Aussie TV Networks Fight BitTorrent

An anonymous reader writes "It seems impatient TV viewers have discovered BitTorrent in Australia mainly because the networks there are so slow; programs are at times behind by up to 8 months! According to an independent study, it takes an average of four months to watch the latest episodes of top-rated shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives. There are now calls for TV networks to consider offering episodes for download at a small cost."

Like the Peacekeeper wars

[mgv]

If you were as much a farscape fan as I am, you would understand the frustration in not being able to get the peacekeeper wars by any legal means in Australia.

The dissapointing thing is that there is no reason why this shouldn't be available in Oz right now. Its not even like film, where the latest releases only have a certain number of reels to go around the world.

If I can get a high quality copy easily over the internet, why can't the networks figure out how to do it for a profit?

Michael

Absolutely

[ta bu shi da yu]

I got StarGate Atlantis because I didn't think they were going to show it at all. However, now they have (gah!). That's not the only reason I'd use it though: the networks are notorious for rescheduling shows at inconvinient times - or they drop them altogether! So hence we need to use BitTorrent.

they just now figured it out?

[dj42]

I don't understand how media companies can be so far behind on figuring out digital distribution over the internet...

i would pay a "reasonable fee" for tv downloads...

[fredrickleo]

riveting stuff... of course american networks should just make their tv shows available for a fee, and allow international customers with a valid credit card or paypal to purchase the content too. I'm sure however, that the networks make far more money hawking the tv shows abroad to other networks after they've had their run in the states.

Top rated?

[Queer Boy]

Are we talking about top-rated shows here in the US or in Australia? The US-centric view that Aussies are clamoring for TV shows that aren't even a season old here sounds ridiculous.

My limited knowledge of Australian TV has shown me that Aussies prefer BBC programmes over what's showing in the US.

Typical

[Heem]

Typical Corporate response: Fight the technology, instead of the real issue. Lets say they can defeat the torrent, then what? You have to fight every other method of downloading the episode, and then just for fun lets say they succeed at that, you'd have to fight someone in another country sending someone a tape of the episode.

The correct answer is: If this is truly affecting your business, then you need to provide the customer with what they want, in a way that will allow you to realize a profit. Get the episodes on in a timely fashion, and they will watch.

This is an opportunity

[nate nice]

Hopefully there is some entrepreneuring Aussie television network that understands this market and can use their leverage as a broadcaster to quickly get this media to those that demand it. Or they could be non-capitalists and just complain about this and ask for legislation, but I wouldn't expect a business to do this... C'mon boy's, go get 'em! There's gold in them hills!

Why pay? It's ad-supported!

[ilyaaohell]

I never understood the concept behind either paying for TV show downloads, or for the broadcast networks rejecting the medium. Last I checked, broadcast television access was free. It's free because they show several segments of advertising in the middle of the show. Why would the medium matter to these companies? Why stick with television sets?

The advantage of downloading stuff is that you can watch it whenever you want. My schedule may not permit me to watch the shows I want. If you give me the same exact show with the same exact ads over the internet, I will gladly watch it! With the ads! I don't give a damn about the show not being ad-free, and I don't give a damn about them even developing a technology preventing you from fast-forwarding past the advertising. I'll watch the damn advertising, just like I watch it on TV. Just let me watch the damn show at the computer if the need strikes me! You lose NOTHING. Even if someone does fast-forward through the commercials, someone else will watch the same file TWICE, thus increasing their exposure to the advertising. Is this not an acceptable trade-off?

Re:Not just late, but...

[awful]

Well exactly - if the networks insist on treating their customers badly, eventually their customers will look for alternatives. And then the networks will turn around and scream at the government to help them stop their customers exercising freedom of choice.

Aussie TV Networks, Fight bitTorrent!

[FidelCatsro]

The title is a bit misleading in its current form , after reading the artical i find that it should be "Aussie TV Networks sit around doing little ".
This is a world wide phenominon and i personaly download some TV shows , One simple fact why i do it here ,German TV dubs programs and i hate dubbing(that and i dont own a TV anymore though i do have access to one if needed).

Its more than just the fact the TV shows are not broadcast in a region in a timely fashion or that they want an origional show when they want it .
DVD-/+R/rw and CD-r/rw are far cheaper than comparitive vhs tapes , Having the show exactly when you want it without having to worry about setting the recorder (etc) is relaxing ,People hate adverts (20 minute shows that last 45 minutes due to 25 minutes of intersperced Crap for things that i do'nt need or want and am less likely to buy after being forced to view the tripe that they purvay) and finaly its just so dammed cool at the moment ( i ran out of good reasons).

too bad...

[Lunix Torvalds]

that other English speaking countries are unable to make their own TV shows and must therefore import everything from the US (especially stuff like the West Wing).

Not that the US would run their shows (except rarely on PBS) , but maybe they could make something successful at home.

The beacon of Western civilization.

Re:Typical

[mystik]

If Aussie tv is anything like American tv, you must remember one important thing.

You are not the customer.

The advertisers are.

It suddenly becomes apparent that they *are* doing what the customers want: namely, full control of the distribution channel.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

3 things certain in life

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd gladly pay a feww dollars/month to download TV eps (sans commericals)

There are at least three things certain in life:

1. Death
   
2. Taxes
   
3. COMMERCIALS
   

When cable TV was beginning to offer premium channels in the U.S. the expectation was that since you were paying for the channels, you wouldn't have to watch commercials.

That didn't last.

Now, commercials are even being shown in many movie theaters in the U.S. The commercials are shown during the time advertised as the start of the movie, so it's not like you only see them if you're early to a show.

I'm not surprised one bit that people are retaliating against the sensory overload of obnoxious product propaganda, both in TV and in the cinema.

Re:Why pay? It's ad-supported!

[RocketRainbow]

The above comment is not insightful!

Here is the real model for TV distribution and why your proposal doesn't work:

1. Some studio makes a TV show.
2. They sell it to national TV channels who distribute it to their local broadcasters
3. Local and national advertisers pay the local and national TV stations to run the show.

Now if you were to watch over the Intermanet, it wouldn't have the same local ads in it, now, would it?
Perhaps the TV could advertise - "Did you miss a show? Watch it streaming on www.ChannelNineCanberra.com.au!" and you could get your own ads for porno and fireworks (or whatever sells in your local area). But then the USA channels are going to be mighty miffed that you're robbing them of their potential viewers by broadcasting this stuff on the Intermanet. As are the local distributers in Finland, for example.

But most of all, the people who actually make and sell the TV show are going to be highly dubious about changing their distribution model in this way.

Actually I think it's silly. Given that an hour of your time spent watching ads costs about $1, you'd think you could just pay the people who make the stuff $1 for every hour of TV you watch over your computer using their streamer-viewer or some login account or who knows what. Porno manages to sell just videos and many of them keep in business, so why can't the TV people sell videos?

But simply expecting TV channels to take the feed you would have got and stick it on the internet is not going to work. How many times did you watch it? What targeted ads did you see? The advertisers aren't going to pay for this loss of control. Local streamed downloads seem easier, but there will be licensing issues as the internet broadcaster tries to convince all the other broadcasters that it's still worth them buying in (the studio will not be convinced that the internet broadcaster will make more money than all the world's TV channels).

Please remember that you are not the customers of this industry - you are consumers whose behaviour is legislated for the economic benefit of the TV channels and advertisers. They are going to do what works best for them and you are going to comply or else. Disagree? Don't watch TV!

This isn't obvious?

[Anonymous Coward]

Posting AC, as I don't want a visit from the cops.
I'm one of those Aussies. I watch several shows a week via torrent. Here's why:

• Lost is 11 episodes behind;
• Alias Season 4 hasn't begun;
• 24 Season 4 hasn't begun;
• The West Wing has been cancelled partway through Season 5 (which was begun after Season 6 started in the US!) and has always been shown after 10:30PM here.

Same goes for many other shows, most of which I don't watch, or don't care enough about to download. The HDTV rips I can watch on my computer, and the quality is excellent. Sometimes I cut to SVCD if my wife wants to watch them as well (she will sit in front of the PC, but isn't a fan of it).
I watch them, and then delete them. I'll be buying then on DVD as soon as they are available to me.
Frankly, Australian free-to-air networks haven't the faintest. Then again, nor does our (essentially one only) pay-tv provider, which I subscribe to onlyfor the 24x7 news and Super 12 Rugby.

Re:too bad...

[BaseLineNL]

Doctor Who
The Office
Spaced
Absolutely Fabulous
Coupling
Farscape (made in Australia, but the irony is that it gets a very bad treatment from the Aussie networks)
And there are a lot more successful shows (Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, Black Adder, etc).

Re:And New Zealand is just as bad...

[aug24]

Well, there's this program you can download... ;-)

Seriously, why do you think the UK leads the world in TV thef^H^H^H^Hdownloading? Because we don't get the decent US programs until long after the US either - but we have a huge proportion of BB connections compared to the world at large. If it weren't for the delay, nobody'd bother to download (except for using the net as a post-hoc VCR, which is where it comes in really handy for me!).

J.

Re:And New Zealand is just as bad...

[spagetti_code]

New Zealands problem is also that we have a (near) monopoly telco setting data costs. The end user effectively pays per megabyte. Most people have monthly download limits from 500MB/mo to (the highest) 10G/mo. It costs real $$$ to download video files here.

<sarcasm>
Perhaps Telecom NZ have found a natural defense against video piracy - price gouging
</sarcasm>

Re:Heak! it would even work in the US.

[Pieroxy]

From the story:
There are now calls for TV networks to consider offering episodes for download at a small cost
I am now confused... Don't these people run TV channels? Wouldn't that be their preferred way to distribute TV shows?

Re:Like the Peacekeeper wars

[cerebis]

So the solution is to replace a perfectly functional DVD player -- that a few years ago was the only option -- or switch to a region that prevents you from using local DVDs and then buy it all online?

I sort of still like the concept of renting a film, watching it and returning it. I save 50%-75% of the purchase price while acknowledging the likelihood of desiring a 2nd viewing makes the risk of wanting to do so drastically less than the savings. I know this doesn't follow the current trend of constantly buying DVDs and then plonking them on a self to gather dust.

There is more than enough to read, hear and see in the world without self imposed reruns, and I get much more satisfaction from the experience than from the satisfaction of ownership.

Re:Aussies

[1u3hr]

Many low budget movies that get big releases have the soundtrack redone from scratch with better equipment. If the studio was going to release it in America, it made sense to redo the soundtrack with voices that Americans could easily understand. It's not a dialogue focused movie anyway.

With respect, bullshit. if it wasn't a "dialogue focused" movie, why would they bother to redub at all? I've seen and heard it with the original soundtrack, there's nothng "wrong" with it except the accents. And Mad Max didn't get a big US release, Mel Gibson was unknown in the US, I think it went out on the drive-in circuit. They just thought the rednecks couldn't cope with the ocker accents.

Re:Not just late, but...

[Alioth]

You aren't their customers though - you are their product. The advertisers are their customers and they are selling your 'eyeballs'.

I don't think you realise...

[Anonymous Coward]

that the TV studios who make the shows sell them around the world. The stations that buy the rights don't automatically buy the rights to a show as soon as it airs in the USA. They need to know that it's successful and popular. They need to judge whether there is a profitable market for it in their home country. Then also the makers of the shows don't always offer the shows out for sale right away. Then there is the matter of TV schedules that are planned months in advance sometimes. Networks like to air certain shows at certain times of the year when the audience will be larger like the autumn or spring. It's no wonder that the rest of the world doesn't get to see everything at the same time.

In the US there are dozens of channels airing all these shows. In other countries there are a smaller number of channels for all the programmes to be shown on so not everything makes it through right away, or indeed at all.

VOD

[Anonymous Coward]

Here we pay for Video On Demand and there is a cool "series" section where I can choose to see Star Gate Atlantis episodes 1-20. It plays them without commercials. It's great and none of the standard stations play them.

(Cogeco in Canada)

All TV should be VOD.

Re:Like the Peacekeeper wars

[Harassed]

I think it's important to point out that while Canada is a massive country (2nd or 3rd largest iirc) with a relatively small population (half that of the UK!), it is also a fact that the vast bulk of the population - somewhere in the high 90%s - live within an hour or so's drive of the US border!

Re:No sympathy for Australian networks

[boldra]

You hit on one of the main issues here: spoilers. I just started watching BSG - downloaded via P2P because I'm in Germany. Now that I've finished watching the first series I can actually talk about the show with American friends and read American blogs. Previously I ran the risk of having the thing ruined because someone accidentally gave away a plot element. The Broadcasters need to realise that the "global village" is causing their products to depreciate if they keep them on the shelves. It's not so much that they're losing customers because of episode downloads, they're losing cusomters because of modern communications!

Re:3 things certain in life

[emilymildew]

I have a problem with paying $10 for a movie ticket and then being forced to watch a commercial. They take my entire attention and use the extremely loud sound that the theatre is equipped with. I can't talk with my friends during the commercials; they're too loud.

And where does that money go, exactly? Oh, right back to the theater owners. Bah. I wish that there were more than just the few options for theaters where I live so I could quit going to ones that showed commercials.

Re:Like the Peacekeeper wars

[LWATCDR]

" Yet, we have two Satellite television providers."
That is because it is easy for Canada to piggy back on the US satellites. A satellite that covers the US will also cover a lot of Canada. Our common language makes it easy for us to share shows as well.
Australia would need it's own satellite since there is not Mega English speaking population for it to share with.
Yes Canada is huge but a large amount of that is land is totally lacking in people and Internet access. Look at the Dempster highway. How many miles is is? How many towns over 1000 are on it? How many hours between towns. Canada even has HUGE as it is the population tends to cluster. I think Australia tends to be evenly spread out. Probably a greater percentage pf the population live in towns under 1000 than Canada.
Finally Canada is a better market for big advertisers. A lot of companies sell in both the US and Canada. The US and most of Canada are so close culturally and physically you can almost treat them as a single market. Australia is a HUGE pain for an American company to sell into. Trust me my company sells in both. Canada is easy for us to travel too and the government is less of a hassle to deal with. Although I did have one dealing with there tax department that was just odd. The Goverment of Canada is one of our customers. Back before the internet we had to send them updates. Well we got a call from from there tax department wanting to know how much the updates where worth. I said $3 the value of the disks. The did not like that answer. It seems that the the government wanted the government to pay import taxes on the updates to the government! This is when I invented the term taxerbation.

Re:Like the Peacekeeper wars

[Anonymous Coward]

In the UK on the BBC we have about 3 minutes of adverts per hour

It's worth specifying that these aren't commercials. They're exclusively adverts for other BBC programs. That means that, unlike most commercials, they tend not to be obnoxious, to have some relevance to the surrounding material, and to be advertising something the viewer might conceivably be interested in.

Unlike on commercial TV. For example, I watched Enterprise the other night, and every five-minute commerical break was framed by adverts for some mobile phone company that thought I would be interested in "celebrity gossip". Excuse me? I'm a geek! I'm watching Star Trek for heaven's sake! Why the fuck are they wasting my time babbling about celebrity gossip?!

Thank God for mute buttons.

Re:Like the Peacekeeper wars

[recursiv]

yeah, and there are 50 states. states are small.