Comments on: Anti-Piracy group targets schools

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:48:16 +0000

instead of spending money preventing kids from doing, why not strike the root of the cause and drop levels of piracy altogether instead of telling kids its bad. Most times having someone tell you something is bad they dont listen, as for instance since late primary school we’ve had numerous lessons throughout the years on drugs alcohol and sex saying dont do it etc etc, but yet there are still teens that ignore and do it because it benefits them.
imo the money should go into improving the networks to reduce tv show piracy, then they just need to think of ways to cut down on movie and music piracy

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:55:00 +0000

Good luck trying to convince people to stop downloading TV shows. It’s not piracy.

By: Wast3d

Wast3d — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:25:36 +0000

FOX held back the final 2 episodes of prison break in the US. They intended to release it as a “special” DVD edition, as a blatant %$#* over your customer cash grab. Unfortunately for them some non US networks did air them. At the moment they have been downloaded about 1.9-2 million times. Download stats for prison break went from about 5% of downloaders being US based to about 25%. Now FOX has lost ad revenue from these episodes and still the only people who will buy it are the people who have bought the other seasons anyway, although they do get to screw some more money out of them.
Way to completely miss the point (and some extra dollars) and punish the people who support you.
Media organisations continue to be completely clueless about what their consumers want, clinging desperately to outdated revenue systems. Despite the fact that we are now empowered to use and consume whatever we like however we like to. Give us the chance to pay and consume our media the way we want it and this problem will largely disappear. Continue to ignore the wants of your marketplace and your marketplace will continue to ignore your wants.

By: Benno

Benno — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:42:52 +0000

I agree that copyright infringement is illegal, because it is a fact. The issue here i believe is that of morality. Due to the networks’ appalling treatment of viewers, viewers don’t feel that downloading an episode of, say, the big bang theory, which nine dropped twice after average ratings, is the wrong thing to do. I agree. Yes every downloader downloading an episode hurts the networks, but if that is what it takes to bring them in line, i fully advocate it. They don’t seem to get the message though, which is their loss.

By: David Knox

David Knox — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 07:55:17 +0000

The notion of creatives making a product that is bought and paid for is not specific to television or film. If at the end of the day everyone downloads for free how are creatives reimbursed and why should networks even bother buying the product? Downloading should be legal on a pay per purchase re the iTunes model, or at the very least made available after it has been aired as per iView. Sadly for the most part it isn’t. Anyone who regularly reads this blog knows I am hardly supportive of networks that have their head in the sand when it comes to living in the dark ages.

My previous comment sought to clarify the suggestion that downloading of shows that haven’t aired here isn’t really illegal. Sorry it is. And in a further clarification we certainly pay for FTA television via taxes to ABC and SBS, while enduring ads is another subsidised system. Argue all you like about what should be, what could be and I wil take it to the bank with you. Trying to say it isn’t really stealing is like being half pregnant. It either is or it isn’t and at the moment alas it is.

By: VMan

VMan — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:21:42 +0000

typo: When I said consumers I meant television producers

By: VMan

VMan — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:20:52 +0000

Again, David I must reiterate that this is Free to Air television. In what way are we creating a monetary loss to consumers? They get all the money they require from Australia by networks buying their shows. We don’t pay to watch FTA, do we? I don’t see how the definition of ’steal’ applies itself here at all, when it comes to the argument of downloading TV shows being illegal.

By: Glenn Petrie

Glenn Petrie — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:00:04 +0000

Well, if the three commercial networks didn’t put a TV show in a certain timeslot, only to screw around with it or take it off altogether, then bozos wouldn’t have to download them.

As for movies, I would rather go out and buy a copy on DVD.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:10:21 +0000

You can’t download a car.

By: Dallas

Dallas — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:04:46 +0000

“The monetary loss is huge to creative artists in music, film, television and literature.” It still has not been proven that a single download equates to the loss of a sale or if you want to be more exact not proven to equal a sale at the supposed full retail value. The NY TImes has astudy on downloading of CDs vs sales to support

“There is also a ‘dog chasing its tale’ argument that shows do not stay on air because viewers have gone and downloaded them first. In some cases, networks have to wait until they get the air rights to actually screen them after a window period.” Not my or any other consumers problem. If the right holders want, in our case, australian Tv audiences watching their programs on advertised free to air networks they should pull their heads out of ‘you know where’ and changes the restrictions to rights so the networks can show them.

Case in point, when Channel 10 caught up with “House” this season i didnt bother to download an episode for the few weeks that we had caught up. Once they dropped the ball and took it off air i went back to downloading.

“Ultimately television needs to embrace online and make its revenue work for it, just as the music industry had to deal with Napster and created iTunes (which has ’some’ TV if you are lucky).” Lets hope whatever they do is better than itunes. Music file quality is way too low, and with TV’s now consistently in the Full HD (1080p) bracket and 4K on the way having low quality rips of TV shows is going to be pointless.

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:57:02 +0000

Yes David it comes back to the networks working with the new technology, Apple made it work with iTunes but the TV side is limited to shows/eps that have aired, but this is where the problem lies.

Case in point shows like Moonlight, 90210 and most recently Worst Week. all taken off the air and unlikely to come back. If they do it’s only sites like this that keeps us informed as they are usually stuck in the middle of the night or sometimes shuffled off to PayTV (aka Gossip Girl)

And it’s also often the case that if it isn’t aired and the network still holds the right then it won’t go to DVD locally for a year of more (if we’re lucky) until after it aired in the original country, again long after most fans have given up on the show.

By: astrogirl

astrogirl — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:46:28 +0000

Frankly I’d rather the government spent money repairing school buildings and ensuring that children have a safe place to actually attend school. So many government schools these days are in desperate need of repair. And I’d rather they provided resources to help the kids that are falling behind in maths and english and science because the school can’t afford the resources they need to keep the kids engaged and actively interested in learning.

Anti piracy education is seriously at the bottom of my “things my child should be learning at school” list.

By: jed

jed — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:43:34 +0000

c’mon, you’re only on the offensive here because you rely on the networks and want continual access to them and their goodies. sure i saw the wire, but felt responsibility to buy the dvd’s and encouraged others to do the same because it was brilliant. when the best we’re offered is underbelly, all saints, packed to the rafters and rove, i’ll be bypassing the local networks at every opportunity.

i’d hardly shed a tear if i turned on my tv and found a blank screen where 9, 7 and 10 used to be.

By: Harvey35

Harvey35 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:38:02 +0000

Waste of time and money.

By: David Knox

David Knox — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:48:05 +0000

Yes it is illegal.

The monetary loss is huge to creative artists in music, film, television and literature. Arguing that “the show isn’t on here so it’s not a crime” might be nice in theory but it is incorrect and negates the selling power of productions for producers, networks, advertisers, and thereby ultimately actors and crew. There is also a ‘dog chasing its tale’ argument that shows do not stay on air because viewers have gone and downloaded them first. In some cases, networks have to wait until they get the air rights to actually screen them after a window period.

Far be it for me to defend lazy networks who have not found a way to move with the times, but we should be accurate with what we are discussing. Ultimately television needs to embrace online and make its revenue work for it, just as the music industry had to deal with Napster and created iTunes (which has ’some’ TV if you are lucky).

By: Wast3d

Wast3d — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:35:06 +0000

I agree with most posters here. Downloading shows or movies or songs that you cannot get here is not wrong in any way. What do they prefer, that I finance the commercial pirates or get it myself? I also don’t think there is any problem with downloading movies that have been out in cinemas in other parts of the world for months but are yet to be released here. Again I would like to pay to see them but there is no way for me to give them my money, and I refuse to wait and be treated like some lower class consumer. I have seen every single episode of scrubs for example, at the time there was no way for me to pay for it. It came on TV for a few eps and then dissapered. I have since bought every season I could on DVD, but they are still about 1 year behind.
Most of us would like to pay for our media but quite often we cannot. Is it even illegal to download something you cant buy? I think that there has to be a monetary loss for it to be a crime, and if I can’t pay then there is no monetary loss.