I don’t think anyone is surprised when they hear those news stories about Australia being the country with the most illegal downloads of Game of Thrones or how we are a “hotbed of piracy” and ‘contributing to the downfall of civilisations’. Ok so I made the last bit up – but seriously, what do they expect?
So many, in fact most, great shows released from the US or UK never make it to Australian TV – either free to air or Foxtel. And of the ones that are shown over here, less than 25% of them are shown within 24 hours of their original release.
The rest might eventually – weeks, months and sometimes years later – make it to our screens. So what’s their excuse? It’s not like the technology doesn’t exist. They have the ways and means to get these shows to either our tv’s or even our tablets and computers as soon as they are released overseas.
I know our household would be more than happy to pay for legitimate content – but even the paid legitimate options here are either lacking or are silly prices. “Premium TV” episodes for $3 each? For a 40 minute episode? Please!
Google gets involved
Google recently wrote to Malcolm Turnbull about the piracy situation in Australia. The gist of the letter was to say that it’s a problem caused by the availability of the content and the price of the content that is available. Google have acknowledged the piracy problem in Australia but have suggested that trying to police the situation rather than find a solution is unwise:
[dt_quote type=”pullquote” font_size=”normal” animation=”none” background=”plain”]We would be disappointed if the government decided to go down the route of overly harsh regulation to combat piracy without considering the evidence from around the world that this would likely be costly for businesses to implement and with little effect.[/dt_quote]
More information?
Would you like to learn more? Here are some handy links you might find interesting:
- CNET – Australian TV Pirates refuse to play the waiting game
- Quickflix Streaming – Australia’s answer to Netflix.
- Reckoner – Watching TV in Australia: The Australian Delay Under the Microscope
- CNet – Australian Netflix use has tripled in the past 12 months