[Film] Torchwood Download

Ki!ler-Mk1

Active Member
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/jun/28/torchwood-miracle-day

With Torchwood: Miracle Day going out in the UK six days later than in America, will fans be tempted to illegally download it?
#deadrockstar
28 June 2011 1:50PM

As I pay my licence fee, if I download this in advance, is it really illegal downloading? Surely it is just a more pro-active form of time-shifting?
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While i find it amusing how the daily mail uses the words; downloading, torrent and illegally, i cant help but agree with the above quote. I personally didnt know the uk broadcast dates when i started downloading it, and as such was not willing to wait 2 weeks for episode 2.

What do you chaps think, is it illegal to watch something(that is produced/created) that is going to be on the BBC for sure, before its aired?

Ofcourse, if you dont pay your tv license(due to being too smart for tv) then sure it probably is illegal lol.

(In the interests of simplification im going to state that for the purposes of this, anyone doing so would delete and no longer have a copy after watching, if indeed that makes any difference.)
 

thatbloke

Junior Administrator
I think that a very large percentage of all of the stuff that gets "illegally" downloaded is due to one of two reasons:

1) The insistence that the TV show is aired in the USA (or another coutnry) days, weeks or even months before it gets aired over here. There are no borders anymore, the internet has seen to that. TV channels need to adapt to this but are still trying to cling on to a business model that existed before the Internet did. This worked perfectly for Game of Thrones, as there was literally just hours between its airing in the US and its airing over here.

2) The media in question is no longer available for purchase legally anywhere. What these media companies need to realise is that if they made things more available digitally, and at an appropriate price, people will pay for and use such a service rather than attempting to "illegally" download the media in question. Netflix in the US has shown this. (Though the ISPs don't like Netflix - but that's another matter entirely).


There is a hardcore base of people that will always Pirate stuff, just because they can. This is regardless of when the media is/was aired or how the media is already available. It is this group of users that media companies need to be targeting, if they really want to wipe out piracy. Not some soccer mom who has no hope of ever being able to pay the quite frankly rediculous fines that these media companies attempt to levy upon them.
 

Haven

Administrator
Staff member
I agree with thatbloke with the amendment that I see "1" as "convenience". Its often easier to download than it is to purchase. Once media centres become smarter/cheaper and easier to use then I think torrenting will drop off a bit - until then its a very convenient form of distribution.
 

Ki!ler-Mk1

Active Member
I dont watch much tv anymore, not since i got a tv as a 2nd monitor, now i just listen to shows while playing slow games, eg M2TW or defense grid/starcraft ums. For me this makes it pretty pointless having the tv copy(from uk tv). I rarely buy music(Bought the new lady gaga album and thats it), i dont tend to pirate it either, i certainly bought more music this year than i pirated, of course if they half the price to £5 ish/new release album and 30p/singles i wouldnt pirate any music. But i cant afford music above that :(

1) The insistence that the TV show is aired in the USA (or another coutnry) days, weeks or even months before it gets aired over here. There are no borders anymore, the internet has seen to that. TV channels need to adapt to this but are still trying to cling on to a business model that existed before the Internet did. This worked perfectly for Game of Thrones, as there was literally just hours between its airing in the US and its airing over here.

I downloaded 5 episodes of that, and watched them after the uk airing, just so i could watch them upstairs with no adverts(our sky box has RFout enabled to the whole house, but still needs ads skiping).
This is isnt really a question, more of a statement:
Logically it cant be illegal to download a torrent of a show with no adverts in it, to watch instead of a HD version of the same show recorded on the sku box whose adverts i would be skipping.

Overal, its that RFout that i watch 80% of tv on and would have watched shows on had they been ad free, and as such i torrent the them instead because i dont have sky eye to enable me to skip ads - am i unreasonable? Only a month ago i deleted series 1-4 of xfiles off the box and downloaded them.

Please dont assume that i think i am right because i have over shared a little, i did download a pirate movie this year, i do, at aprox 0.5/year and i always feel guilty as i am a cinema goer(and i pay for sky movies too lol).
 

BiG D

Administrator
Staff member
By paying the license fee, you're buying the right to watch the shows when they're aired on the BBC (or via other approved methods like iplayer.) Downloading a torrent obviously isn't one of the methods covered, as such it's just as illegal as downloading the show without paying the license fee.
 

Ki!ler-Mk1

Active Member
Linky please!

EDIT:

Thats not true if you download and watch it after its aired.
So, you need a licence to watch any channel live online, but you wouldn’t need one to use BBC iPlayer to catch up on an episode of a programme you missed, for example.
 

BiG D

Administrator
Staff member
Sure it is. You do not own the rights to a copy of the show, hence you're violating copyright law.
 

thatbloke

Junior Administrator
Sure it is. You do not own the rights to a copy of the show, hence you're violating copyright law.

And it's precisely that that is the problem.

People *want* to be able to watch their favourite TV shows, but TV companies insist on having these arbritary barriers in the way that prevents them from doing so as they would like
 

Spicypixel

New Member
No one debates it's against the law. People are debating the law as being stupid and out of touch with reality. Combine that with the staggered launch idea and you have a whirlwind of failure all round.
 

Ki!ler-Mk1

Active Member
Sure it is. You do not own the rights to a copy of the show, hence you're violating copyright law.

I can record off tv, i can record off iplayer, i can point a camera at the tv thats exactly the same result as downloading it.

Its just proactive time shifting, like quoted above, it has nothing to do with owning a copy.

Why does your statement have to be so personal and aggressive though?.
 

BiG D

Administrator
Staff member
I can record off tv, i can record off iplayer, i can point a camera at the tv thats exactly the same result as downloading it.
All three of those are also illegal in all likeliness. The license fee may cover using a DVR specifically (approved and registered by some governing body, of course) but in general if you're making a copy, you're breaking the law.

Also, what? :rolleyes:
 

Ki!ler-Mk1

Active Member
All three of those are also illegal in all likeliness. The license fee may cover using a DVR specifically (approved and registered by some governing body, of course) but in general if you're making a copy, you're breaking the law.

Whew thats a relief, i had assumed you knew what you were talking about as you usually appear to. Perhaps you could link to resources if you're going to be mean rather than answering what i ask? - Thought really, i wasnt really after answers more a discussion on downloading BBC shows, and i admit i may have derailed the thread.

Sure it is. If one does not own the rights to a copy of the show, then you're violating copyright law.
Fixed and de-personalised.
 

Traxata

Junior Administrator
Thanks.

Books all the way.

Why is a ~TV show funded by the BBC being aired in America first?
BBC said:
Torchwood, Scheduling, BBC One
Publication date: 8 July 2011

Complaint: We received complaints from viewers unhappy that the new series of Torchwood will be broadcast in America before the UK.
The BBC’s Response
We are pleased to announce that Torchwood will return to BBC One at 21.00 on Thursday 14 July.
Starz in the US have the contractual right to the World Premiere, that relates to the deal that was done and ultimately this has created better value for licence fee payers.
Contractually, the broadcasters in other territories can transmit from the next day onwards but being as close to the transmission in the US is not the only factor in the scheduling decision. We have identified what we think is the best slot for BBC One viewers and have also ensured that it’s within a week of transmission in the US.

Because they got paid more money for US exclusive (which is also why thatbloke's argument of 'THERE IS NO BORDERS' won't happen). Even the BBC will happily accept money to delay the release of something... amazing considering they're funded by the tax payer.
 

Silk

Well-Known Member
Sure it is. You do not own the rights to a copy of the show, hence you're violating copyright law.

So everyone who owned a VHS back in the day to record their soaps were all breaking the law?

Isn't that basically 100% of the population?
 

Wol

In Cryo Sleep
So everyone who owned a VHS back in the day to record their soaps were all breaking the law?

Isn't that basically 100% of the population?

Yup, as far as I know. I think there was something like "you can only keep it for a week" like you can on iPlayer stuff, but if you recorded it and kept it any longer, then it was breaking the law.
 
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