Top 10 Pirated TV shows Downloaded on the net

I know many people here download the latest TV shows… this is for you info.

From nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_i … D=10124244

Television networks need to buck up their ideas to avoid driving more viewers to pirated copies of popular shows such as Desperate Housewives on the internet, say web researchers.

Research in Britain and Australia uncovered a global explosion in internet piracy of television shows and anecdotal evidence suggests New Zealand is no exception.

Media commentator Russell Brown said the number of people downloading episodes was still small.

"But people are doing it more and more because they don’t want to wait … I’m quite big on going to a shop and paying money but it’s hard to resist the opportunity to see that the day after it screens in the States.

“In the end, this will force a change in the way television is distributed.”

Research by British web monitoring company Envision found pirated versions of popular shows such as 24 and The OC were available on the internet within hours of being aired in the United States.

Pirating of some programmes had increased more than 150 per cent in a year.

A study by Australian Alex Malik found almost one in three online forums about television shows discussed pirating. As well as downloading programmes from overseas, Australians were also uploading local shows, such as Rove Live, for Antipodeans living overseas to see.

A recent example of piracy was the leaking of the first episode of the Dr Who series, which Prime has bought to show here.

Advertising media buyers have also warned networks to find a solution or risk losing advertising dollars.

Mediacom says it is “turning into a global epidemic that threatens to remake the television landscape in New Zealand as elsewhere”.

Advertising revenue faced a further threat in personal digital recorders, due to be introduced by Sky in December.

Local networks do not believe piracy is a significant problem but Prime CEO Chris Taylor forecast the free-to-air television world would be a very different place 10 years from now.

“I don’t think piracy has really affected our industry yet. But I guess it’s coming and there is a problem of how to combat it. Perhaps television networks will have to address things like licensing agreements so they can show them sooner.”

Piracy has led to calls for television networks to follow the lead of the music industry and make episodes available for download from the internet for a fee.

InternetNZ vice-president David Farrar said the success of Apple’s iTunes technology, which is supported by the music recording industry, showed it was not a question of money.

"Software like BitTorrent poses an incredible challenge to television channels. A very smart television channel would give people the choice of buying programmes individually over the internet.

“Several people I know have said they would be happy to pay, say, $5 an episode to download it and watch it. The issue is they just don’t want to have to wait for it to arrive here when they’ve got the internet and can get it almost instantly.”

TVNZ spokeswoman Michele Camilleri said the network tried to screen programmes quickly but was restricted by issues such as licensing periods.

Ten most-pirated TV show downloads worldwide:

  1. 24
  2. Stargate Atlantis
  3. The Simpsons
  4. Enterprise
  5. Stargate SG-1
  6. The OC
  7. Smallville
  8. Desperate Housewives
  9. Battlestar Galactica
  10. Lost

Doctor Who is getting mad downloads too - within hours of it screening in the UK there are generally over 4000 seeds and about as many clients on Bittorrent. And with the quality of the episodes on offer and speed they’re put out, I seriously think the Beeb is behind it.

[quote]1. 24
2. Stargate Atlantis
3. The Simpsons
4. Enterprise
5. Stargate SG-1
6. The OC
7. Smallville
8. Desperate Housewives
9. Battlestar Galactica
10. Lost[/quote]
The Simpsons is the only show on this list that doesn’t suck.

[quote=“Richardm”][quote]1. 24
2. Stargate Atlantis
3. The Simpsons
4. Enterprise
5. Stargate SG-1
6. The OC
7. Smallville
8. Desperate Housewives
9. Battlestar Galactica
10. Lost[/quote]
The Simpsons is the only show on this list that doesn’t suck.[/quote]

hmmmm… does that mean you have already downloaded the rest and viewed them already? :smiley:

That means you couldn’t pay me to watch them.

The Simpsons is the only one I’ve even bloody HEARD of. Except for 24. Which does indeed suck.

you are such an old man :slight_smile:

It’s very ironic that Enterprise is one of the top shows on the net, but it’s being cancelled for pathetic ratings. (And though the writing is better this season, the previous seasons were pretty bad.)

NZ$5 is about TW$115, which is a bit steep for a single episode, but for some of the series I would definitely pay as much as say TW$70 per episode, especially if I didn’t have to worry about sucky editing and bad captures that are somewhat common with the current fare, and could get guaranteed good download speeds.

I’d be worried that they’d weigh it down with so much copy protection to be annoying though. One reason iTunes took off is not because it was the first (it was several years later than others), but because their DRM was much more reasonable than the competition. A download service that wouldn’t let me burn a DVD for example would probably not get my business.

I kinda like Survivor, yes that’s right. :smiley:

[quote=“Richardm”][quote]1. 24
2. Stargate Atlantis
3. The Simpsons
4. Enterprise
5. Stargate SG-1
6. The OC
7. Smallville
8. Desperate Housewives
9. Battlestar Galactica
10. Lost[/quote]
The Simpsons is the only show on this list that doesn’t suck.[/quote]

WRONG-desperate House wives is the best one on that list. Ohh,crap i just ratted myself out… :blush:

24, great show. Must only be suitable for us 30 and unders :sunglasses:

Well, my 2 cents worth:

24: I wasn’t crazy about it, but became interested enough to watch 3 seasons of it (on DVD in Taiwan). It was intriguing, but did get predictable. Season 3 was hard to make it through for those reasons, but not because it was bad in and of itself.

Stargate Atlantis: No idea. Never saw it. The original Stargate movie was good. The Stargate SG-1 TV series was a bit goofy, but I still watched it from time to time after X-Files left the air due to withdrawal symptoms.

The Simpsons: Might be the best thing that has ever been on a TV screen. In the early years, the writers were nothing short of brilliant.

Enterprise: I like Scott Bakula and the show was OK. Seemed like it needed some Viagra though. I liked the theme song, and opening sequence, which was really disliked by many lifelong Trek watchers for not being traditional enough.

Battlestar Galactica: It sucks so bad I can’t imagine how on Earth it made this list. It has always been one of the most hokey shows on TV.

I’m a bit surprised that “Six Feet Under” didn’t make the list.

seeker - I think the Battlestar Galactica in question is the new one, which is apparently really good. Surprisingly.

Star Trek went downhill so quickly it isn’t funny. It seems whenever they need a new alien these days, they just paste some different kinds of bumps on someones forehead.

Oh, oops. Guess I’m pretty far out of date on that show. Thanks.

Heh, considering it was all there was for Sci-Fi after the original Star Trek for a while it kept hope alive.

You got to admit, the turbo button on the Vipers were something every kid wanted to have on their bikes…

Yeah, the new Battlestar Galactica series is great. I even have friends who aren’t into sci-fi raving about it. It blows the doors off Enterprise. Too bad they only had 13 episodes this year.

Tops on my list would be:

Oz
Happy Tree Friends & Friends (truly depraved animation)
Ali G
The Soprano’s
Red Dwarf

But then there’s the mixed martial arts tournaments, if you can get them:
Pride
UFC

[quote=“The Big Babou”]Tops on my list would be:

Oz
Happy Tree Friends & Friends (truly depraved animation)
Ali G
The Soprano’s
Red Dwarf

But then there’s the mixed martial arts tournaments, if you can get them:
Pride
UFC[/quote]

I get the UFC on satellite TV. A bit behind we just had UFC51 and UFC52 is coming soon. Actually one tournament behind so not so bad.

It’s shown several times so you can always tape the shows.

Exactly, tape the show, cut out the commercials and watch it. I don’t know why people are all upset about downloading shows from the web. I have been cutting out commercials for the past 2 years or used time shift. I don’t really see the difference, maybe it would be more convenient to just download the show than cutting the commericals. I think they really need to rethink their distribution system. Maybe a download service would be a good idea, but please, don’t make it as expensive as iTunes, and leave the digital restriction managment out. Then you have another customer.