United Kingdom Leads the World in TV Downloads

SumDog writes "The UK is known for many things, great food, a wonderful climate and beautiful women. However, according to a story on the Guardian, a new study puts the UK ahead in one more category: it leads the world in TV piracy, accounting for 38.4% of the world's TV downloads, with Australia coming in second at 15.6% and the US in third at a pitiful 7.3%"

Comments

Malfunction, Will Robinson!

[Xner]

"The UK is known for many things, great food, a wonderful climate and beautiful women."

My sarcasm detector must be malfunctioning, I actually had to read that twice before it blipped ...

Re:Malfunction, Will Robinson!

[meitsjustme]

Britain, Britain, Britain! Discovered by Sir Henry Britain in sixteen-oh-ten. Sold to Germany a year later for a pfennig and the promise of a kiss. Destroyed in eighteen thirty-fourty two, and rebuilt a week later by a man. This we know. Hello. But what of the people of Britain? Who they? What do? And why?

Re:Malfunction, Will Robinson!

[CGP314]

A sarcasm detector? Oh that's useful.


-Colin

Re:Malfunction, Will Robinson!

[chrisbeatty]

There are some hot women, you just need to have drunk quite a lot first!!! (-;

Re:Malfunction, Will Robinson!

[Xner]

You owe me a coffee. And a keyboard.

Re:Malfunction, Will Robinson!

[Zilquis]

I'm a lady, with a ladies comment. I'm all flustered now and must sit down for tea and biscuits. I'm a lady you know

Re:Malfunction, Will Robinson!

[Zilquis]

Yea but, no but, yea but, no but, yea but, no but, anyway Melanie said she saw CowboyNeal down by the bike sheds with Natalia Portman, and he was feeling er up, the dirty slag, so it coudn't have been me, so shut up

Dont know about torrents but emule links here http://www.the-realworld.de/modules.php?name=ed2k& op=Category&cid=1&csid=541

Re:Malfunction, Will Robinson!

[Anonymous Coward]

Again with the stereotypes.
As an Expat I am sick of people saying that Britain is a lousy place, with lousy weather, food, beer, women etc.
I hate the politicians [all partys], one reason I will never return, but the climate is great.
[Warm and moist!]
Try living in a semi-arid climate like Colorado. You have to wear skin moisturizer like some girly-man. And the static shocks off of car doors will drive you mad.
Then the food. It is a pitty that the people who appreciate British food the least are the British themselves. The french and italians love their own food, and by talking loudly about it for many years have made it popular worldwide.
The British propensity for self deprecating humour has extended to their food, and made it a global joke. Which Is unfortunate. British food Is actually a damn sight better than it is given credit.
We have hundreds of varieties of cheeses like Cheddar, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Leicester [Red and normal], Wenslydale, to name just a few.
We also have a huge variety of sausages, think lincolnshire and cumberland, and even a meatball called a faggot [Not very PC nowadays, but hey the UK definition is older than the US definition], made from liver and onions, for which I used to run home from secondary school for on Thursdays. ["Thursdays. Faggots and chips for tea"]
We also have the traditional Roast dinner, with Yorkshire Puddings, and it is delicious. [Far better than the US so-called London Broil rip-off.], many different types of meat pie, bread that tastes like bread [How can Americans put up with the bread they eat is beyond me], and of course, our famous fish and chips.
Plus the beer is a damn sight better than the water that comes out of the US. [Except for some small microbreweries and brew-pubs that actually make something with a flavour that you can drink at non-cryogenic temperatures.]
Having lived in various countries I can also testify that the ratio of "mighty-fine" to "minger" is not so bad in the UK as common prejudice would dictate.
Even in the bleak industrial north of the country. ["Eeh, It's grim up north"]
So stop with the ridiculous, sarcastic, and ignorant, jokes about some of the things I, and most other expats, actually miss of the "home country".

Re:Malfunction, Will Robinson!

[Anonymous Coward]

As the comedian Billy Connolly once said, "There's no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes."

Re:Malfunction, Will Robinson!

[dcarey]

Heven is where the police are British, the lovers French, the machanics German, the chefs Italian, and it's all organsed by the Swiss.

Hell is where the police are German, the lovers Swiss, the machanics French, the chefs British, and it's all organsed by the Italians.

We hereby note that the latter arguement should be changed to: Hell is where the police are German, the lovers Swiss, the machanics French, the chefs British, the spellers Slashdot readers, and it's all organsed by the Italians

Wrong number

[ghoti]

According to TFA, the UK accounts for 38.4% of _EU_ downloads, but only 18.5% worldwide. For comparison, the worldwide number makes a bit more sense ;)

Makes a bit of sense.

[Grendel Drago]

Well, since US television tends not to make it to Britain for a long time after it airs here, it makes a bit of sense. A lot of shows have a one- or two-season lag time. It makes sense that fans who follow the show online would want to see the show as it comes out.

On the other hand, I score TV shows because I fucking hate commercials, and because I don't have an actual television any more. Funny how original Star Trek was about fifty-five minutes long, while newer "full hour" shows are more like forty-two minutes. That's nearly four times the ads. Yecch.

Also, it's convenient to be able to watch them when and how I'd like. And I get to insulate myself from the vast bulk of crap that's on TV most of the time, and pick the best of what's out there. (Firefly, Babylon 5 and perhaps some softcore lesbian porn: The L Word.)

--grendel drago

Re:Makes a bit of sense.

[Xner]

Well, since US television tends not to make it to Britain for a long time after it airs here, it makes a bit of sense. A lot of shows have a one- or two-season lag time. It makes sense that fans who follow the show online would want to see the show as it comes out.

It is also common for some of the less popular series (including some that we geeks tend to appreciate more than the normal tv-watching person) to get cancelled or postponed by the broadcaster mid-season, or to undergo some intruiging re-arrangements in broadcast schedule etc. For example here in Holland, I have seen the first seaon of Futurama on three different broadcasters, but the final season is just now hitting the cable.

If you really case to watch a whole series properly in order and in a timely manner, downloading is pretty much your only option. If you drop the timely requirement, waiting for the DVD releases is a close second.

Re:What shows?

[ghoti]

If you had read the article, you'd know it's 24, Enterprise, and Six Feet Under ...

Excuse me?

[alexwcovington]

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious, but it's television. Signals broadcast through the air. Sorry to burst the bubbles of the folks in Hollywood, but you can't control the genie if you're throwing it out of the bottle at the speed of light. Accept the fact that people have the right to record their television shows, and don't complain when they trade them.

more numbers...

[Cryptnotic]

Considering that the UK has roughly 1/5th or so of the population of the U.S. (60 million UK, compared to probably 300 million US), the number of downloads per capita is much larger over there.

Re:TV Tax

[Xner]

Expounding a bit more on your point two ..

ii) Unlike other European countries, they don't need TV companies to dub/subtitle it into a different language.

This is very significant. Even here in the netherlands where most people speak english at an excellent level, the majority of the population is not able to follow a sub-title-less show. I have no idea whether it is due to lazyness (being used to reading subs), actual language problems or unfamiliarity with accents and vocabulary I have no idea. However it is a rather large issue.

BTW, the french have a very active fansubbing community for most mainstream shows. Just search on you favourite P2P netowork for VOST (voix originelle sous-titres francaises).

Re:Britain TV is a bit different.

[ChrisJones]

We only pay for the BBC via taxes, which provides two channels on terrestrial analogue TV, about 7 on terrestrial digital and the same on satellite/cable.
The rest of the broadcasters in this country are paid for by commercials, spread through the programs at ~15 minute intervals. They are far less intrusive than US ads and we never do things like run the credits, go to a break, come back to the show, break five minutes later, bit more show, ads, then roll the end credits ;)

Easy solution to this one

[ItsIllak]

If you consider the following.

1/ The US networks insist on giving us shows AT LEAST 8 or 9 weeks behind them.

2/ Some are then subject to the whim of Sky's programming schedule (Alias for instance has been hopping time and channel since it's inception).

3/ Some don't, or may not make it over here at all (not seen any word on Lost yet?

So, how about a brave new world for the networks? Start up their own bittorrent site. Allow the international TV stations to buy shows to be shown 5 days behind the US broadcast, then after a week seed them for general download. The bonus? They can leave the adverts IN! It would mean a new sales model for them (selling adverts at the BT site point), but it would also mean a new revenue stream. It should't affect thier ability to sell the repeats as there's little difference (and BT would not likely be mass market for a while).

If any TV execs are listening, I'd be happy to quote to manage the service for you!