in Season 3 of Game of Thrones. Photo: HBO / Helen Sloan
On the Blu-ray with HBO select, you get the DVD features plus:
- Episode guides that provide background information about characters, locations and histories
- An interactive guide that lets you track the War of the Five Kings including key players, strategies, movements of the various armies, victories and defeats
- Animated historical features with illustrations by GOT storyboard artist Will Simpson describing the history and culture of Westeros and Essos, told from the perspective of different GOT characters
You can also play a game finding hidden dragon eggs to uncover additional features and exclusive content.
And if this doesn’t hold even the most rabid fan over for another month until Game of Thrones: Season 3 debuts on HBO on March 31, 2013, then you need to read the books. Again. All one-thousand or so pages of each of the six books in the series. That should keep you occupied.
See the official Season 3 trailer here:
Gayle Lynn Falkenthal, APR, is President/Owner of the Falcon Valley Group in San Diego, California. She is also a serious boxing fan covering the Sweet Science for Communities. Read more Media Migraine in the Communities at The Washington Times. Follow Gayle on Facebook and on Twitter @PRProSanDiego. Gayle can be reached via Google +
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