With the business plan for the NBN announced earlier this week, there has been considerable discussion on video distribution online as being one of the benefactors of higher internet speeds. Foxtel Chief Executive Kim Williams, in an interview with The Australian, has stated:
“I think you’d have to be short-sighted not to be concerned about piracy,” said one free-to-air executive. “What we have had in our favour is the large file size of a TV show or movie which makes it harder to download, but clearly as technology gets better, you reduce the complexity of piracy.”
Australia is known to be one of the most prolific nations in illegal torrent TV downloading. Shows are treated poorly here with regular timeslot changes, shows being delayed by weeks/months after their initial US/UK airings, programs being dumped unexpectantly due to poor ratings, and the promotion of falsely promoted season finale’s to meet local network convenience. Spend a bit of time watching Australian TV and it quickly becomes apparent why so many opt for downloads of foreign content.
“Copyright theft and privacy are very serious crimes. Companies like Foxtel and other media companies that are dependent on the sanctity of intellectual property need to become much more effective advocates in working with government to find appropriate remedies.”
While I agree that media companies should be pursuing remedies that will help protect their interests, I do think that there is one element that gets overlooked. Audiences download because the experience of watching content that way is superior. There’s a better range of content, shows are available within hours of a US/UK broadcast, and the actual video quality is often better then that of standard definition broadcasts in Australia.
There will always be those who download, but local media companies are in a position to provide an experience that piracy cannot. For the first time, the power of the viewing decision is in the hands of the viewer and not with media buyers. If a show is rating poorly, it needs to be given another reasonable timeslot or made available on online catch-up services.
Another area that Broadcasters need to work on is to ensure that their online portals offer a rich experience that can be viewed across multiple platforms and has the potential to replicate the TV experience. For example, Nine and Seven both offer some ‘okay’ catch-up TV platforms, however Nine’s is not available as an option on my PS3 (which is connected to my TV) in the same way that Channel Seven’s 7Plus and the ABC’s iView services are. And further to that, Seven have a cut-down version of 7Plus on their PS3 service with only a handful of shows available to be viewed that way.
Further to this, the US Hulu service trumps the pirate experience in its wide breadth of content. Obscure and old TV programs are often difficult to find on bittorrent. Yet, a service like Hulu offers a rich library of archive content. It’s a quality experience that torrents cannot replicate.
Prosecuting and limiting access to pirated material is simply not the answer. Most viewers are perfectly happy to play ball and engage in a legal alternative, they simply need to be provided with an experience that betters that of piracy. Local broadcasters have opportunities that exceed that offered by piracy. They can promote shows and advertise new and unknown content, local content is available, and there are no concerns of indulging in illegal activity.
The NBN offers a wealth of opportunity for local content distributors to better the experience provided by piracy. If they can’t do that, they will continue to fight a war that simply cannot be won.
5 Comments
My first thought was how it’ll make it easier to market tv online legitimately but nooo, it’s all about the pirates. Typical.
Thanks for a sensible take on this issue.
Great article Dan. I wouldn’t use the US iTunes store or Torrents half as much as I do if the local media would get their shit together…
“…media companies that are dependent on the sanctity of intellectual property need to become much more effective advocates in working with government to find appropriate remedies.”
The media companies should start off by not treating viewers with the utter contempt that they do now. They are not giving viewers what viewers want, they are giving them what the company wants (i.e. you will watch what we give you, when we give it to you, and you will thank us for it).
Most of the following examples apply equally to both free-to-air and Pay TV:
- They air the same shows (both series and movies) over, and over, and over again. With all the shows recorded in say the last 50-60 years, why do they persist in showing the same ones? It’s so irritating flicking through the dozens of Pay TV channels with nothing new to watch. THEY ARE ALL OVERPLAYED REPEATS!!!
- They chop and change shows all the time. Sometimes you are lucky to get a 2-3 episodes in before the time slot changes, the show is dumped, or they start playing repeats.
- They don’t follow published schedules. They don’t care if programs (particularly live events) run over by 30 minutes or more. You can’t even time-shift because the start/end will be missed. And for good measure if a live event is canceled/postponed they will sometimes play and episode of the series that normally runs in that time slot, ensuring that viewers miss an episode because they did not expect it to be on.
- They increase the volume during commercials. This is not just irritating but can actually be painfully loud, depending on the levels in the actual show.
- They take their sweet time in airing new shows (although this is getting a little better now). And when they do air a show within a week of the U.S. they brag about it in all their promos.
- For most shows they don’t bother putting episode numbers in descriptions. This is really bad on Pay TV when you have multiple seasons of a show running in parallel on the same channel or on multiple channels.
I think you see my point.
Well it seems that the chief of Foxtels’ main concern is that of piracy, as the Australian foxtel customer realises that foxtel are actually cheapskates with paying for new shows and are often 2-3 seasons behind the U.S and UK. Even a premium foxtel subscriber who pays $135 a month is still bombarded with ads and older series’ of shows on repeat at nauseam. I am one of these foxtel premium subscribers yet I still find myself downloading my shows on a weekly basis. Was the 2010 doctor who Christmas special aired on foxtels’ UKTV? Hell no, foxtel are still a whole season behind the ABC who aired the current series almost as currently as the BBC in the UK. Same with the Top gear 2010 Christmas specials x2, did foxtels BBC knowledge pay for or aire these? Hell no again!! We don’t consider ourselves pirates we merely are deprived of decent options even if we pay for tv
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Rest my case