commentary Australian broadcasters are mistaken if they believe that it's possible to quell TV show piracy purely by launching iTunes-like video download services. Such a venture would flop faster than a Vanilla Ice comeback album, opines Asher Moses.
According to Envisional, a web monitoring company, Australians are responsible for 15.6 percent of all online TV piracy, bested only by Britain, which accounts for 38.4 percent. The US lags behind in third position at 7.3 percent. These figures are alarming on their own, but become far scarier when one considers that Australia is home to almost 20 million people, whilst Britain's population is closer to 60 million. As a result, our TV piracy per capita is -- according to Envisional -- the highest in the world.
The most popular pirate TV program is 24, but hit shows The Simpsons, The O.C., Desperate Housewives and Lost all rank highly on the list.
There are a number of proposed solutions to the piracy pandemic, one of which involves broadcasters creating iTunes-like online stores, where users can purchase footage of their favourite shows on a per-episode basis. This may prove successful in the US since the convenience of being able to download shows for playback on your own schedule is worth the small fee, but it'll never work in Australia.
The reason is simple -- few Net-savvy users are willing to wait months on end for popular US shows to hit our shores. This, not convenience, is the main factor enticing fans to pirate their TV shows online. From the average viewer's perspective, the prospect of downloading an episode of your favourite TV show from a fast BitTorrent link less than half an hour after it's aired in the US is far more attractive than paying money for the privilege six months down the track, where the content's portability is likely to be hobbled by a cryptic DRM scheme anyway.
Australian broadcasters need to embrace globalisation and realise that, in an Internet age where consumers are used to immediate satisfaction, releasing shows months after they air in the US just won't cut it. Nor will trying to pry consumers over to a paid-for online download service that suffers from similar delays. If we're able to watch live feeds of worldwide sporting events at virtually the same time as the rest of the world, why should we put up with such long delays for TV shows?
The above is less pertinent to purchasing tracks from the iTunes music store -- which has proven successful in Australia -- because the aforementioned lead-time doesn't affect music releases on anywhere near the same scale as it does TV shows and movies. Downloading tracks from iTunes is so easy and inexpensive that the allure of piracy isn't nearly as strong.
It's time for broadcasters to get with the program (no pun intended) and revise their archaic scheduling methods, or risk more viewers deflecting to BitTorrent services for their TV fix. What's more, the rapid uptake of media centre PCs will only speed up this process should broadcasters remain idle.
Would you use a local video download service to pay for your favourite TV shows, given the current broadcasting climate? Have your say below!
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Alex Perry
16/02/2006 09:52 PM
You are exactly right. Downloaders are only interested in getting their favourite televsion shows as soon as possible. In a world where nearly everyone is connected to live Internet, Australia must certainly globalise within the television industry. Don't be surprised at the way us consumers react. It's a world where everyone is connected to each other, and information and entertainment is a step away. It's obvious that consumers want this, although it has not quite gotten through to our broadcasting networks... I'm looking at you Channel 7!
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jono
17/02/2006 10:56 AM
for a show like Lost i find it impossible not to watch it courtesy of Bittorrent. i can get it of any o 5 people i know with broadband who download it as soon as the torrent is available. a show like lost can be ruined if you accidently see a spoiler, which might be as simple as reading a main character is now doing another show, which is easy when the show airs 6 months in advance in the states. this would tip you off that they die or leave the show somehow before you are up to that part of the story. thee is no guilt in downloading here. aussie viewers have been treated terribly for years and now we can download the shows in HDTV widescreen with the ads taken out, why would you put up with crap service from the networks here.
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Ilya
17/02/2006 01:11 PM
I completely agree with you Asher, the gap of ocean between us and the rest of the world should not hinder our rights to view television shows or recieve any other media as soon as everyone else. I recently managed to download and watch all 13 episodes of Prison Break (im on holidays) in around about the time channel 7 managed to air the first double episode. So the question is, would i pay for an internet streaming of a television show? No! We watch these programs on "free-to-air" TV, the convinence of watching it in my own time is not worth paying for the episode when BitTorrent the same amount of mouse clicks away.
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Jimi
18/02/2006 03:27 AM
You're absolutely spot on. I downloaded all of Futurama, Family Guy, Red Dwarf, and others. Now I own the boxsets of all of them, because I had enjoyed them so much! I still have downloaded versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (!), The Simpsons, Mission Hill, and several others, but I'm left waiting for DVD releases. I'd happily pay a small amount for each episode of un-DRMed content. I also regularly buy tunes off the iTMS. If I can't find something to buy, I'll sometimes find a song I like in my collection, and if I happen to not have the CD it came from I'll try to buy it from there. Unfortunately the people at the top of the networks can't see past their own shadows.
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philly
18/02/2006 01:01 PM
i agree 100% im on like episode 12ish of lost and here we are on episode 1 or 2. So if i stayed on Australias schedule i would be about 3 or more months at least behind, considering i started watching the episodes last year!! Get with it Australia LONG LIVE BIT TORRENT!!
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Matty
20/02/2006 11:45 AM
It's not so much the wait that bothers me, it's the fact that many shows are never shown here and the ones that are, the FTA networks often skip episodes, play them out of order, stop showing them mid season or move them to a different time slot every second week (or just put them on at a stupid time slot to begin with). I'm done with FTA. The only things I watch are the news when I'm home and the odd show that I don't care if I miss an episode which I record on my PVR so I can watch it later and skip the ads. The shows I realy like are downloaded the same day they're shown OS.
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Old Guy
20/02/2006 03:55 PM
Being old school (over 40) I get no pleasure from being a software pirate. I can however; see why file sharing of TV shows is so prevalent. For many years, pre-Internet, and especially pre-broadband, the FTA TV network execs dished out whatever they wanted to. They still do. After almost 50 years of the current paradigm, the networks appear reluctant to deal with a genie that just won't go back in it's bottle - broadband file sharing (piracy if you prefer). The world has shrunk to a simple mouse click, times and technology have changed, significantly. The traditional TV business is shifting in directions some execs can't seem to accept. Your average teenager can now be TV; programmer, scheduler and content presenter, all from their own bedroom. If consumer choice truly drives a market, then the networks need to wake up FAST. If not, the networks can only look forward to losing more and more advertising revenue to Internet based file sharing, whether illegal or not.
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Bob
21/02/2006 01:43 PM
There is a simple solution. Air programs the same time over here, and hey presto, no more TV piracy. If we didn't have to wait months to see the shows, we wouldn't need to download them.
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bob
21/02/2006 01:46 PM
Actually, there is another reason for this piracy. If the TV networks over here got their act together and actually played a season IN ORDER for once, that would go a long way to helping the problem as well. I'm sick to death of following a show only to have it bastardised by the TV networks. I remember a bit back one particular network in its infite wisdom decided to show the 3rd part of a 3 part story ark of charmed. The problem was, they hadn't show the 1st two parts yet! Get a grip.
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Jim
21/02/2006 01:59 PM
Wow! Someone in the media who actually has a clue on the topic. Maybe if we can make other media publications realise this it might add weight to the cluebat that majority of the public are attempting to hit the MPAA and RIAA with.
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fred
21/02/2006 02:18 PM
Anything is faster than Australian TV. Duct taping CD's to random Galapagos turtle's for example. I laugh when I see foxtel announcing a "Hot NEW show" that was cancelled 2 years ago in the USA. And that's the PAY TV service. The free-to-air channels are even slower. Even the aforementioned early convicts got here faster.
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pooface
21/02/2006 02:56 PM
Another option is decrease the price of DVDs to a reasonable level.
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mack
21/02/2006 03:03 PM
The title of this article is innapropriate.
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TV Pirate
21/02/2006 03:16 PM
All of the television stations are notorious for playing episodes out of sequence and stopping and starting shows to avoid some bit of sport or make way for something new - it's no wonder they haven't generated many followers. Most TV shows these days are fine layered things - they have ongoing plots and you really need to watch them in sequence to get the full impact of the shows. TV stations just butcher them and play them to fill gaps half the time - they don't care what we want - they just go for ratings. Unless they change this mentality - they're going to be left behind. The reason Australians are such big downloaders of tv shows is that we're just sick of it - we refuse to put up with old, churned up crap that the FTA stations hand out to us - and with bittorrent, et al we're finally able to take control back and watch the tv shows we want to watch - how they're meant to be watched - in sequence.
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mitchind
21/02/2006 03:20 PM
My original idea was to download some old shows and frankly on many sites it takes forever to get them because there are so few seeds for them. So I then started to download current shows. I like sci fi and when you consider in the USA the next season of shows we are more than a year behind. In fact for some shows I am able to buy via the USA from Amazon, Ebay vendors and some well stocked local vendors DVD season sets before we have even seen episode one of this season here. I prefer watching the quality you get on the DVD both from a picture and sound quality point of view. I like real surround sound you do not get that from a torrent. If paid download sites give me better sound and picture and used truly advanced compression then I will be prepared to pay. But for TV shows we do not really have them here in Australia yet. For these shows I will probably still buy the season DVD sets, though a bit later when cheaper even though I have watched the torrent. I like watching my favourite shows more than once The losers with someone like me are not the content providers as I buy the DVD's in the longer term anyway. I have got so annoyed this year with TV I will buy between aud 1000-1500 worth of DVD sets and will watch them instead. To give some credit to Channel 10, we are only 3-4 week behind the USA with Surface. However was this good luck or good management? I will say it could have been a bit of the latter as they are showing 2 episodes of Smallville per week which bring us to the end of season 4 shortly and I hope they continue this practice into the first part of season 5 which is almost over in the USA. TV providers have to change as they are caught between the technology and the cost of product from the content providers. Now DVD sets are so popular I think content providers need to give TV networks some cost breaks as its there original money putting them to air that generate the popularity and demand for DVD sets and hence profits for the content owners. Also the majority of large DVD sellers like chain stores in this country are talking Australians for a ride on price. When I can buy a DVD from someone in the USA and even someone like Amazon a post it to Australia for less than I can buy here from a store that gets to me. But this could also be a function of content owners asking for higher prices here than overseas. DVD production costs in large runs are not mega different here from overseas as I know something of the technology involved (though not in the replication industry) and are we being screwed by the content owners with higher prices here to our chain stores. It will be interesting to see the take up of Flexplay technology in the next year. If you do not know what Flexplay is then a web do a search, you find that of interest.
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mariomart
21/02/2006 03:40 PM
Shows like Battlestar Galactica are not shown by our regional networks, no option but to download.
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MasterpinE
21/02/2006 04:14 PM
This is simply a sign that Australian broadcasters lack quantity and quality. Having only 3 real free-to-air stations (Not including SBS and ABC, both of which do little to cater for the age groups in question), all of which lag behind the US in thier screening of series means that Australians like myself have to go elsewhere to get the latest episodes of quality television. Many series dont even see the light of day over here ('American Dad' and 'Battlestar Galactica' to name a couple), so we really have no other choice. Satelite services like Foxtel are only an option for few, leaving the internet to pick up the slack. Of note here is that despite the lack of screen-time for shows such as 'Firefly' and 'Family Guy', DVD sales in Australia are quite good. Now just who do we thank for that...
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John
21/02/2006 06:16 PM
It's far simpler, I think, than just wanting to get it as soon as it's released. The free to air stations in Australia suck. All the native programming (such as Home and Away, Berts Family Feud, etc) are all rubbish, and when the really good content is aired, it's typically done so late at night. It's quite pathetic, and this I think is one of the bigger drivers behind Aussies 'pirating' these TV shows. Hopefully stats like these don't scare the broadcasters into trying to protect their 'copyrights' (this only serves to drive people towards 'pirating' the shows), but rather adapt their programming to obvious 'needs'.
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anonymous
21/02/2006 07:05 PM
Torrents of TV shows have caused me, quite deliberatly, to purchase expensive box sets on DVD. If I like a series, I will buy it. (Eg I have all 5 "The Sopranos" box sets" and all the 24 box sets). My wife likes a particular series from the abroad, shown here 12-14 months later. I have spent over $600 purchasing that entire series on DVD from the UK, even AFTER downloading the original series when shown in the UK. I gave up on FTA TV about 5 years ago (ads and broken series ruined it for me), and spend my time on the net instead, watching ABC TV for news/current affairs only. Then I bought the Sopranos Series 1 cheap on DVD, and realised I do like watching television, its just the horrible commercials and interruptions on FTA TV that ruin the experience of watching TV, not the content itself. I susequently spent $200+ buying all series of the Sopranos, and watched them all gloriously on my HTPC/projector without ads in high quality. I must have been one of the only people on earth to have never seen an episode of 24 until about 2004. I bought the box set on a whim, liked it so much, I bought ALL the box sets, and am torrenting the current series too. Piracy is not all bad. Piracy, in just 3 examples, has caused me to spend $1000+ on DVD's that I would never have otherwise purchased - money direct to the producers/distributors of the series, not the woeful TV network initially butchering the series. That's more than I've spent on the cinema in about 5 years of buying tickets (the only thing I see at the movies are "blockbuster" movies that take advantage of huge screens and sound...I wait for the rest and buy the DVD when released and enjoy them at home instead of paying $14*2 for tickets plus $5 for an icecream at the cinema). Having said all that, DVD's are too expensive, and I would buy a *LOT* more if they were cheaper ($20-ish new release instead of $35). I have 500+ DVD's so I qualify for comment as a continual purchaser over about 8 years, buying long before they arrived in Australia. The global economy is here, and if the Australian TV networks don't catch up, they will lose, big time. I torrent, and I pay for series because I buy them on DVD. But for every one of me, there must be 50 who just download and never purchase a thing. I'm not saying I'm any better, but I'm choosing a model that works for me, because I do not waste my valuable free time watching moronic ads and ruined series on FTA TV. I purchase them using the only (current) model available, and torrent those shows the old-school networks stupidly refuse to sell me cheaply via some other avenue. I would buy good, well produced TV content (eg Sopranos, 24 etc) if I have a proper, non-DRM vehicle for doing do, in a timely fashion, and not 6+ months after release somewhere else while being butchered to death in an Aussie FTA TV studio.
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chumbles
21/02/2006 11:04 PM
here is another point. good australian conent. this IS possible, does anyone remember a small show called Farscape? you know, canned after the 4th series, then the fans pushed and got a mini-series made to make up for the tbc at the end of season 4. you know, the fact that it still hasnt finished airing at channel 9 (who were the producers) and i legally OWN the dvd's, brought here. did we download the series while it was 2 and a bit seasons ahead in the US, a show that was made here... why yes we did. as has been said by others, shown out of order (stargate seasons 3,4,5 all mixed together - what a wonderful timeline) (firefly shown with about the same respect as what fox had for it...) or just randomly, different times, horrible watermarks and then there is the advertising If i was offered content that was up to date (i mean, if it was shown last night in america, i should be able to buy it now...) then i would. as it stands, i download my tv, and when the ability to buy the boxset comes, i buy it. I am a pirate, and dont care. when the ability comes that i dont HAVE to be, just to watch what I want on the box, then I wont be. til then, i am sticking with piracy (cause it is morally better than what most australian tv companies do to us...)
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SoreGums
22/02/2006 02:14 AM
I pay $135 /month for my internet connection, 70% of that bandwidth is for getting my TV fix! I look into my TV directory and there are 65 shows in there that I've downloaded or currently download. I do it because I want my TV now! not in 6 months or never... Not because I'm a flat out pirate, if I didn't need to download so much TV my internet bill would be sooo much cheaper. I'm effectively paying for my tv fix already, just not the people who make the tv shows (via watching fta).
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wouldnt u like to no
22/02/2006 02:16 AM
yeh well i download stuff from then net cause i get to watch a whole series by the time the second ep is on tv, also it comes in handy just being able to watch it anytime u want once u have downloaded it and it dont cost a cent exept for the internet connection cost, it's good to c us aussie dl more movies and stuff of the net than every other country cause it just goes to show how much smarter we r not having to pay for stuff GO AUSSIE GO
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Draffa
22/02/2006 06:27 AM
For myself, I don't really have much interest in wether a TV show is broadvast here in Oz six days or six months after it's been broadcast in the US or EU. I'm a mad Stargate fan, but have yet to download a single episode. What _does_ irritate the living [expletive deleted by management] out of me is when Aussie TV stations buggerize around with the boradcast times, pull shows with no warning, or bury them in late night slots, while garbage like Headland, Big Brother and Neighbours monopolise the peak viewing timeslots. Sci-Fi is particularly hard-hit by this practice (although I commend Channel Ten for having the guts to screen Battlesstar Galactica 2004/2005 in a near-peak timeslot). Channel Nein! is the major villian when it comes to ignoring it's viweing public's wishes.
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L
22/02/2006 02:19 PM
I believe that your figures are distorted. Bittorrent ---------- Available in all areas. - YES - available to everyone with modem or a friends friends former roommate that once knew someone who owned a modem. Episodes aired in order - YES - you can watch them consecutively if you want to. Consecutive episodes aired each week - YES if you want Episodes edited heavily to reduce offense to really tiny minority groups - NO there is no censorship Number of episodes of the L-Word aired - All of them. Number of episodes of <insert show> aired - All of them. Number of cop shows aired in a week - None if you dont want to. Episodes aired at the advertised time - NO it is when I want. TV -- Available in all areas. - NO your local t.v. station can cancel any episode at any time or even put Sport on instead. You will never see the episode. Episodes aired in order - Usually episodes are aired in the following order: The pilot. Episode 9, 10, 11, 12, a six week break, 13 then 2, 4, 3, 6, 7, another 6 week break, 14 then 5. If you are lucky. Consecutive episodes aired each week - NO if there is a sporting event then your episode gets canned and moved to the Non-ratings season random number generator called "season encore". If you are lucky. Episodes aired at the advertised time - NO it's at a special time each week as we try a new slot to garner ratings. Episodes edited heavily to reduce offense to really tiny minority groups - YES the entire show in some cases. Number of episodes of the L-Word aired - almost all of season 1. Number of episodes of <insert show> aired - You're kidding right! They've got episodes of Seinfeld, The Simpsons season 3, and 20 to 1 to air for primetime. What is this Science Fiction thing? You mean we need to try something new? Number of cop shows aired in a week - 918. Thus you see your figures are incorrect. There are only 1000 Australians downloading T.V. shows and they are providing DVDs, CDs and video tapes to the other nineteen million nine hundred and ninty nine thousand Australians who cant stand T.V anymore. L.
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Hotdog
22/02/2006 04:28 PM
Damm, when it boils down to it, I would... Where do people get these BitTorrents torrents?.. I would love to see the new Dr Who 5 minute charity segment shown on UK TV but will never be show here in Australia
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me
22/02/2006 10:52 PM
Not only is it the time delay between countries, it's also the fact that I can watch said episode in my own time *and* without having loud, obnoxious advertising pumped at me every 7.5 minutes!
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Anon
24/02/2006 12:21 AM
Instead of using a marketing company that makes money off p2p research , how about doing youre own reseach ? Their was been serval polls and servays and UK and Australia are top downloaders of tv shows in the world using p2p (bit torrent/emule/etc) USA doesnt download tv shows as much because they get the LOCAL content aired . TV shows have been pirated for 8 years , Its only with the ease of use of Bit torrent and the popularly of it that downloading using quota'ed boardboard connections have incresed . Offering pay to watch tv shows is not the fix . AIR TV Shows and MOVIES THE SAME TIME everywere in the WORLD Look at the PROBLEM , why do people download tv shows : a) Its not in Australian b) You can watch the program without ads C) You can watch it 4 to 13 months ahead of Australia d) You can watch it in correct order e) You watch it the same time as its aired in USA/UK f) Australias have a craving for new media (since we are last to get everything) g) Australia is a crimal country to begin with Britian invaded and stole the land off the natives Then Britian bought over crimals Tv show example : Desperate Housewives 2x03 aired in AU on Monday 20 Feb 2006 It was aired in USA on 10 Oct 2005 Desperate Housewives 2x15 aired in USA on 21 Feb 2006 and was pirated on the internet and avail to download the same day without ads in HDTV quality. Movie example: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire DVD Retail Dates: China - 20 Feb 2006 USA - 07 March 2006 ( http://www.amazon.com/ ) Singapore/Thailand - 17 March 2006 UK - 20 March 2006 Egypt - 23 March 2006 Greece/Russia - 27 March 2006 Finland - 29 March 2006 Misc - 03 April 2006 (Czech / Holland /Hungary /Poland /Portugal /Romania/Turkey/ Hong Kong / India /Korea /Taiwan /New Zealand) Japan - 21 April 2006 Australia - 26 April 2006 ( http://www.ezydvd.com.au ) About 95% of all movies in Australia have already been pirated before the are avail to watch in the movies cineamas Offer movies gobaly the same day/week Australians for the last 10 years are sick of waiting for tv shows and media , paying over the internet to watch it the same time as people in the USA is not the solution . Comment my Charliebrownau
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maxdoc
27/02/2006 10:32 AM
Many fair and unfair comments, but whatever the failings of the networks, its condoning thievery, you have to unhinge basic integrity and ripoff the artists , and the investors in the shows just to satisf your urge for entertainment. If you going to do it , dont roll out the "oh their all evil because they dont do it the way I like" justification. Just be honest and say , Im willing to be a thief for my own gratification. You and a million shoplifters. Its the same, there is no logical, moral or practical difference. Please get off the the moral badwagon, your arguements have no place in it, and there are plenty more platforms more suitable.
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Skyscraper
27/02/2006 09:08 PM
I agree in many ways that offering tv shows for sales like music will be a huge flop in Aus. As an Australian I'm very annoyed of our deley in the airing of some shows and this is the main reason why P2P is such a temptation. That delay in some cases can be almost 13 episodes or even more. Simple airing these shows with little to no delay would quickly correct piracy in the TV industry within Australia. Downloading and watching TV shows does take some time as user may have to spend up to 3 hours or more to download and burn a working dvd. With shows be aired with very little delay users would be less interest of taking the time of downloading/burning as the users could simply just wait a day or two and watch it quite freely and legally. on TV. To CNET you have it %100 right on this one.
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IValaine
01/03/2006 12:03 AM
having looked into i-tunes tv episode downloads i have found one other major drawback. or rather money maker for people like i-tunes. the idea of buying a single song from an album, or the 2 or 3 that you like was a birlaliant idea. even if you bought every song at $1 a pop from an album (not including the cheaper album price for d/l) you can thus own the music for less than buying a $20-30 cd. now comes their scheme. by releasing episodes for paid download, i-tunes will probably ensure in at least 50% of cases (for those that aren't downloading a missed episode) that they will download the next episode. and the next. and the next. the average epsidoes per tv season? about 20. the cost of a single episiode from i-tunes? $2.99 i figure close enough to $5 AUD. 20x5= $100. the price of a box set of DVDs including special features etc from a dvd store? probably between $50-80 (excluding startrek at full price) it's a scam. it truly is. people get sucked in with trying to d/l eps legally. could you imagine if you wanted to d/l multiple episodes/week? the cost would be substantial, and you don't get the special fetures and extras.
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bart
02/03/2006 02:08 PM
The TV Stations are suffering from the runaway success of their own shows. It is only human nature to want to know what happens in a suspenseful show. So as the article suggests the only way they will fix this problem is if they broadcast the shows globally in a very short time frame (a few days)
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c2r
17/03/2006 01:00 AM
Maybe the networks dont know the reason why people download. We live in a world of too much information, what do i mean?, well i dont want to know what happens in a series before i get a chance to watch it. I heard who shot mr burns before i got to watch it, i was heart broken, i was 11 at the time. What happened on the first episode of the sopranos, was aired on sky news, jay leno and conan obrien, less than 24 hours after it aired. Channel nine still havent determined a date for the sopranos. When they are under pressure examples: A show like survivor is a who cares show and the only thing important is who wins. When survivor was huge, i mean massive, they kept up to date with the show, screening it the evening of the day they recieved it because if they didnt and the winners name got out, no one would have watched the final of the show channel nine paid big money for. wrestling has live pay per views every month, you pay money to watch these events, but the idea is the wrestling programs during the month build up this event hoping the customer will buy the pay per view. Fox 8 literally show the build up shows with the exception of "raw", before they air in the usa, beacuse if they dont show them on time, no one buys the pay per view and there are many wrestling fans they spend money on these pay per views, Fox 8 know this. During the commonwealth games fox 8 has a simpsons special, 24 hour simpsons, nothing else..... wait for it, with the exception of wrestling which has been moved to another channel and will continue to be aired in its usual time spot. WHAT I THINK THE PROBLEM IS i think that there isn't anyone at the networks that knows what they're doing. they think they know what australians want, they think they can tell australians what they should watch. Force them to watch shows they have invested money in, that are crap so they can recoup their losses. Hold on to great shows, because when ever they show them they are gonna make money. These people think they're are "in touch" with society and think they know whats best. We saw it in america, with hollywood and hollywood thought they can tell america what to watch, and last years ticket sales for movies were one of they worst ever. Its funny how a minority think they are more intelligent than the majority. We live in a democracy and no matter how stupied you think an idea is, majority rules. i might have went off track, but its hard for me to put stuff down on paper as it comes to my head, you should now what i mean.
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anonymous
17/03/2006 01:35 PM
I download tv shows for all the previously mentioned reasons. They arent shown, shown out of order, or 2 years behind. If i like the show, once its out on DVD i buy it and delete the downloaded copies. If i dont like, i simply delete having had my tv fix that tv cant/wont provide.
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Steve
09/09/2006 04:23 PM
I have absolutely no problem downloading the tv shows I want to watch from bitTorrent. The reason is as many have said, the long wait between when a show is aired in the US and when we recieve it, the poor treatment of Australian viewers by the stations and the constant annoying adverts. Would I pay for a streaming content ? no. I dont pay for Free to Air content, so why would I pay for a service that I already have. People who think that this is pircacy need to consider - We already pay for Internet access. we are already paying for the quota we download. Effectively, we are paying to watch these shows. In no way are we stealing anything. At the end of the day, many people go out and purchase the DVD sets of these shows out of a loyalty to the producers and creators of such shows. However, I download torrents, watch the show and then have no need to keep the video, and delete it. I would not purchase a dvd, no more than I would record a tv show simply to keep it. I am in no way contributing to an illegal activity, no more than I would be if I were to wait and be at the mercy of the stations when they in their own good time air a show.
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Ivalaine
03/10/2006 12:29 PM
I made a post earlier, but it's such a thought provoking topic i can't help adding another 2 cents. Foxtel apparently have only just started turning over a profit. i find that hard to believe. we got it after it had only been out a year or two, and paid about $50 a month and got almost all the channels. it seemed a good deal. then internet became a necessity for schoolwork and such, and by then foxtel had gone up a good $15/mo and had started amping up the number of ads. we decided the net was more important. now we have cable (and there's another example of companies screwing you over, stupid telstra and their 10G cap on "unlimited" plan) and even with the new faster version it's only about $70/mo i looked at how much foxtel is the other day and it was like $80/mo+ to get even half the decent channels. and i know they've amped ad levels up even further. my point is, internet is cheaper than even paying for cable tv here. and as for costs, well some of them are even worse than i satetd before. i loved gene rodenberry's Andromeda. i have every episode. i wanted to buy the dvds. you know how much it was a season? $200 so for 5 seasons that's $1000 just to own the pretty box sets. and it plays on foxtel. and then the same with tru calling which had just 6 eps in it's 2nd season before being canned. but they demand the same price to buy those 6 eps ast the full first season? i watched all of how i met your mother and my name is earl before they hit the airwaves here. and now i see they're playing earl out of order. once we were the first to see that series finale (season 9?) of SG-1 and now we are back to being a season behind?? yet Jericho we screen mere days behind the US? obviously they do have the capability to have these shows to screen alongside the Us, they just don't. i want to see shows like kyle XY, Eureka, who wants to be a superhero, and lesser known shows such as regenesis (canada) shown over here. of course, tv networks are starting to realise we expect more of them now, and some shows are available online. abcfamily.com does allow watching eps online and put them up fairly quickly, but they are so chunky to load (even with cable) and there are heaps of ads, and you don't have the convenience of watching them a bit at a time where and when you want cantstoptheserenity.com - yearly screenings of serenity in your state!
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maxpower
24/12/2006 12:24 PM
Hhmmm... and all of the shows mentioned as ranking highly on the list are US shows, which people in the US see for free as they are made. What reason would they have to download them. If Australians didn't have to wait anywhere from 12 months to 2 years to see these shows, perhaps we wouldn't feel the need to download them. Also, Australian networks can't seem to manage to show some top rating US programs at reasonable times and have been known to pull them off the air only to start them up again 12 months later at a totally different point in the series (smallville comes to mind). This was what prompted me to start downloading shows. If I could see what I wanted to see on TV without being screwed around by indecisive TV networks, why would I waste my bandwith downloading it.
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Anonymous
24/12/2006 05:30 PM
Spot on. I've practically memorized the U.S. TV release schedule for my favourite shows.
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slider
19/01/2007 10:33 PM
Ive been downloading shows since i was 13 years old and now im 17! Channels Ten and Seven have no clue what they are doing, they could easily increase their viewers by showing the US top rated shows, such as stargate, battlestar, lost, desperate house wives, heroes, ugly betty and so on at decent times! It took almost 2 years for stargate and battlestar to get put on TV here and its being played at stupid times like 1 am in the morning! Foxtel is doing an alright job but its not good enough! Clearly Australian TV is not going to change, so i am just going to keep downloading until something is done about it!
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Slime
23/01/2007 08:51 AM
I reakon they should start doing shows like jericho how everyone sees it at almost the same time so there would be no point to download the show as by the time its finished or not even finished the show will be on so i reakon tv companies over the world need to make an agreement and try to follow the show jerichos footsteps
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kaz1
23/01/2007 07:34 PM
I don't watch lost, greys anatomy, house, stargate, stargate atlantis, desp housewives, prison break, ugly betty, heroes both of which haven't even started here yet on tv anymore and haven't for the past year and a half. I download them all from bit torrent. Also The Amazing Race, Surviver you have to download them otherwise you find out who has won. Nine Ten and seven are going to lose more and more if they don't start airing at the same time. there is not one show that i watch on tv...oh sorry yeah the news.
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richie
30/01/2007 11:20 PM
Its Pretty interesting to see the interest in the growth of downloading TV shows. In saying that there is an Australian Free website where you can download TV shows, with a variety of topics.. its growing and stuff as well http://www.wasabitv.com.au
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vleonc
04/02/2007 04:12 PM
i was so frustrated with channel 10 when they practically axed battlestar galactica for about 2 years that i had to download the first 2 seasons. i'm currently downloading the third season and i find its easy and effective as long as u have an internet connection with a reasonable bandwith... anyway, 10 and especially 7 need to get their act together with all these new shows only airing now in FEBRUARY when they got aired early last year in america! and don't get me started on the new sci fi channel on foxtel, EVRYTHING is repeats and they can only air the 1st season of BSG because channel 10 still has rights to air season 2...BUT they never show it! so why keep the show on 10 when they never actually show it except at 1 in the morning... anyway, that concludes my little rage about stupid FTA
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BreakingLogic
06/03/2007 06:12 AM
To anyone who doesn't realize the departure between downloading TV shows and shoplifting: Your concept of 'theft' is archaic; the producers of television content can and do still sell their product regardless of people viewing it online - something that is impossible to do with a shoplifted product. If the industry where you live does not provide a service worth paying for, people are not going to pay for it. If they then download the TV shows, this does not in *any* way equate a loss in revenue for the networks or producers of a given TV show; they weren't getting the money in either case. There is a vast moral differance between shoplifting and downloading, and anyone who feels they are even remotely in the same category is completely out of touch with technology and reality. Shoplifting means the store gets no money for the product they made, since only one person can own the physical copy. Downloading means that the producers/network get no money from...someone they were not going to get money from anyway. Can you find any harm there? They still enjoy the ability to sell their product and profit from it - proven by, if nothing else, the silly-high revenues that hit tv shows generate. Two million per ad minute is not an unreasonable figure - and that's in the face of all of us 'shoplifting downloaders'. Allow me to play a tiny little violin for the complaining industry who attempts to paint the civil 'copyright infringement' with the same brush as the crime-against-the-state 'theft'. As soon as the current generation of rich white media barons and industry captains retires/dies, there will be a chance for reasonable laws to be formed. Until then, hold fast to your old bastions of media understanding (or lack thereof).
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trio
06/03/2007 02:19 PM
I think the keyword here is risk; the free-to-air channels in Australia simply don't take the risks that their American counterparts do with respect to programming. Waiting to see if a show is the next big US hit before airing it in Australia just won't cut it with tech-savvy TV consumers, who know what they want and where to get it, without the advertisements.
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Questioner
30/04/2007 07:42 PM
Is it legal to download a show that will never be shown in Australia? I'm thinking TNA Impact episodes.
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torrentfan
10/06/2007 08:13 PM
What about the debacle viewers had to go through if you were following The Shield? A top rating program in the US but here it suffered continual timeslot change until Channel 10 axed it mid season. 10 left fans no option but downloading it from torrents, by the time they put season 2 back on TV I was up to season 6. So up yours 10
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elmfudd
05/08/2007 09:52 AM
Yep your right and im sick of it, i think i too will be torrenting from now on. Im just so bloody sick of adds , like who watches adds anyways. i use my harddrive to tape em and super fastforward through the adds.
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big guns
17/09/2007 11:45 PM
If FTA stations stopped airing spoilers in there ads maybe i would actually watch TV.
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The_Fiddler
03/11/2007 09:40 PM
I don't think we should have to pay at all for somethign that will be shown free-to-air. There should be a free, legal downloading service that has embedded ads (Some web-series are already doing this) as money for TV programs comes from ads. By embedded, I don't mean ads in between like normal TV, cause they will just get cut out, but embedded over the bottom of the actual program. Code Monkeys does this quite well. If that option was available, I would use it.
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rosros
04/12/2007 10:08 PM
I certainly wouldn't object to paying for episodes of tv programs. A lot of people use bit torrents to download episodes they have missed on tv. You can't ring up channel 7 and ask to pay for a copy of that episode, so what other option is there.
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wodonga
25/02/2008 05:25 PM
I understand why downloading movies is illegal but why TV? You can record it legally but not download it....the product is still the same....stupid system. And TV channels themselves offer many shows for download....what if you miss a free to air TV show that you could have leagally downloaded? Surely you can go to the stations web site and download it...or any site for that matter....they are free to air for goodness sake!
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sry
04/03/2008 12:05 AM
actually it is illegal to tape shows
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felltimber
20/03/2008 11:19 AM
You are wrong. Its not anymore in Oz. The law changed in 2005. Its called time shifting. Details at the govt. web pages. If you tape a show you are legally allowed to watch it once and then it must be deleted....that's called time shifting. It cannot be lent to a third party either. Still stupid, but legally you can tape TV in Oz.
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connie
04/07/2008 03:31 PM
I tried to use BitTorrent and it won't let me. Its says US Only. I am from Australia. Whats the go? someone please help me out!!! conniefahey@hotmail.com
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