5 ms·

This is certainly nothing new. The reason why this is interesting is because Fred is actually trying to buy something off the UK and can't because he's an ameri

This is certainly nothing new. The reason why this is interesting is because Fred is actually trying to buy something off the UK and can't because he's an american, and typically the opposite is true (people outside the US being shown road-blocks and random impediments to actually spending their money in US-based services). To give you a practical example: I steal just about every TV series I watch, because being back in Europe, I can't use Hulu, can't grab them off iTunes, and generally TV stations delay broadcasting for about 1 season (probably to keep prices down). Grabbing them off of torrents is as simple as waiting for the episodes to show up on my "downloads-tv" folder, thanks to RSS and a torrent client. This usually happens about 20 minutes after the original broadcast in the east coast - I just have go about my life and wait for them to be ready to watch. Back to the topic: these legal hurdles that force you to buy things locally will eventually go away (they're already gone for a few things). That's the one true problem here. Some people will always pirate, and some people will pirate because it's convenient. It's certainly easier than using proxies, faking an address somewhere and generally lying about you because you want to give someone money. This whole deal boggles the mind. TL;DR: Some people pirate things because it's more convenient. Companies should make it more convenient to actually purchase music/tv/movies/games online.

robryan 16y ago
There really needs to be 2 distribution methods, someone buying the content is making a network far more money than they would have made advertising to that person. Overseas networks should just accept that a small portion of the audience would buy it online before it is shown there, you could even subsidize them based on where the online content sales come from.
speleding 16y ago
> Some people pirate things because it's more convenient Some music/games/TV shows are never released in my (admittedly small) country and there is no legal avenue to purchase them over the web. So sometimes it's not just convenience (of course, the content owner is not losing a sale in that case so you could debate whether this is piracy). FWIW, I try to do the right thing wherever I can so studios would simply make more money if they lifted the restrictions
Swizec 16y ago
Same here, I download every tv show I watch. But I would argue that I am not pirating tv shows. I paid for them by watching the same product placement as my american counterparts. Remember, with tv shows you are the product, not the tv show. Therefore they are essentially unstealable because every time you "steal" a tv show, you're adding one more product to the content owner's roster.
- eftpotrm 16y ago
  And do Geico and Home Depot get much possible value from your viewing their adverts? I'm not wholly against you on this; the current media market setup is patently flawed in the Internet age and I'm becoming increasingly convinced that so's the broadcast content model for anything but inherently live content such as sports and _maybe_ rolling news. But, that content is paid for by advertisers trying to reach prospective customers. Overseas viewers are, almost without exception, not prospective customers of the advertisers so they're not interested in paying to talk to you.
  - Swizec 16y ago
    I don't watch the adverts. Funny thing, though, is that 90% of the product placement happening in US shows are things I can buy right here at home. Or I can buy some sister product the same umbrella corporation produces. Furthermore, it is increasingly the case that product placement is happening for online products. I've especially noticed this with The Big Bang Theory (possibly because it's a geek show) Hell, just take this for example: The only reason I went to the Cheesecake Factory on my US visit last year was because I saw it mentioned on a tv show I pirated.
charlesdm 16y ago
Anyone have some reliable numbers as to how much tv stations pay to license certain shows?
yardie 16y ago
Some of the european broadcasters are trying to accomodate this. Usually for really popular shows like LOST it will air the same night or the next night (You could have watched the series finale of LOST at 3AM) or catch it the following night. But most of the less popular shows are shown months or years after they show in the US. Anyway, TRON: Legacy is showing here next week and the buzz is already gone due to the fact that most people that wanted to see it already have or read the plot. I'm just waiting for it to come out on bluray since the excitement of seeing it in theaters is largely gone.

robryan 16y ago

There really needs to be 2 distribution methods, someone buying the content is making a network far more money than they would have made advertising to that person. Overseas networks should just accept that a small portion of the audience would buy it online before it is shown there, you could even subsidize them based on where the online content sales come from.

speleding 16y ago

> Some people pirate things because it's more convenient Some music/games/TV shows are never released in my (admittedly small) country and there is no legal avenue to purchase them over the web. So sometimes it's not just convenience (of course, the content owner is not losing a sale in that case so you could debate whether this is piracy). FWIW, I try to do the right thing wherever I can so studios would simply make more money if they lifted the restrictions

Swizec 16y ago

Same here, I download every tv show I watch. But I would argue that I am not pirating tv shows. I paid for them by watching the same product placement as my american counterparts. Remember, with tv shows you are the product, not the tv show. Therefore they are essentially unstealable because every time you "steal" a tv show, you're adding one more product to the content owner's roster.

eftpotrm 16y ago
And do Geico and Home Depot get much possible value from your viewing their adverts? I'm not wholly against you on this; the current media market setup is patently flawed in the Internet age and I'm becoming increasingly convinced that so's the broadcast content model for anything but inherently live content such as sports and _maybe_ rolling news. But, that content is paid for by advertisers trying to reach prospective customers. Overseas viewers are, almost without exception, not prospective customers of the advertisers so they're not interested in paying to talk to you.
- Swizec 16y ago
  I don't watch the adverts. Funny thing, though, is that 90% of the product placement happening in US shows are things I can buy right here at home. Or I can buy some sister product the same umbrella corporation produces. Furthermore, it is increasingly the case that product placement is happening for online products. I've especially noticed this with The Big Bang Theory (possibly because it's a geek show) Hell, just take this for example: The only reason I went to the Cheesecake Factory on my US visit last year was because I saw it mentioned on a tv show I pirated.

charlesdm 16y ago

Anyone have some reliable numbers as to how much tv stations pay to license certain shows?

yardie 16y ago

Some of the european broadcasters are trying to accomodate this. Usually for really popular shows like LOST it will air the same night or the next night (You could have watched the series finale of LOST at 3AM) or catch it the following night. But most of the less popular shows are shown months or years after they show in the US. Anyway, TRON: Legacy is showing here next week and the buzz is already gone due to the fact that most people that wanted to see it already have or read the plot. I'm just waiting for it to come out on bluray since the excitement of seeing it in theaters is largely gone.