Even Pirates Have Hearts, Just Not TVs Tuned Into American Networks
Yesterday the UK Government announced intentions to crack down on internet piracy of films, music and television. While this is a threat the government rolls out on a seemingly bi-monthly basis, one must wonder if anything will ever come of it. And if something does I, for one, do not think it will be a good thing.
I am not going to justify the downloading of movies and music. I think those things should be paid for legally. Nor will I justify the downloading of television that has been released on DVD. My intention is instead focused solely on television that has yet to be released on DVD.
As the internet creates an increasingly globalized world, people from all walks of life are able to meet each other and get in contact to discuss common interests. As technology continues to involve this will become more and more common and cultural divides will inevitably erode as a result. What does this have to do with piracy? It’s simple.
The television business model shows seemingly little appreciation for the notion of globalization. Just this past television season, Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse debuted on FOX in America in February. Coming from the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer there was much hype and anticipation behind the show and if you’re a fan of cult television that uses the internet the hype and news were unavoidable.
However if you were a British fan, you were royally screwed.
The show didn’t start airing in Britain until at least three months after it aired in the States. By which point, even the most careful of fans who uses the internet would be thoroughly spoiled on all the major plot points.
And what of the aired versions? Sci Fi, the cable station that airs Dollhouse season one in the UK, would change the act breaks, due to OFCOM’s arcane rules about advertising, and cut a couple of minutes out of each episode. As a television purist I’m a big fan of seeing the final product as the creator intended. I like act breaks where they’re supposed to be. I don’t like sloppy network cuts of episodes. So short of waiting even longer and getting even more spoiled until the DVD is released, what is a fan to do but pirate?
With films and music this problem does not arise. Release dates are roughly the same and none are arguably as good for watercooler (read: internet forum) conversation as discussing your favorite television shows. However with television this is very much an ongoing issue.
At this point I will give props to Sky One and Channel Four for airing Desperate Housewives, Lost, Bones and 24 mere days after they are shown in America. But what of the Dollhouses of the world where you have to wait months and months only to be subjected to an edited and diluted version of the show?
If Dollhouse and similar shows were shown within a week of their US airdate… If the act breaks were left in tact… If they were left uncut… If there was a Hulu-esque service on a par to the one offered Stateside… If all these conditions were met, which in this day and age aren’t out of the question, I would condemn people who pirate TV as I do people who pirate other forms of media. But the fact is there is a huge chasm between the wants of fans of US imports and the UK stations’ ideas of what their viewers want and until this chasm is closed I can’t get behind the idea of prosecuting and punishing people who download television.
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Then there are those of us in the REST OF THE WORLD who will never get the chance to see many of these TV series on our local channels. EVER! What are we to do? Every time I see some clip or preview or webisode or even full episode that’s available on a network’s website… I get totally frustrated by the message that appears when I click on it “not available in your location”! grrrrrr
I totally agree with the article, thank you so much for showing our side. I am a complete Whedon fan and waiting all that long is just frustrating. We get every single show months after America and it’s simply not fair. This ‘fall’ season of shows has promised so many good shows, I actually had to make a list to know how many shows I need to look out for. However, I know by the time we get them, I will know every single thing that happens and I’m not one for surprises but with Joss Whedon, everything should be kept that way as his twists are always fantastic. I would love something like Hulu and the programs you Americans get on there is rediculous. Most channels now have iPlayers but I want something like Hulu which airs shows from various channels as it makes things easier. Until such a time, I’m going to continue what I’m doing.
I’ll not that this was also a huge problem going the other way; until the most recent series of Doctor Who (Tennant’s last full one, not the current specials), DW was airing over *six months* later than it was airing there. Even people who are squeamish about bittorrent sites and file sharing were unable to resist the lure of the Doctors who were making the show gloriously fun again.
The exchange of discs of that at local cafes actually reminded me deeply of exchanging big 5 1/4″ floppies back in the day. All sorts of people who didn’t have the wherewithal to obtain it were surreptitiously asking who had cds.
I wholeheartedly agree. I’m not much of a TV person these days, so I torrent the American releases of shows - whether they’re months behind in the case of Dollhouse or a few days behind like Heroes - and watch them at my leisure on my laptop. I hardly consider that piracy when I gave a friend of mine £60 to pick up the ComicCon Bluray of the former for me. We definitely need our own Hulu-esque service. Quite a few lives would be made a lot simpler.
Plus,
How do TV show pirates hurt the networks bottom line? Unless they are one of the privileged Nielsen viewers, they don’t actually affect any ratings, and thus don’t actually affect the numbers of viewers the networks tell their advertisers are watching the show. Sometimes, in Australia, shows arrive YEARS after screen date in the US/UK. We have but one option really for cable TV, which is where most of the decent TV is, and it’s pricey as all hell. ~10 years ago, foxtel used to cost us $60/mo. we got almost every channel. then they introduced pay per view sport. then they introduced box office movie channel. all fine. but now they’ve split their miniscule number of channels into packages and each package is going to hurt you. In an age where technology should cost you less as easier ways to distribute it become available, today the same channels as we had 10+ years ago for $60 would now cost us well over double. How is this fair?
If networks want people to stop downloading shows they should have smelled the coffee and woken on up. Big movies and music are released globally. If you stop thinking of your TV networks as American, and start thinking of them as global, your problems will be half way solved when it comes to pirates. Hulu etc could finally go international. HBO, Fox etc could be sold as they are, as channels to companies like FOXTEL (and at the prices they are in the US would certainly also help)
If they don’t move on this soon they will completely have missed their opportunity, as it is, this move should have been made when broadband and torrents first began, and nipped the issue in the bud, rather than doing nothing productive about it, and just whining about how much money they are supposedly losing due to piracy, and trying to punish the pirates.
With films and music this problem does not arise. Release dates are roughly the same
In the English-speaking world, maybe. But if you live in a country like Germany where for some reason every film is dubbed, you often have to wait months for a film to finally be released here as well, and you have to be lucky to find a cinema showing it in the original language instead of the dubbed version. Even worse with TV, you often have to wait for roughly a year for something to be aired here, and you don’t even have to bother looking for an undubbed version until the DVD comes out.
Let me begin by saying I’m a total quality nut. I recently tried the MSN Video player service but in the real world I see in HD (when my glasses prescription is up-to-date) [though when it's not it's blurry] not in big blocky pixels.
Not only do I want TV shows shown within days of The States, but I want them to be shown in high quality. I cannot watch 4oD or the itv player the quality of the streaming video is so bad - once I’ve missed the show I have no choice but to seek out the ‘other’ online version.
So, I get very high quality video, within a day of it premièring on it’s American TV channel. Until my TV can match that - or I’ve had to change my ISP so many times because of being cut off that I’ve run out of people willing to supply internet - then I’ll go back to my Sky+ box. (Won’t be without that convenience of choosing when I watch.)
Agree 100% with the article and have a point about value for product. I have downloaded things which were marketed to tempt and set expectations high and yet were lacking in every department. Cloverfield. I have been to the cinema and felt dirty not because of the sticky floor but because “Crystal Skull” got stuck in my craw. I have a right to know that the product is actually worth it. Living in the UK, I wanted to watch Firefly. At the time no UK station wanted a 13 episode show. I downloaded it because I had no other option other than forking out for the DVD. The show was good enough that I ran screaming to the store and demanded they get the DVD, everyone in the store was terrified, thought I had just escaped from somewhere. AND THEY WERE RIGHT. I had escaped the shackles of dodgy marketing and films made with the sole purpose of cashing in on a franchise or that had no soul, no thought and no artistic direction.
Season 2 of Dollhouse will be shown much more quickly after the US airdate this fall and Hulu is coming to UK this fall. How do this change your argument?
Everyone should really keep in mind that US network shows are subsidized by iTunes and DVD sales. As the sales of those formats fall because free is much cheaper, cult genre shows will have a harder time showing viability and will be canceled quicker and more often than they already are. Or really, not made at all. Studios judge the viability of DVD sales based on ratings. Piracy hurts. It hurts the studios, the creators, and ultimately the fans of quality niche shows.
The issue is International Copyrights (at least, that’s why the BBC just told me that as an American, I’m not allowed to watch the latest episode of “Jam and Jerusalem” on BBCiplayer) — long story short, it takes awhile to sort out who has the right to distribute a show internationally and to get distribution going.
This is true for ANYONE, ANYWHERE who wants to see a show made in a country different from the one they live in. Outsiders have to wait.
And it won’t changed until International Copyright and Distribution laws get a major overhaul. That’s going to be difficult–but that’s the thing you have to push for if you want things to change. Networks all over the world are very well aware of the piracy issue, but their hands are tied legally for the moment. However, they also know this means loss of profit for them, so I would not be surprised if they themselves will work to find a way to get around it. Indeed, Internet distribution should make things easier. Someday, hopefully, you’ll get to start watching Hulu, hopefully right around the time I get to start watching shows on BBCi.
IrrationaliTV –
It doesn’t change my argument. I suspect Hulu UK won’t be allowed to put shows online until after the UK stations air them due to international copyright as DQ mentioned. Although I’ll be more than happy to be wrong about that and if I am let me know.
And I’m glad Sci Fi are stepping up the pace on Dollhouse, this season. But it doesn’t change the fact that various other imports will suffer the same problems Dollhouse season 1 did.
I’m all for people paying for content or watching it as it airs, as I said in the article, but I think the content should be available in a timely fashion. If it was I’d be flying that flag higher than anyone. But it’s not and instead it means getting buggered sideways by spoilers and the like. I’d also like to add that I don’t see downloading illegally as an alternative to buying DVDs as I’m all for studios, actors, writers, directors and craft services getting their fair due.
As it stands now it’s just a pretty flawed and imperfect system that’s been restricted by laws created prior to the internet’s dominance.
I agree that the best solution is for timely airings. I feel the pain when BBCAmerica airs the Dr. Who Christmas special in June. It sucks! And I was completely spoiled for this summer’s Torchwood.
What we have to ask is “where is the bottleneck?” Is it the US studios holding up international airings?” No. “Is it the US networks holding up international airings?” No. The only people holding up the airings is the international networks like Sky1, and UK Sci-fi. They are trying to eliminate all risk from their business model by waiting as long as possible to see if a show will be successful in the US first before committing to the purchase.
You will notice that older more proven shows will air very closely to the US date. The solution is to get the international networks to commit to earlier pick-ups. They are slowing down the system and that is where energies need to be directed.
I understand the desire to have “what I want now”. I am, afterall, American and that is bred into us. However, the vast majority of those who can justify piracy to themselves, to feel better, never buy a DVD or make a purchase on iTunes. They are just stealing. Yes, the system needs to work better, but people need to also stop lying to themselves and others about what is and what isn’t outright theft.
The more widespread the belief that piracy isn’t theft, the fewer quality genre/cult shows will be made. We all lose horribly.
I 100% agree! I am vehemently opposed to pirating. I have friends who do it and it makes me sad that they don’t care they are stealing. So I’ve always been adamant about never pirating myself. But then along came a little show called So You Think You Can Dance. This show is my favorite show Ever. And often the dances presented are so moving that I would like to have a copy of them to watch over and over. Unfortunately, this show, much like American Idol, does not re-run nor does it release on DVD. MTV ran Season 3 just before Season 4 started, but I’ve not seen any evidence of them doing that again. I actually did find a VCR to record that season on, but I missed half of it due to weird scheduling times. So that’s the only show that I pirate. Because what is the difference between myself pirating that show which will never be released on DVD and someone who has TiVo recording it off their TV (while they’re watching or to watch later) and keeping the copy. There is no difference. The show is presented on Free TV which anyone can get with an antenna and so it is available for anyone to record for free. Now, I don’t have the money for a TiVo, but I do have internet. So I download. And as soon as this show is released on DVD I can GUARANTEE you I will be buying Every Season! So Come on Nigel Lithgowe!!! Figure something out so I can give you my money!!!
Same situation in France - I totally agree with all points made in this article.
I am all for european HULU !!
Now try living in the tip of Africa, we often get TV series years after they’ve aired in the states and that is on our Premium TV channels. Often I am about two years ahead of our TV channels and it is very frustrating to try wait for them to catch up. It would be great if they realized they could reach more people legally if they could air the series perhaps day afterwards. But it is also airing rights that have to be paid to the networks. It is the same as British TV series as well, I’m not for pirating everything that is aired globally but TV series I am in the gray area about, as I will buy the DVD’s if they are released locally. But then again a lot of series don’t even air in this country or I have to pay an extreme premium to watch them and they are still far behind. I agree with everything in this article.
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