Heroes tops downloads
- Published by David Knox
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Heroes was 2007’s most popular downloaded TV program with 2,439,154 downloads, according to BitTorrent search engine and directory website Mininova.
It was followed by Top Gear, Battlestar Galactica, Lost and Prison Break.
Electronic Frontiers Australia chairman, Dale Clapperton said he was not surprised by the continued level of video downloads, particularly in Australia.
“A lot of downloads take place in countries like Australia, because when a show comes out in the United States, it might be 12 months before it arrives here,” he said.
“The internet provides a medium for getting it a lot earlier.
“Entertainment companies need to realise they are working in the global marketplace. They are still very much wedded to the old school models.
“This isn’t the 1970s or 80s when the individual would be content to wait. The fact is, people don’t like waiting,” he said.
In 2007 the commercial networks moved towards a model of faster starting dates for US series, coined by Seven’s use of the ‘fasttracking’ term. But it wasn’t without fault. Nine shot themselves in the foot by screening the failed Viva Laughlin immediately and Seven and TEN have found that due to the Writer’s Strike they are now without some expected episodes of series they started.
Seven has two episodes of Heroes up its sleeve with no clear idea of when it will receive the rest of the season this year, if at all.
Source: The Australian
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Anon – i know youre being helpful so thankyou for the information on downloading – this is a new ball game for me and have never done it before.
Your first post sounded very ignorant to the situation because everyone sees this issue differently – you dont see it affecting you but most of the posters here do see it that way.
I love watching Prison Break for example and because of the strike, the episodes are now on hold rather than being shown now as Ch7 had planned prior to this event happening – I’m not all that pleased.
And I don’t watch shows for the ratings, I watch for content and the shows that were fasttracked on Ch7 – Prison Break, Heroes and the upcoming 24 was a few shows I was so looking forward to – now we are nearly halfway with the first two shows that we are going to have to try and remember where it left off to start following the storylines again.
I personally hate australian dramas and comedies (but love the reality programs of Border Security etc) and prefer american content over australian anyday so this strike has already affected me.
I am also downloading the show with another wireless modem, that I have for my laptop, on my pc but since its not DDL (which I wonder can be googled?) and using a torrent program – thats also on dial-up level rather than 3G which is also slow – it works for a bit but it slows the connection down and has trouble getting the info. I believe I will need to research on finding files of smaller sizes and still of reasonable quality, but like I said, its new to me.
Anonymous, your arguments might be a bit more powerful and creditable if you proof read your work for errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar before posting it, but that’s beside the point!
24 was originally meant to have a good proportion of the season filmed before Kiefer Sutherland went into jail, but that all changed due to the WGA strike action. Now it’s doubtful that there will even be a season of 24 this year. Yes, Kiefer is in jail now, but that had already been factored into the production schedule before the strike took place, so you probably should have checked your facts before using it as an example. Research is essential if you’re going to convince someone that your stance is the right one!
Letterman is back on air because his production company owns his program and they were able to negotiate their own separate deal with the WGA, independently of the networks with which the guild has issues – it’s as simple as that. With Conan and Jay it’s a little more complicated, as they’re considered performers as well as writers.
Anonymous, while the strike action clearly has affected you personally (yet), is it so hard for you to believe and accept that it has affected others?
Adam 🙂 DDL is Direct download, i.e not bit torrent.
And hey I’m speaking for the majority of people here. High speed may not be everywhere but its NEARLY everywhere.
And 350mg on dial up is around 6-7 hours download 🙂 Its long yeah but there are alternatives.
1. Download it while your household is asleep. (use a download manager for resume options if you get DC.
2. Sacrifice quality for size. 350 mg for an 45-47 min episode is pretty huge. 170mg is more do-able and the quailty is still there. RMVB files can fit 45 mins into 80mg. 170 mg on dial up is around four hours and 80 mg would be around 2 hours. Not trying to be rude just trying to be helpful.
And If im telling you something in 5-6 months you already know now and im ignorant.. dont that make you ignorant as well? :0
What’s a DDL?
I don’t like the negativety, that that boring Anon person has bought to this web site. Maybe he should have the guts to put a moniker with all those disrespectful words.
By the way shows aired in the US in May , usually hit our shores around July, not six months later.
Letterman is not a fictional story – its a talk show so to even make that comparison to television shows is stupid.
You are the only one who can’t see the big picture – time you looked outside the square!!!!!
As for downloading, not everyone has fast internet connections – i for one am waiting for adsl to be available in my area so in the meantime, i am using dial-up which is quite ancient with current technology – i am downloading an episode of a show but a 350mb is taking a very, very long time, considering the fact also that there are other people in the house who need to use the landline!
I state as i said before, ignorance does not get you far, especially when you think everyone lives in the same fairyland as you do!
Write back in 5-6 months time and let us know what we already know now!
australia sucks for programing tv that simple i admit i download everyweek because every show i watch aren’t even actually on australian tv(One Tree hill , Gilmore Girls , Scrubs) ….if they want us to stop downloading i think they should fast track all shows instead of only like 3 .
Oh come on you guys, stop for one second going down on the US and its problems and realize as of TODAY it hasnt effected us one iota. Lettermans back tonight, what do you know his writers are back to!! What if they wernt back? You’d have to suffer through another grueling repeat, damn lifes hard. As for Leno and Conan? You wouldnt know if it was going to show a repeat or not on cable, you never do!! So what effect would it have if it didnt? And it dont matter, there back on air without writers, there still back on the air showing new content arent they!!!
And as for 24, production would have been holted with or with out writers as you know its star has been sent to jail and he chose to do it at this time because of the writers strike, if it was all still peachy then his jail time would have effected shooting anyways.
And ratings are irrelevant? Your saying that Australia has unleashed an “assualt” on the writers strike in the US and it will affect us severely when the shows arent even rating!! Hows that not relevant? How can it affect us so greatly if no ones watching the shows affected in the first place??
As for May sweeps, how does that affect us? The shows they air in May dont reach us here until 6 months later and the November pick up wont reach us here till 2009!
The WGA’s members comeback to lettermans writers going back to work? “They start getting cheques as of Jan 2nd and here we are getting nothing”
This is between WGA and AMPTP, most of the hosts of fore mentioned shows are all apart of the Guild themselves and most are return to air their shows despite being members. Stewart/Colbert even admitted that their writers are working from home and that their pay will be back dated from the first air date once the strike is over. This can be said about most shows over in the US. Man, it hasnt even fully hit the screens in the US yet and your trying to say its hitting us hard over here?
Dont worry kiddies, there will be plenty of Heroes and Prison Break to go round and you can call of the emergency meetings of the viewers association down here. God forbid if it does even slightly effect us down here that you would have to *gulps* sit through more Australian content or… *gulp* have to miss out on your favorite shows for a couple of weeks and thats considering the AUS networks dont can the shows because of poor ratings first. And your an adult who doesnt have enough time to download? Let me bring you up to speed, it takes 1 min to tee up a download, and you can walk away once its going. You dont have to sit at your screen watching every percent clock over. Its a fairly quick and time saving effort, hence why the majority do it. That way you can watch the show whenever you please. (The majority do it and ratings fall hmmm and the strikes about internet streaming.. hmmm)
What a world!! What a world!!!
And David, you start a POV blog, expect people to disagree with your personal POV’s , you didnt just set up the comments page to have people compliment you all day did you? Or did you tick the comments box so people could have discussion? And with discussion comes difference of opinion.
Again, the self proclaimed Tsunami of the writers strike thats heading to our shores will barely even be a surfable wave by the time it gets down here!
Okay Anon, calm down. David only reports the news. I’m hoping that some resolution is reached, especially because some of my favourite shows (Heroes, BSG, House, 30 Rock) are currenly in limbo. The studios assertion that there is little-to-no money in downloads might be true at present, but as it becomes more mainstream, there can only be more profit to be made. Which is why an agreement needs to be brokered now.
“Anonymous” seems to take great delight in stalking Dave and attempting to trash his site….why bother coming here at all if you disagree so strongly with his views?
I, for one, have followed news of the strike with great interest since it began and in spite of what “Anonymous” says, it *does* affect Australian viewers and I’m amongst those it has already impacted.
Networks schedule their programming for major shows months in advance and if the US production companies are running out of episodes to air over there, what are the networks here going to show? What are *you* going to do, “Anonymous”, when there are no more episodes of your favourite TV shows to download because of the WGA strike?
Dave, thanks for keeping us updated on the strike. I know for sure that I’m not the only one who finds it interesting and appreciates your efforts!!
To Anon post 1 – your response is a very ignorant one. Are you aware that most of our television content is from the United States? Do you also realise that without that content, there would be minimal programing available? Australian productions are not in the same league as the US – they are not able to produce mass productions at the level the US do. Since the commencement of televison, australian audiences have had american programs on their television screens since the US had a head start by 6 or more years.
We ‘adults’ enjoy watching our programs on television and dont always have the hours that you ‘kids’ have to download programs.
The Writer’s Strike DOES affect us! There will be programs that were not fasttracked that will finish midway, just like Heroes and Prison Break if the strike continues within the next few months. Lots of people will be disappointed by then.
The effects are not showing at the moment but with no solution in sight, australian audiences will feel the pinch in no time!
Everyone is entitled to their opinon, but Anon some of your statements are a little strange.
Heroes airs at 9.30pm. I don’t know what time you go to bed, but that’s definately not late by my standards.
The strike is linked to us and will affect us greatly if it is not resolved soon. We will have shows with only half the eps there usually are in a season and storylines left untold. Not something the fans like.
Keep up the good work David.
Thankyou again for your views that the WGA is irrelevant to Australia.
Firstly the bit torrent sites quoted were sourced by AAP and The Australian not this site.
As to the writer’s strike, it is linked to us regardless of how dramatically you feel it may or may not affect us. As you would see Letterman, Leno and Conan are back tonight after two months off. The strike affected Australian viewers from day one.
All the shows that have been fasttracked and now in low stock air at either 8:30 or 9:30pm, including Heroes. It’s prime time, it’s not late at night. Not sure how its ratings being either up or down is particularly relevant to the point of whether its back or not.
Shows such as 24 that could have been aired in Feb will likely not. It hasn’t even finished filming. Prison Break was due to continue by Seven thru summer, but they jettisoned that plan when the strike began. The longer the strike drags on the longer US shows will miss their target of May sweeps. November will be the next “prime” season, which has a flow on effect here.
The strike has been reported across all Aussie media and will continue to be incorporated by news on this site while it continues.
Yet another attempt to try link the strike to us.
And who bases downloads of a TV show on two Bit torrent sites?
Us kids barely use them anymore! DDL is the way to go and torrents are the last resort and even then torrent sites that specialize in TV shows are first in line.
lol@ “if all”
I know you constantly try link us and the strike together like its a great Tsunami thats threatening to beat down our shores but your seriously clutching at straws.
two more episodes left in australia!! OMG!! were doomed!!
Considering the show airs very late at night and you stated a few entries back its ratings have dived. Why you trying to drum up a crisis when there is none down here? And if your the only one reporting the WGA strike in “detail” you miss about 10000 points and only report one or two.