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BBC Episodes Legally Available Via Peer To Peer
Kript writes "According to the BBC they are going to make a number of their shows available on the Azureus network. A number of old favorites will be available such as Red Dwarf, Doctor Who and even Little Britain."
I have not RTFA. I'm wondering if Warner Home Video will lay the hammer down on me if I want to watch Red Dwarf in this manner...being in the U.S. and Warner Home Video being the U.S. distributor of many BBC programs.
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It won't be available for free on Azureus, it will be a DRM-infested pay-download on Azureus' pay service, Zudeo, and they haven't even decided what they're charging.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
But this is not what they promised to do. As a British Licensefee payer I expect them to open up their content on UK filesharing networks, as they promised. Offering DRM'd content to overseas markets is not part of their charter. Making money should be a secondary concern to their primary purpose - delivering good tv to a British audience.
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I already have all Red Dwarf seasons on DVD, not that expensive and more than worth it :)
;)
But that's only my opinion.
Smeghead
This is the sig that says NI (again)
I don't have a TV license. I regularly get threatening letters from the collections agency asking me to turn myself in for my heinous crime.
/tinfoilhat
They got so bad at one point that I actually wrote to them refusing to partake in any further correspondence until they sent me a civil letter. They wrote back - with a threat about how large the fine will be when they haul me in.
The fun part? I don't have a television. But I'm not telling them that until they ask politely. Yes, it's probably stupid and it's certainly obstinate but I refuse to be intimidated.
Now, of course, with them making a move like this I actually feel like I might *want* to give them money. It's a pretty cool thing to do and I'm proud of the BBC for being forward looking and generally a great service. So that's what this is all about folks. They are just trying to shame me into paying up. The worked out what my buttons were and pushed them. As soon as I hand over the cash, the whole thing will go away. It's a freaking trap I tell you.
Fortunately for all of you I'm holding out for them to switch to ogg for their radio streams before I buy a TV license. You should be safe to enjoy this content for another couple of decades. My present to all of you!
Beep beep.
This would be the only way to actually deal with torrents. They're here, and they're here to stay. If they crack down on torrent sites, like they try now, something new will come into existance, if nothing else, people will post torrent hashes on usenet. It's not like you could technically stop the distribution of content.
The only way to really deal with it is to give it some leeway while trying to make some revenue, somehow, out of it all. The fact that those files will be tacked down with DRM will surely keep this from flying, but generally the idea is a good one. It could've been done with a "members only" torrent tracker (where you gotta pay the BBC to become a member), with the torrent info only available on their tracker.
THEN it is possible to crack down on sites offering that torrent, too, because the torrent hash itself is owned by the BBC, not by someone who just "allows" others to use it. It's their 'content', so to speak.
Yes, that could've been a success. Devaluating it by adding enough DRM to weigh it down certainly doesn't help it.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
"The titles will be protected by digital rights management software to prevent the programmes being traded illegally on the internet."
The new problem is how much software can I possibly install to watch content? I happen to use iTunes so that I can watch content on my Mac and PC. I already find it inconvenient that I can not watch content in an open source operating system. Now I'm supposed to add additional bloat to my Windows install for Amazon's service, iTunes, this Azerus pay service, along with any other vendor entering the ring. I usually watch DVDs on my PC anyway so these download services are great in one sense. I no longer have to go to the store or buy and wait. (well download time) I don't have a problem with DRM that protects content in itself, but I do have a problem with the lack of versatility in devices and operating systems which can PLAY this content.
I suppose we should just accept that not everyone likes iTunes. If you don't like windows or own a Mac, it would be rather inconvenient. Its one of the many hurdles I face with MidnightBSD and I'm sure the Linux community feels the same way.
Still it is nice they are distributing content.
What we really need are some new laws that force companies to make their content available on multiple services so that there isn't a monopoly. This would also have the benefit of possibly putting it into different DRM formats which might be more acceptable to some. Imagine if only walmart sold movies. That's what we get now. Amazon sells star trek episodes, but Apple does not. Apple has some exclusive content on iTunes that amazon does not have. (unbox) More competition *could* keep content prices low.
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Wow, such hostility. Are you british and upset that your licence fee funded the shows and you should have them free? or non british, and just reckon you were born with the right to have them for free anyway, while us lot pay for it?
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
its the bbc website. i'm glad they use british english. Can you please correct all your american websites that can't spell colour.
Cheers,
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
While that may have come from the UK, it did not come from the BBC.
You must have missed the first adjective in the phrase current American television.
The Wire, Deadwood, Rome, the Sopranos, Battlestar Galactica, Good Eats...
These are just some that I like. Others could probably name a dozen more of comparable quality. Granted, Deadwood and the Sopranos will be off the air soon. Also granted, the cable subscription required to obtain these legally from basic cable + premium cable (HBO) costs at least 6 times the BBC license fee.
Sadly, the closest US-equivalent to the BBC news is... BBC news. It's why we're going to hell in a handbasket. Even NPR doesn't compare. It doesn't do much for the credibility of a news organization when they have to begin and end each broadcast with an advertisement from their underwriters in agribusiness, defense contracting, and charitable trusts managed by the heirs of deceased robber barons.
it took me just a few minutes of guesswork to avoid having to use the zudeo software at all; I didn't install it. When you click to download, it saves a .jnlp file which is just an XML wrapper around a URL containing a torrent, then download the torrent and open it with a torrent downloader (shareaza will do nicely). It will save a file called .hdmov, which you just rename so it will open with Quicktime.
Thus who needs zudeo's spyware?
"now they've sold it to be shown on a different channel which we have to pay to receive. Bastards."
ok, so you got to see it a few times for free (subject to licence fee) and now the BBC is trying to sell it to the rest of the world and commercial networks so they can bring in more cash to fund programming.
Would you rather they left it in a basement and just charged more for the licence fee?
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Wasn't Rome co-produced by the BBC and HBO?
To err is human, to arr is pirate.