Wednesday, January 12, 2005      Is downloading TV episodes bad?

I used to visit a site that had downloadable TV shows on it that I can't see due to the fact I have the staple free to air channels on my TV and can't afford to get a SKY [think Foxtel Aussies] box. I'm not one for downloading movies or music - but I can't say I haven't [Ihave a HUGE pile of live music I got off the net - but this is stuff from concerts where people can tape -- this is another post maybe....], but fair being fair, if the album is good, I'll buy it. So I'm looking for any site of a site that may help my Battlestar Galactica or The Batman requirements and came past The TV Torrent Debate.
Is it bad to download a TV show from the Internet? If I missed an episode of 24 [you miss an episode and you could be pretty screwed], no one in the office has a copy of it [which by the way is technically illegal anyway isn't it?] and said episode is sitting there on a site asking to be downloaded, what do you do? What do you do? Morally, should you leave it and watch next week and catch up or maybe read a synopsis off the web? Is it bad to download something that has already aired?
Then you ask - what about something that is shown in the US and is coming to the UK in a few months [or as with Battlestar Galactica the opposite], is this OK to watch it? Does anyone lose out here financially? Australia got completely and utterly fucked over with Smallville Season 2 and didn't get any of the second half of it even aired [you suck Channel Nine], so I got copies off the web and finished the season off on my PC. And now because I enjoyed it so much, I now own the second season on DVD.
So why not have the episodes downloadable on the web after airing? There is a limited audience who would download them, but it becomes legal then and less cloak and dagger bollocks. I bet it happens [you heard it here kids!] - every man and his dog is selling music downloads trying to kill off the file sharing, so since movies are probably too big for the moment, lets see the next move to be TV shows. Might kill off the DVD sales I guess, but charge a bit and in the long run it'll probably be comparible - add in special features for DVDs as the bonus to buying it.
If you have any views to share, click the Comments link below.
Worked late but had a decent day, went for a run and then watched the end of the An Evening with Kevin Smith. Funny shit and highly recommend it to any fans out there.

Posted by Nick @ 11:13 pm      0 comments