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Fire TV: Amazon to block piracy apps in the future

(www.heise.de)
100 points speckx | 5 comments | 31 Oct 25 17:08 UTC | HN request time: 0.407s | source
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barbazoo ◴[31 Oct 25 17:42 UTC] No.45774639[source]▶
> Fire TV players are repeatedly offered on the internet with piracy apps that are supposed to enable free access to IPTV or VoD content.

They’re so close to getting it. So close. They almost understand that this is a response to a completely unusable, expensive and user shitty experience.

Build something that integrates all streaming providers and many people will already stop pirating. But even then, people are still expected to pay rent to n different streaming companies. It just doesn’t work. They’re being too greedy.

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1. CamperBob2 ◴[31 Oct 25 17:44 UTC] No.45774657[source]▶
That's basically what an AppleTV box does. However, you still have to pay (and search) a large number of services to find what you want, and there's no guarantee that it will be ad-free no matter how much you pay. The way these people think, the more you're willing to pay to avoid ads, the more your eyeballs are worth.

As Gabe Newell put it, piracy isn't a legal problem or a revenue problem, it's a customer-service problem. Serve the customer, or someone else will.

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2. brookst ◴[31 Oct 25 18:41 UTC] No.45775269[source]▶
I use IPTV on an AppleTV box. Works great.
3. a4isms ◴[31 Oct 25 19:08 UTC] No.45775570[source]▶
OG HN mainstay Joel Spolsky put it incredibly presciently back when Napster was a thing in 2001. The music studios were all raving about theft, but he pointed out that people weren't filesharing mp3s to save a buck, they were filesharing mp3s because, his words: You can type the name of a song and listen to it right away.

https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/04/21/dont-let-architect...

TV still doesn't get this for TV shows. Yes, I can type the name of a show. There are two options, one is some streaming service, the other is Prime. So I select Prime. Psych! It offers me the option to go to that streaming service. And subscribe. Which means thinking about the long term, not this show I want to watch.

Or I open the lid of my Mac, type the name of a show, and almost right away I can watch it on my Apple TV.

4. cameldrv ◴[31 Oct 25 20:00 UTC] No.45776076[source]▶
I wish Apple TV did that. It has a global search feature. My kids push the button on the side of the remote and say what they want to watch. Then they get a screen saying you can rent it for $6.99 or whatever, and I'm thinking "didn't you just watch that the other day, and I didn't have to approve any purchase..." Well of course Netflix doesn't appear in the Apple search results. You can search in their app separately, but it's not integrated into the system. Even if you pay all of the services their $15 a month or whatever, you still can't just watch what you want because something something engagement metrics. It's tiresome.
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5. fingerlocks ◴[01 Nov 25 04:54 UTC] No.45779352[source]▶
Isn’t that an issue with Netflix? I haven’t looked into the APIs, but I do know that HBO, Hulu and Disney content will show up in the Apple default search results.

Netflix and Amazon (maybe?) always require a separate journey