TV Delays Driving AU Viewers To Piracy

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."

Comments

Don't impose your values on the rest of us

[Per Abrahamsen]

It is unauthorized, which in some peoples opinion makes it Wrong. Other people have no problem with that. And to a sizable fraction of the people, it is Wrong only if there is an option of authorized copying.

Claiming that your Wrong should be the viewpoint of everybody isn't going to help. On the other hand, providing an authorized option is going to change something, as it will make the last group switch to that option. That is why the article, unlike your opinion, is interesting, it shows a way to change status quo.

[ I personally never do unauthorized copies, not because I think those are Wrong, but because I want to argue against current copyright laws without being accused of trying to justify my own behavior. ]

Re:The real problem

[F1re]

I have lived in Australia for all of my 32 years and I can tell you I have never seen a toilet flush clockwise or counter clockwise. They just don't work like that.

Re:It's Still Wrong

[LighterShadeOfBlack]

But people don't know what we're talking about, that's my point. At least they haven't bothered to consider the full implications of what piracy is compared with theft (ie. to take a copy of something versus to take the original). This isn't a case of colloquialisms because the GGP's post made the analogy of pirating media with stealing a Ferrari. Which is, as I originally stated, absolutely incorrect.

People don't use "theft" in place of the term "piracy" or "copyright infringement" unless they don't understand the difference or intentionally wish to misrepresent piracy as theft to the uninformed reader. Either way, they can and should be called on it so that the real facts on the subject can be presented and an objective and relevant debate can be had on copyright infringement. As I said previously, that's not possible as long as one side believes copyright infringement to be just another kind of theft, in which case they will almost certainly presume that it is (or should be) subject to the same moral and legal standpoint.