Despite Global Release, Breaking Bad Heavily Pirated 443
tlhIngan writes "One reason that many people pirate TV shows is 'it's not available in my country until months after it airs.' Which is why the second episode of Breaking Bad's final season was aired globally within a few hours of each other yesterday evening. Despite this, many users still decided to download it than watch it when it aired locally. Australia users we the top, perhaps because it was on FoxTel. This was followed by U.S. and Canada (who obviously got to see it when it aired), and the UK where Netflix had it within hours of the U.S. premier. Fifth on the list was the Netherlands, where it had aired hours before the U.S. premier on a public channel. It's obvious that despite the global release, the show was headed to top its previous highs in number of downloads. Could this spell the doom to future global releases, since the evidence is people just pirate them anyways?"
Re:How many knew that it was a global release? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Pirating excuses and alternatives (Score:2, Informative)
They taught us how to Fish, and we eat for the rest of our lives.
They should have figured out how to give us the Fish when we were hungry.
That's the way it is in Australia I think. Not to mention if it was only on Foxtel; then thats a minimum 75 dollar per month cable subscription of 3+ year old reruns, with the odd fast-tracked show. and maybe some sport, but you have to pay extra for most of it.
Re:Broadcast TV (Score:5, Informative)
Speaking specifically of Australia program was only broadcast on Foxtel which is a private pay TV provider where the cheapest plan is roughly 4 times as expensive as NetFlix and the premium plans are up to 10 times as expensive (and still lacks the programming choice of similar overseas pay tv networks). Due to restrictive region restrictive licensing agreements NetFlix and other similar services aren't available to potential Australian customers without using methods which hide where the customer is located, something that's beyond the tech understanding of most of the potential customers. Given the restrictive choice and the high pirating level here I can only assume our inability to view the program has contributed to the high piracy level which further leads me to conclude that despite the piracy level apparent in other countries it would be even HIGHER without the timely broadcasting that studios are attempting.
Re:Too Many Adverts? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:How many knew that it was a global release? (Score:5, Informative)
I didn't, but even if I did, it wouldn't make much difference because Breaking Bad is on Netflix in the UK.
Netflix isn't available over the air so I can't get it from that.
Netflix doesn't bounce signals off a satellite so I can't get it with satellite TV.
Netflix don't run a channel through Virgin's cable network, so I can't get it with Virgin (even if they did, my town isn't cabled).
My PVR is a Humax, and has its own Internet-based portal but that doesn't allow you to watch any arbitrary Internet-delivered channel; only channels that have partnered with Humax to provide it. Netflix have not partnered with Humax.
I'm not a big gamer, so the Wii isn't even plugged in any more and I'm not about to plug it in for one show.
Yes, I can plug the laptop in; it has an HDMI connection. But the laptop doesn't have the same convenience as all the other equipment that's controlled from a Logitech Harmony remote. So already Netflix is looking at least a little inconvenient (yes I know there are /.'ers who don't consider it the slightest inconvenience to repurpose an old PC as a Roku box and control it with a full keyboard but I'm not one of them).
The UK is chock-full of "Only £5/month!" deals; most of them have strings attached like "rises to £15/month after 3 months, minimum contract period 18 months" in microscopically small print. So I'm naturally wary of anything that involves regular payment - particularly as it's only for one show and I have no idea whether or not I'd like to keep it for anything else.
Lazy? Maybe. But I took the decision a long time ago that I mess around with technology enough for work purposes; I'm buggered if I'm going to do the same for leisure. Once plugged in and setup, it either JFW or it's not plugged in in the first place.
Re:Broadcast TV (Score:2, Informative)
There is a chance* that this price gouging could change in the future. The recent inquiry into IT Pricing report touched on geo-blocking in Australia:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=ic/itpricing/report.htm
Recommendation 6: The Committee further recommends that the Australian Government investigate options to educate Australian consumers and businesses as to:
the extent to which they may circumvent geo-blocking mechanisms in order to access cheaper legitimate goods;
the tools and techniques which they may use to do so; and
the way in which their rights under the Australian Consumer Law may be affected should they choose to do so.
Recommendation 9: The Committee recommends that the Australian Government consider enacting a ban on geo-blocking as an option of last resort, should persistent market failure exist in spite of the changes to the Competition and Consumer Act and the Copyright Act recommended in this report.
Recommendation 10: That the Australian Government investigate the feasibility of amending the Competition and Consumer Act so that contracts or terms of service which seek to enforce geo-blocking are considered void.
* If the government just doesn't sweep the recommendations under the rug.
Re:How many knew that it was a global release? (Score:4, Informative)
It doesn't count for *any* syndication. Even in-country when they're repeated on "Dave" the music gets changed (most noticable in the 'construction' montages where the A-Team theme is conspicuous by its absence)
Re:How many knew that it was a global release? (Score:2, Informative)
Israel here.
The local broadcaster's site states it's scheduled to release on the August 17th.
http://www.yes.co.il/doc/sdarot.pdf Page 6...
But to be honest, I didn't even know the series was airing again or that there was a new season. I'm so used to seeing commercials advertising 3 month old seasons as a "premier" I just tune them out altogether.
My daily source for release news nowadays is the torrents release sites. I just browse them a couple of times a week and go over what is on for the day when I have the evening off. With some good timing and a bit of luck I get to download my episodes just before I sit down to eat after work. So they're all ready to watch when I'm done.
I suppose a good business model for the producers would be to offer premier on-line streaming with commercials along side for-pay, commercial free viewing. It will cut out the middle man broadcasters completely but that's just what technology does: Efficiency.
As for the broadcaster's staff and owners, not a day goes by I don't weep for the carriage makers.
Re:How many knew that it was a global release? (Score:5, Informative)
Uhm yeah, the breaking bad episode in the netherlands was not the premier of this season, but the last episode of LAST YEARS season.
Here's a link: http://programma.vpro.nl/drama/afleveringen/breaking-bad-serie-4/aflevering-13.html
The article is misleading.
Re:Broadcast TV (Score:3, Informative)
Next up we have the format. I can't be available to watch it exactly when they want me to watch it. I want to be able to watch it on whatever device I want, and I want to be able to pause it whenever the need arises. I have computers etc so I'm not paying for a PVR, especially when they don't have a lot of space and half time stick you with commercials, prevent FF through them, whatever.
Last, I'm sick of "them" (be they the channels, producers of the shows, whoever) thinking piracy is so bad - once upon a time you'd blast that shit free to everyone (see first point). Now you have proof people love it, and rather than pump out DVDs Blurays and merch, you'd rather spank people and get them to overpay for channels that play garbage and ads the other 99% of the time because otherwise you'll go broke even though you have a great show to provide?! GET A NEW BUSINESS MODEL. Many are still somewhat blind sheep, but too many have woken up and there simply is no going back. You can't fool all of the people all of the time.
iTunes fraud contributing as well (Score:4, Informative)
A lot of people bought a season pass of breaking bad during the first half of season 5. It was already announced that the season would be halved and completed this year. Everyone was thinking "Oh good I'll get the whole season"
Well no.
On iTunes it's called season 6 so you have to pay again.
Nice money grab there.
I'm sure that contributed to piracy as well. After all, steal from people and many won't feel any moral problem with taking what they already paid for.
Very smart, turn your remaining paying customers into pirates.
Re:How many knew that it was a global release? (Score:5, Informative)
I'll take it a step futher. I ended up canceling the cable. Here is why:
4 choices here - Dish, DirectTV, Time Warner, and AT&T Uverse. I wanted to bundle in internet, and have unlimited data. That rulled out everyone except Time Warner.
Time Warner said that they would bundle cable for $10 a month more. But then there was the charge for the HD reciever. Then the HD tier. Then they didn't carry all the channels I wanted in HD.
Then I tried to get a DVR. There was one option, with a tiny harddrive that held about 10 hours of HD recording. And there was a DVR fee (on top of the HD box fee) and a DVR service fee.
The choice to get out of the fees was to get either a TiVO (wait, there are fees there) or a cable card for the PC. I elected the latter - I got terrabytes of storage space, and I could archive stuff to disc..... EXCEPT....
Time Warner puts broadcast flags on EVERYTHING. Would not work in Linux or a half dozen programs I tried in Windows - it ONLY worked with Windows Media Center. The recordings were then wrapped in DRMed crap, meaning it would not play in anything other than Windows Media Center. Which would still be an option, except that if you moved the recordings to another location or device, the recordings became unwatchable.
So, the $10 extra a month became $80 extra a month to get HD channels and a DVR that held almost no data, third party solutions did not work, and the MAJORITY of the shows I watch are available on Netflix or Hulu? That was an easy choice for me. I cut the cable, Netflix, Hulu or Amazon what I can, Vudu the couple of shows I can't, (which averages the same cost as a little over a month of cable for a year's worth of shows - I guess about 2-3 months if you add in subscrition costs to the other services) and torrent the stuff that is not available on any of those services.
I did look at going back and getting cable and DVRs through one of the other three companies and keeping internet through Time Warner (I loved Dish's DVR when I had them), but when the quality of streaming media off of Hulu looks better than Dish's or UVerse's HD channels, and DirectTV's pricing system and contracts make me cringe, the solution was simple - fast internet pipe and streaming services.