Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
In such an atmosphere, we would not see massive piracy from the Darknet or Torrents, just as we do not at present have a serious bootleg television show problem (TV gets its profit from advertisers, often before their shows are even broadcast).
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I think this is an important contrast point because it is only partially true.
In the US this is probably a minor problem but for the rest of the world it is not.
Getting a current TV series (should one actually not suck horribly) in mainland Europe within a reasonable timeframe and for a reasonable price is just about impossible. Shows typically air 1-2 years after they premier in the US, if they are aired at all. If they are aired, they are normally horribly dubbed and only very few stations offer dual-audio (which is then mono btw). DVD releases aren't viable either because of the price and because they are delayed as well. Lastly, iTunes and all the other legal online services are US-only.
I think this would be a nice demonstration for the publishers if they ever did a study comparing TV series downloading in the US, Canad and the UK vs. the rest of the world.