Fast-tracking TV shows vs illegal downloading: we assess the fight for the viewers!

April 9th, 2013

TV, Audio & Electronics TVs

So TV networks are putting their shows on the “fast-track” to combat illegal downloads. But is it really going to take the wind out of the sails of the pirates?

And what’s WRONG with illegal downloading anyway (well, uh, apart from being illegal)? Doesn’t the fact that it’s just so damn convenient make it totes A.O.K.,  … especially if you just can’t damn wait for a show as good as Game of Thrones?

Well, we’re gonna ask the tough questions, right here, right now … and even answer some of them! We trust these’ll be words of wisdom you can really look up to.

On the down-load

Okay, more than 1 million fans illegally downloaded the first episode of Games of Thrones Season 3 in the last week or so.

So apparently we really like illegal down-loading (whoops, sorry torrenting). And by we I mean human beings. And particularly Australians.

Apparently, last year Australia came in third place, behind the U.S. and U.K. – in terms of being, well uh, rip-offs. Yay! Advance Australia un-fair!

If that sounds impressive, let me tell you that in season’s past – we were actually in first place. According to US torrent tracking site TorrentFreak, an estimated 400,000 Aussies ripped off illegal episodes of Games of Thrones last season.

(Oh and for the unitiated, Game Of Thrones is not just an epic HBO fantasy series famed for its epic plotting, epic scenery and, ‘erm, epic bonking scenes – it’s also epically pirated: in 2012, it won TorrentFreak’s title for the most illegally downloaded show of the year.)

Fast track … to success?

Aaaand, of course, to combat this Foxtel pushed out the 3^rd Series of Game of Thrones to eager Aussie fans a mere two hours after it was broadcast in the US. Result: highest ratings ever.

It’s all part of their “Express From The US” initiative.

But hey, clearly there was a still a whole lotta pirating going down.  Could it be that people still don’t want to fork out for Foxtel (installation, let alone monthly fees) just for the couple of shows they really dig? Well, duh.

What’s wrong with pirating?

Game Of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin has been quoted as saying he (kinda) gets the fact people download his show when screenings are delayed up to six months.

And many internet forums are clogged with messages along the lines of “give us the content with as much style, convenience and speed as the torrent sites” and they’d stop hoisting the jolly-roger.

And um, okay, to we can see their POV as well … to some extent. Well, come on. You want to watch this sucker. It (normally) doesn’t come out on iTunes for a while. It’s not available on Blu-ray or DVD (for ages). You don’t want to fork out for Foxtel just for the sake of watching this ONE FREAKIN’ show? It’s easy to stream this stuff to your amazeballs Smart TV. What’s a guy/gal to do?

EXCEPT *cough, cough*  – the latest series of Game of Thrones Series is available on iTunes in Australia, right now! And if you connect your laptop to your Smart TV – you can watch it all on your big beautiful Full High Definition TV! It’s pretty easy (although we think if someone like Samsung developed an app that allowed you to play iTunes stuff on your TV without an intermediary that’d be pretty neato).

Um, sooooo, maybe the salient truth is that … people like free stuff?

But hey, isn’t this bad news for the show?

By robbing the networks producing your fave show in the universe aren’t you undermining their ability to provide said show?

NAH, we don’t buy that. These shows are the product of mega-corporations (true, also the blood-sweat-n’-tears of humble creative types who deserve to get thoroughly remunerated for their endeavours). They’ll be sweet. They’ll be smugger than these guys…

And, as we’ve said, its stoking the fires of web gossip, buzz and general intrigue which is only ever good publicity, after all (well, uh, unless it’s incredibly bad publicity).

HBO doesn’t care about pirating (much)!

This point of view has been acknowledged in a kinda positive way by no less than one of the head-honchos at HBO – the company’s head of programming  Michael Lombardo – who said recently that pirating is a kind of “compliment” … and one that has actually helped sales.

“I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but it is a compliment of sorts,” Lombardo said to Entertainment Weekly. “The demand is there. And it certainly didn’t negatively impact the DVD sales. [Piracy is] something that comes along with having a wildly successful show on a subscription network.”

For the sake of balance, Lombardo also goes on to say that HBO policy is to be totally anti-pirate. Uh, they just don’t really seem to care too much.

What ’bout the viewing quality?

Okay, but you’re only ripping yourself off, right? Because these things are of an inferior picture quality?

Ah, no, not necessarily … you get the choice with up to 1080p files available out there (so we’re told). In fact these friends of ours who do this sort of stuff (strictly disreputable types, we don’t know why we hang out with them) have downloaded 1080p files and – to be honest – can’t see much difference between it and the Blu-ray equivalent … Uh, maybe they’re just plebs though.

The on-line viewing revolution

Some pundits are calling the whole thing part of the universe’s grand plan to get us watching TV on-line … thereby turning our backs on the over-lords of TV broadcasting forever (ie people like Channel 10 and 9) who we previously depended on for our televisual nourishment.

How are they going to handle being usurped in this way?

Well, some of them are doing some fast-tracking of their own. With mixed success. When Channel 10 fast-tracked its Season Two premier of Homeland they took three weeks … which in relative terms is about as fast-tracked as CityRail’s all-stations service to Bankstown.

More impressively, episodes of Doctor Who have been materialising on the ABC a mere “few hours” after their UK screening. Aunty blasted out this season’s premiere on Sunday March 31st … following the March 30 screening in Blighty. Good news for fans of a rockin’ show (although the red-head in the miniskirts who left the TARDIS last year will be sorely missed) – and follows last year’s express delivery to ABC’s iView.

So ABC seems to respect the masses. Especially when it comes to their tech-and-internet-savvy consumer base of which (we’re gonna go out on a limb here), your average Whovian is a card-carrying member.

Respect Your Audience, people

Which brings us neatly to our final point. And forgive us if we begin to sound a little righteous right here, ‘kay?

One of the main reasons why we figure people are resorting to down-loading (and by that, we mean both LEGAL and illegal varieties) is that the viewer has been kicked around for too long.

The pleasure of a lot of quality TV these days can be found in immersing oneself in long-running character and story development over several seasons.

TV isn’t a place you drop in and out of anymore. Why would you put your loyalty in the hands of the free-to-air networks? When these bozos have a tendency to play fast-and-loose with scheduling, rearranging things at the last minute or shuttling things off to the dead-zone somewhere between Benny Hinn and Home Shopping?

Fans of The Sopranos, later series of Star Trek and Farscape all got shafted in one way another like this – all the while putting up with a relentless assault of putrid advertising (sometimes to be found sliding into the bottom of the frame outside of the commercial breaks.)

However, the ABC has shown they can respect the nerds (uh, internet savvy fans) and give ’em what they want, when they want it … and make it a roaring success. If the broadcasters treated us with a little more respect, maybe downloading wouldn’t be such a go-to option!

Respect your audience and give them what they want. As one of the most influential spokesmen of our time would say: