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TV Delays Driving AU Viewers To Piracy

Posted by kdawson on from the desperate-for-housewives dept.

Astat1ne writes in with a story in The Register about the delays Australian TV viewers are experiencing getting overseas-produced series and how this is driving many of them to download the shows via BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer networks. The problem is compounded by the fact that Australian viewers are unable to download legal copies of the episodes from the US iTunes website. Quoting: "According to a survey based on a sample of 119 current or recent free-to-air TV series, Australian viewers are waiting an average of almost 17 months for the first-run series first seen overseas. Over the past two years, average Australian broadcast delays for free-to-air television viewers have more than doubled from 7.9 to 16.7 months."

4 of 394 comments (clear)

  1. The real problem by mdboyd · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is the that the toilets in Australia flush counter-clockwise. This really messes with Ted Steven's tubes and prevents licensed content from quickly reaching the country.

    You heard it here first folks...

  2. Re:Why the delay? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Give 'em a break. They need time to translate the show into Australian.

  3. Re:Why the delay? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Give 'em a break. They need time to translate the show into Australian. There's also a minor issue with standards conversion; although Australia uses PAL, like the UK, their programmes have to undergo further conversion to flip the image upside down (which, of course, looks the right way up in Australia). The reverse also applies; this is why Britain is a bit behind Australia when showing Neighbours.

    You can take a British TV set to Australia (and vice versa), and even receive pictures, but the programmes will be the wrong way up.

    It's true, I swear.
  4. They can't? by Leuf · · Score: 3, Funny

    This situation different. If the material is not released in any pay format, the content producer cannot possibly suffer any negative consequences by banned groups' piracy.

    Just because they haven't released it YET doesn't mean there's no potential harm. If they can't get the content in a timely fashion and everyone has already watched it off bt, then why bother releasing it late? You don't get to decide when and how they have to release the content.

    The reality is that we have a global audience now. Aussies can get on the net (except for the Tassies that are still working on that whole fire thing) and want to talk with other fans of the show, but it's impossible for them to do so because the dominate online presence is a year ahead of them. The content providers have to do a better job releasing things everywhere at as close to the same time as is reasonable or else human nature is going to take over.