Britain a hotbed for illicit TV downloads

U.K. fans unwilling to wait for U.S. shows like "Desperate Housewives" turn Britain into world's biggest market for pirated TV.

The story "Britain a hotbed for illicit TV downloads" published February 17, 2005 at 9:17 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[chrisgarty]

No legal alternative

If there was a legal avenue for downloading shows then a lot of people would do that. At the moment, there is no sensible alternative to downloading via the peer-to-peer sites.

I have sent emails to channels such as ABC (Alias) and NBC (West Wing), but they won't even reply.

They need to provide options.

Agreed!

iTunes has been a big success. Its obviously time for something similar for TV shows.

UK B/CASTERS NEED TO WAKE UP

I'm one of the millions of people who have to resort to downloading US TV programmes illegally.Why? In a world where we are used to instant everything why are we still waiting 3-4 months for US movies and TV.

[volterwd]

yes and no

that arguement also justifies bootlegging movies and anything where you have to wait...

although i agree that if it is not available... and is not scheduled to be available then its ok

Showmakers need to think laterally

Why doesnt the showmakers actually sit up and take notice of the online file trading?

We live in a world where consumers are demanding more and wanting it to suit their personal needs at the same time!

Recently we have seen shows like "Enterprise" cancelled because of poor viewing ratings. theres a reason for this firstly most people who are watching shows like Enterprise, Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica to name a few are technical people who live in an online world, you tell these people that you want them to sit down at 8pm on a friday evening and watch an episode of Enterprise and they will say "Why when i can download it and watch it whenever i like!" you tell them that the USA are getting the episode 3 months before them and they will again say "thats not really fair" so is it any wonder that file sharing happens?

Just a thought for the TV giants why not take notice of the online world its a place where people have prospered and where they could too if the just thought about it. why dont they make TV episodes available to download right after they have shown it? all they have to do it place adverts into the media file so that they can gain revenue from the files and then protect them with Microsoft DRM to make them viewable once before rendering them useless.

What will this achieve? well it will achieve a form of stability.

-The guys making the shows will gain revenues from the files online rather than them being shared as they are now for nothing.
-The consumer will get what they want which is to see the programs that they want to see when they want to see them.
-The file sharing networks will shrink because less people will have the need to use them to get the shows that they want

Just my thoughts but its a situation that could easily be avoided.

[lwvirden]

Why do people always turn to prosecution first?

If the television shows were available for minimal cost and simple interface, I suspect that a lot of the downloading would cease.

If there is advertising in the downloads, then I would expect the cost to be as near to zero as my television costs. But without advertising, then costs could rise a bit - but certainly not approach that of buying the dvds...