Pay TV piracy was all over the news this week, and on a worldwide scale! Where should we begin?
As an initial step towards enforcing the new Anti-Piracy Law, eleven of Russia’s top online movie service providers banded together to fight piracy through a nonprofit organization. Do you think this is a battle worth fighting? Well, their numbers for illegal activity clearly weren’t as high as that of Australia. Pirates in Australia are breaking their own records this year with their extremely high numbers of illegal downloads for shows such as “Game of Thrones” and “Breaking Bad.” Speaking of “Breaking Bad,” surely you’ve heard of the number of people who tuned in to catch the final episode, but the numbers don’t stop there! The episode also drew a record-setting number of pirated downloads for the series – as much as 500,000 people downloaded it within the first 12 hours of it appearing online. Not cool, pirates. Not cool.
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Russia Moves Against Piracy (Broadband TV News)
Pirates in Russia better think twice! Eleven of Russia’s leading online movie services have “joined forces in a bid to fight piracy in the marketplace.” This organization is the first of many steps being taken to enforce the recently passed Anti-Piracy Law. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean the people will miss out on the good stuff. They are also working on “a portal that will provide information as to where legitimate videos can be accessed.” Developments from this organization, called Internet-Video, are expected to be accessed by 100 million Russians by 2018. Do you think it will dramatically lower the numbers for piracy in Russia?
Australia Extends Global Internet Piracy Lead (Delimiter)
Not only is Australia continuing to take the lead in pirating popular TV shows in the US – Aussie pirates are beginning to break their own records. After factoring a population of 22 million people, Australia demonstrates the highest piracy rate, followed by the US (yes, really), the UK, India, and Canada. In regards to limited access of content, “content companies have clearly listened to these complaints and have tried to rectify them with legal alternatives.” But that’s not stopping pirates from wanting free access to content that was expensive to produce. What would it take for pirates to legally obtain content that is easily, quickly, and cheaply available over iTunes?
‘Breaking Bad’ Finale Breaks Series Piracy Record: TorrentFreak (Multichannel)
Remember how “Breaking Bad” broke records with the whole world tuning in to watch the first episode of the final season? Well, they did it again, but not in the most pleasant fashion. The finale drew a record-setting number of pirated downloads. According to TorrentFreak, 500,000 people downloaded the final episode within 12 hours of the first copy appearing online. Even Netflix subscribers found themselves illegally downloading the final episode so they could watch it on their own time, instead of following a rigid TV schedule. Why do you think everyone else chose to illegally download the final episode, despite widespread availability of legal versions online? Might it have anything to do with old habits dying hard?
