Seven Network mulls scrapping content screening delays

At last, a media conglomerate who recognises that they are part of the problem, and intending to take steps to remedy it. Now, if only channel 9 takes note...

YES YES YES YES. This is exactly what the networks need to do to curb piracy. I am another user who is too easily tempted to download shows that have aired days/weeks/months/years previously and this will completely remove any need/temptation for me to do so.

Yes! finally! a tv network with some sence! the fact that they screen my tv shows up to 6months after they have aired in the US is the sole reason i use a bittorrent client! lets hope they get it together!

This is the best, easiest, most logical solution thats ever been acknowledged for the problem. There'd be no incentive or reason to download any TV from the US.

Then if they ran post-broadcast "catch-up TV" similar to ABC's iview model there would also be no reason to illegally download when programming changes caused viewers to miss episodes.

What happens when you miss an episode? How are you going to watch it? Also US still has massive piracy on it's TV shows downloaded by those in the US. While this may reduce piracy it's not going to reduce it by as much as they want. They still need to provide the ability to watch tv shows after they have aired in HD otherwise piracy will still be rampant.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! O GOD YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No longer would we have to spend months avoiding spoilers and plot summeries on the internet. #1 way to combat Illegal downloading, make it possible to get it legally.

Finally some common sense!!!

Absolutely, if I didn't have to wait months to see an episode, I'd be extremely unlikely to download it. Now if only they fixed the deliberate way they delay start and finish times to mess with people trying to record shows....

They need to realise that times have changed, people have busy schedules, and the worldwide community means that other avenues are available. Host shows online themselves with their advertising, allow people to easily record shows, etc, if they think smart they'll get much further than by launching stupid litigation actions and alienating their customers.

That's all well and good for TV programs, but it does very little to stop piracy of movies.

Whether right or wrong, I tend to hold the opinion that because TV stations show the content "for free" anyway (it ain't called Free-to-Air for nothing), albeit often much later, then downloading it via BitTorrent is not "theft", compared to say downloading a movie that you would otherwise have had to pay to see either in the cinema or via a DVD/Bluray disc.

In terms of revenue loss for a television station, there is no *practical* difference that I can see between someone who downloads a TV show via BitTorrent and someone who records a program on their PVR and skips the ads. Yet the latter is "acceptable" and the former is "piracy" or "theft".

Unfortunately, insofar as calculating TV ratings, the user who records a show on their PVR is *probably* still considered a "viewer" of the show and the downloader is not. Since the number of viewers of a given show drives advertising rates, the network probably doesn't care if you skip the ads, because they are still getting paid their advertising revenue to deliver the ad to you.

Networks would probably quite happily show TV programs online if they could retain their revenue model through advertising, and prevent the bitstream being copied.

The irony is that a digital content delivery system (ie. putting these shows on the internet for free) actually has the *capacity* to more effectively force a viewer to see advertisements, if the viewer cannot bypass the viewer and access the stream directly (eg. to copy it). It eliminates the ability to record the program, or to skip ads.

Even then there will still be people who resent being forced to watch ads, will try copy the video, remove the ads, and make it available to others. And likewise there will be others who download it because being forced to watch ads is time better spent elsewhere.

FYI - Dexter is currently screening on Australian TV. Its on Foxtel Showcase, Season 4 (Episode 11).

But even Foxtel need to bring their shows forward - the Facebook groups were madly posting months before it began screening here - and I didnt need to see hints about the Trinity killer!!!

Seven could have done this years ago when torrents started but they sat on their hands, still today they delay programs for months, insert tons of adverts and promote the hell out of programs, when you can get it same day from America or the UK, advert free, HD quality... why wouldnt you just torrent the show?
If programs were shown same day, i wouldnt torrent the show but until all the channels and the pathetically outdated Foxtel start doing this, torrents will continue!

wasn't this the whole idea of the 'fast-tracking' seven was claiming years ago. it all sounds good but if you can't deliver than its rather pointless.

Finally someone is talking some real sense - continually being screwed by TV network programmers is the bane of all consumers. You know what I mean, they buy shows and hold them in the back room for a year or two before they bother showing them, or showing seasons with regular breaks of repeats in between. Add to that the large movie and music corporations also screwing consumers in regions like Australia by charging us up to double the price to download legal content and you have the perfect recipe for rampant piracy.
What these corporations need to do is get with the program on modern technology and give consumers what they want instead of just resorting to litigation. They need to be proactive instead of reactive, meet consumer demands, keep ahead of the game....
Consumers do not give two hoots about ratings or which channel shows what, we just want to watch what we want to watch when we want to watch it.