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Grand Tour 'Most Illegally Downloaded TV Show In History' (theguardian.com)

Jeremy Clarkson's new motoring show has become the most illegally downloaded television programme in history, figures suggest. Amazon paid a reported $160 million for three series of The Grand Tour, which stars former Top Gear presenters Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, after Clarkson was sacked by the BBC in March 2015. From a report on The Guardian: But figures from Muso, data analysts of the piracy market, suggest unprecedented numbers of people are avoiding paying $90 a year to sign up for Amazon's online streaming service, Amazon Prime, and instead downloading the show illegally. The data, shared with the Mail on Sunday, suggests the first episode was downloaded illegally 7.9m times, the second 6.4m times and the third 4.6m times. British viewers made up the largest percentage (13.7%) of the total number of illegal downloads.

10 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Morality has gone down the tubes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Morality has gone down the tubes.

    People inviting friends over to watch television, and not compensating the content creators.

    People using sling, and other illegal "time shifters" to avoid paying compensation.

    People inviting other people to watch their streaming content, and not compensating the content creators.

    People sharing their netfix passwords with other people, and depriving people of compensation.

    People "archiving" and "ripping" CDs, instead of purchasing multiple copies, people are not getting compensated.

    Look in the mirror to find out the reason the economy is down the tubes, dirty pirates.

  2. Re:Just illegal downloads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    What if you watch it at a friend's house.. does that count?

    You really should be paying for even thinking about it.

  3. Made up numbers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is no way for them to know how many times something was downloaded or pirated. This is more of the same crap the RIAA/MPAA used in the US to try to convince politicians they were losing insane amounts of money. These figures are completely fictional and this article is a joke.

  4. Re:Make it cheaper by tk77 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The 2nd episode felt overly scripted, but the 3rd and 4th felt more like Top Gear was. We were laughing through the entire episodes (though they can probably just get rid of the joke of killing off celebrities every episode).

  5. Not availiable in most of the world by MFriis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    AFAIK Prime Video is only available in United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Austria. Leaving much of the world without a way to watch the new show. I don't consider it an excuse to pirate it, but i can certainly understand why so many would download it illegally when they have no legal means of acquiring it. Prime Video used to be in the nordic countries but was close in 2014 for unknown reasons (probably not that popular). I hope Amazon can see a potential in this widespread piracy and start offering it through legal means to more people. It worked for HBO with GOT in the nordic countries when they started offering their content through "HBO Nordic".

    1. Re:Not availiable in most of the world by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't consider it an excuse to pirate it

      I do. Artificially limiting human creations even against those willing to pay for it is number one on my excuses to pirate, copy, or fake something.
      I mean what's the moral objection to this? You're not depriving someone of money if they are unwilling to take it.

  6. That's a lot of disappointed people by Oxygen99 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Dunno why. It's someone tossed all the worst bits of the old Top Gear into a concrete mixer with a tonne of Jeff Bezos' pension fund. The episode with the sci-fi style reboot army thing was just embarassing. And I say that as someone who liked the old Top Gear.

    --
    I had a dream, bright and carefree, but now there's doubt and gravity
  7. Re: Make it cheaper by bestweasel · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's not the same without Chris Evans.

  8. Re:Make it cheaper by Esteanil · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Sign up problem
    You may continue with this billing address, but Prime Video streaming, Prime Music, and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library won't be available outside of the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Prime shipping benefits are available to shipping addresses in the contiguous U.S."

    --
    I'm a dreamer, the world is my playpen. But hey, I'm a serious person, I can't dream all the time.
  9. Re:Make it cheaper by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hammond in the Challenger just seemed too much like a badly scripted, badly acted sitcom. None of their reactions seemed genuine.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch