What do you make of people who pirate TV shows?

jaykhunter

While reading through "DRM drove me to Piracy" thread on the games forum, it got me thinking; what are people's thoughts on people who pirate TV shows? Are they just as bad as people who steal videogames and movies?

It piqued my curiousity and i looked at a popular torrent engine, to see last week's Simpsons' episode being downloaded/seeded by...

Care to have a guess?


100,000? 500,000? 2 million?



...over 11 million people! WTF?! That's a ridiculous number! I counted the numbers a few times to be sure. Yes, over 11 million; which is way over the 5.65 million US viewers they got for the same episode.

The show is given out to potentially hundreds of millions for free when it airs on TV, but can be accessed (apparently!) in high-quality, without advertisements on the internet, sometimes mere hours after the broadcast. How do you feel about people that partake in this?

In replying please make sure to not admit/promote such illegal activities. I just would like to know your stance on people that do.

jaykhunter

if anyone's interested, here's a list of the most downloaded TV shows :

Top 10 (illegal) TV downloads

1. Lost
2. Heroes
3. House
4. Gossip Girl
5. Dexter
6. The Simpsons
7. Desperate Housewives
8. Family Guy
9. Smallville
10. Stargate Atlantis

So, do you condemn those who download TV shows, or is it ok?

Mr E

11 million people seeding a show that passed its peak 11 years ago (oh the irony) is scary.

ejmaztec

I'm sure that somewhere there is a name for a phobia connected with a psychosis-inducing fear of commercial breaks, and this will probably be used as a defence in a future court case.

Movies and music is a no-no, but tv programmes seem to be fair game. If the networks on this side of the Atlantic got their fingers out, a lot of people wouldn't be using most of their download quota to get in advance what they're never going to have to pay for anyway.

TC cork

hard to believe 11million would want to copy the show.
have an external drive full of stuff like Simpsons and I never watch...

jaykhunter

please make sure to not admit/promote such illegal activities

I don't want this topic to be closed or anyone to get suspended for a few days over it! Please just give your views but don't incriminate yourself if applicable

TC cork

thanks 4 the advice ..new to this

matrim

The 2 main reasons I would download if I was to do such a thing would be

* Time it takes for some shows to get here from the US (if it ever does). I know the bigger one's like Lost are aired a day or 2 later, but something like Breaking Bad is on Season 3 in the US and I don't think it's anywhere over here
* I like watching it whenever I get a chance and not having to rush to watch it at a certain time.


If I could get a paid service that was as good as downloading I wouldn't mind paying for it (within reason), even if there was an ad or two in the program.

sink

Until we get a decent VOD service which allows me to watch what I want when I want and not have to wait an inordinate amount of time before it travels from the states to here I will continue to pirate tv shows. ATM I pay €30 a month for Sky which I never watch, I would gladly spend that money on a decent VOD service, maybe even a bit more.

For a fully integrated package of live sports, films and tv shows including entire back catalouges, in high-definition, I would be willing to pay as much as €60 a month; but unfortunately no such service exists. Get the finger out lads!

Bob the Seducer

Here's the thing, it's not beyond the realms of possibility for a channel here to show a programme the day after it's broadcast in the U.S.
If that happened in practice for the majority of shows rather than a select few, the number of people downloading would probably decrease substantially. People wouldn't bother wasting their time and bandwith for the sake of missing a few ads.

Ron DMC

If only we had hulu.

But we don't have hulu, so there's no real choice other than piracy.

Mr E

All well and good, but RTE would also need to commit to showing the shows at respectable hours (not 2am in the morning).

120_Minutes

jaykhunter wrote: »

if anyone's interested, here's a list of the most downloaded TV shows :

Top 10 (illegal) TV downloads

1. Lost
2. Heroes
3. House
4. Gossip Girl
5. Dexter
6. The Simpsons
7. Desperate Housewives
8. Family Guy
9. Smallville
10. Stargate Atlantis

So, do you condemn those who download TV shows, or is it ok?

out of all of those shows my "cousins" have only "sent" me one of them.

my other half is american, so between myself on herself we watch shows that arent aired here yet...such as community. also with lots of shows promoting themselves on facebook (family guy, big bang etc) they tell you when a new ep is airing stateside...why should you wait a few months for terrestrial to catch up when you can have it in 24 hrs?

Kix

I'm very against taking copies of games and movies. Perhaps this is because they rely on direct sales to the customer. I love both mediums and I want to see the creators of good quality movies and games survive, hopefully thrive, and keep making the products I adore.

I love TV too, but I'm more ambiguous when it comes to the issue of downloading shows. In particular, I appreciate the frustration of not being able to get a show you want to watch, because of geographical factors. I don't want the producers of good TV shows to go out of business either, but they sell to primarily TV networks. Yes, DVD sales come later, but TV shows don't go straight to DVD. So that's part of my rationalization. It may not be right, but it's harder to condemn.

In my defence; I buy a lot of Games/DVD/Blu-Ray, including TV Show Box Sets.

Fallen Buckshot

How exactly do you "Pirate" a tv show people with DVR's can record them for later viewing. and most networks you can watch them online

to me its along the lines of you drank from a public water fountain .. You Stole Water !

Its the networks fault imo for not providing the customer with other options.. If you could pay say 2 quid for the episode to automatically download upon release ad free .. would you ?

jor el

Downloading TV shows is just this centuries equivalent of a VHS recorder. With a video tape, you could record and watch any show when you wanted (as soon as it aired) and skip all the ads. Downloading just makes that a little easier.

A lot of the popular shows are aired this side almost as soon as aired in the US now anyway, so the benefit of downloading can be quite little, in terms of time.

Minstrel27

When for example The Pacific is put onto Sky Movies, that will only encourage downloading.

Superbus

You wouldn't steal a handbag...

amacachi

Well no-one I know is downloading Glee since it's on RTE the day after it's on in America I think. I wouldn't know, I don't watch it. :pac:
As well as that, any time I don't have a load of free time I wait for South Park for the two days.

Serendipup

On the flipside I see Comedy Central are making a huge point of 'there is no need to download the new season of South Park as we have it 2 days later', so while the majority of arguments include an element of 'it'll be free at some point anyway' one would have to assume it's hurting advertising revenues, or the point wouldn't made by the network.

Less advertising revenue = less commissioned shows in the long run.


Do I still avoid the main point of their ad campaign? Well yes, but it's still watched at some point on CC but someone in the house. Not that I would stop viewing at a 'user conveinent time' if that were to change.

Minstrel27

Serendipup wrote: »

On the flipside I see Comedy Central are making a huge point of 'there is no need to download the new season of South Park as we have it 2 days later'

Why don't they show it one day later?

I watch it in HD also which Comedy Central over here do not provide.

Mr.Nice Guy

Serendipup wrote: »

On the flipside I see Comedy Central are making a huge point of 'there is no need to download the new season of South Park as we have it 2 days later', so while the majority of arguments include an element of 'it'll be free at some point anyway' one would have to assume it's hurting advertising revenues, or the point wouldn't made by the network.

Less advertising revenue = less commissioned shows in the long run.

The thing is the South Park creators are fine with people downloading their shows and have said it didn't hurt them. In the episode Christian Rock Hard they actually took the piss out of bands like Metallica who were vocal about downloading music.

Here's a clip of Parker and Stone talking about it in the episode commentary (it's about 1:38):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyVPZ3ciOYc

.SONIC.

i dont see much of a difference between donloading and watching it on the tv!!!

matrim

Actually one other thing to consider is that af far as I know most advertising cost for TV is based on ratings, which use the Nielsen system.

As most people aren't part of the sample set their download of the show won't affect the shows rating so the station aren't actually losing out on revenue.