P2p and try-before-you-buy
p2p news view / p2pnet: I’m a TV addict, and I’m not ashamed to admit that growing up, my regular babysitter was the boob tube. I enjoy TV programs much more than I do going to a cinema. I much prefer watching a video or DVD movie on my TV.
Last month I wrote American TV networks are in trouble. BIG Trouble.
While the RIAA’s running around the world trying to sue innocent people into inescapable debt for sharing legally purchased music and audio files; while they and the MPAA spend millions lobbying the US and foreign governments to enact stricter laws against filesharing, as well as ridiculous marketing campaigns and in-school “educational” programs designed to teach (read “brainwash”) youngsters how to inform on their families and friends who aren’t doing anything illegal; while all this is going on, unbeknownst to most people outside of the p2p world, the TV networks and TV producers are doing something different. They’re actually starting to give their audiences what they want – almost when they want it.
In my article last month, I wrote how:
“ABC has contracted with Apple to distribute $2.00 per pop DRM-infected episodes of “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” for download to view exclusively on the video iPod’s microscopic screen.”
And how:
“NBC has begun distributing it’s “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” online as well.”
And how CBS toyed “…with a limited-time trial period of streaming three episodes of “Threshold” this past November.
And now with Bram Cohen and BitTorrent snuggled up in bed with Hollywood, more TV programs will soon be available through cartel-controlled fee-based filesharing services, equipped with the requisite DRM and other restrictions.
It’s a start, but it’s not what we want.
Shows such as “Joan of Arcadia” and “Medium” are now airing on TV here, just a few months after their first season North American runs.
This past year, and more recently the past few weeks, I’ve seen a tremendous rise in the availability of TV show DVDs on sale where I live, including several titles which have just started being aired on TV here, as well as older shows which aren’t being re-run any longer, or have never been shown here.
“Nip/Tuck” hadn’t yet been shown on TV here by last spring, but a special DVD of the pilot episode was in the shops weeks before the first season aired. “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” hadn’t even finished its first season on TV where I live (as of this writing) and already these same shows can be bought in shops. I can even buy the final fifth season of “Angel” now, and I know it won’t be on TV for months.
I believe cartel-controlled p2p and other restrictive download services will fail, for reasons we all know and which are too numerous and repetitive to mention. And although I’m not too happy with the prices of TV show DVDs, I think it’s a smart move by TV producers to offer their programs directly to the consumer in foreign markets where viewers would normally have to wait months or years (or forever) for a series to be aired.
As a US ex-pat who’s lived overseas the past 15 years, I’ve seen and experienced many changes in how and when movies and TV shows reach these shores.
A few years ago, with the increasing popularity of DVDs and DVD players, much of what was available in shops were North American Region Code 1 DVDs. They weren’t the majority of discs on store shelves, but they were mostly films that hadn’t been shown in cinemas here yet. Cinema owners and DVD distributors successfully lobbied the government to ban the sale of Region Code 1 DVDs in shops, but it’s still legal for people to buy them through internet websites like Amazon.com, or order them through shops here which specialize in English-language videos.
Though the MPAA still hasn’t learned that a downloaded film does not equate to a lost sale, they’ve started to wake up to consumer demands. It used to take a year or more for popular films to be shown in movie houses here – if at all. Now, more often than not, the waiting times have been shortened to a matter of weeks. And some films are being released simultaneously in most major markets.
Free, uninhibited filesharing is here to stay. That’s a fact. But it doesn’t mean the end of broadcast TV, cinemas, or CDs.
I own a few hundred legally purchased DVDs (including several box-sets of films and TV shows) and a few hundred legally purchased music CDs. I recently looked through them all and found indisputable proof that a downloaded file absolutely does not equal a lost sale !!!
Of the hundreds of DVD movies I own, I originally downloaded and viewed more than 50% using free filesharing programs. And of the hundreds of CDs, roughly one-third are originally albums I first sampled using free filesharing programs.
I liked these films and CDs enough to know I’d watch and listen to them many times, and I bought them because I felt they were good enough to deserve my money. Not much of what Hollywood churns out does deserve my money, so I sample what I can by using free p2p technology. In this way I can decide if I’d ever want to pay out my hard-earned cash.
Before DVD and p2p, I’d amassed a collection of several hundred VHS movies. Besides taking up a huge amount of space, I found that I wasn’t watching them as often as I’d originally thought I would when I bought them. I’d spent a lot of money on tapes which I’ve only watched once or twice. Now I have P2P to help me make my decisions. I don’t buy a DVD unless I’ve first been able to download it.
Why should I give Hollywood my money in exchange for crap? I recently downloaded a TV series which only had one season and then was cancelled. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it, but I did – very much. And now that it’s available on DVD where I live, I plan to buy it as soon as it’s available at a reasonable price. I would never have considered buying it without first sampling it through a free filesharing program.
DVDs and CDs are still too expensive, and being able to sample films and music beforehand (without DRM and other restrictions – not everyone likes to listen to music or watch a film on a computer screen or handheld device) is what I and many others do, as shown by my own collections. If the RIAA and MPAA don’t give us that option, we’ll seek it somewhere else. It’s what we want. And we want what we want, when and where we want it, in the formats that we prefer.
I’m very glad for some of the changes I mentioned above. I’m also glad that if I choose, I can buy a DVD of a TV show while it’s airing here, or even before it airs here. I’m glad I can also now buy many of my favorite classic TV shows which aren’t repeated on TV anymore.
I’m just not very happy about the cost of TV and Movie DVDs, so I’ll continue to use free P2P to help me make my purchasing decisions.
TV networks and producers are starting to give us what we want, almost when we want it. Now, how about the price we want?
catflap – p2pnet
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local political representatives. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance.
December 8th, 2005 at 9:47 pm
“Shows such as “Joan of Arcadia” and “Medium” are now airing on TV here, just a few months after their first season North American runs.”
Not to step off the topic but joan of acradia is years old. I think 2002
December 8th, 2005 at 9:55 pm
The problem is they want to guarentee monetary success for shows they know are going to bomb….The people who are “producing” (investors) these shows/movies/albums don’t want any risk they want huge returns, and given the amount of crap produced it is hard to do that if people are allowed to try before they buy. So the real reason for drm is to allow these producers/investors to continue to make money off of crap.
December 8th, 2005 at 10:10 pm
another good post catflap =)
December 8th, 2005 at 10:24 pm
More and more I am starting to look forward to those rarely posted articles you do. Good lady, you need to get a bit more active with these articles. I have no idea of your personal life and its demands on your time (nor do I need to know) but I do know we all have them.
Still you have the “knack” as it is often said and more active participation within the site as a contributor would be most appreciative I suspect, not only by myself, but by the readers at large.
As the one above me said, “another good post catflap =)”
I do concur.
December 8th, 2005 at 11:09 pm
ok sorry. i should have said a few months after “Joan of Arcadia” finished it’s second season run in North America.
according to tvcom, it aired in the 03-04 and 04-05 seasons.
i get a little confused sometimes with seasons, especially since now networks are starting to air new shows in summer months, as well as delaying (like the sopranos) or splitting up new seasons into 13 parts each.
my mistake.