Now, a new network called BitTorrent has become the online pirates favourite weapon of choice. Its favourite download? Television shows.
Television networks see this as pure theft. They argue that shows downloaded illegally are hurting ratings in Australia and are responsible for lost revenue in advertising. A Nation of Pirates
BitTorrent usage in Australia is the worst kept secret on the Internet. Technology and television forums across Australia are filled with posts about watching the latest episode of (insert show here) on a recent trip to America." My ISP says BitTorrent accounts for about 45% of its Internet traffic. Missed episodes? Or new episodes that haven't aired in Australia? This point is crucial in understanding "Channel BitTorrent's" sudden rise in Australia. An hour long television show is roughly 350MB, which would take around 14 hours to download on a dial up connection. High speed Internet means television is the next major battleground. Battlestar Galactica is the show that defined BitTorrent.
It seems that consumers downloading episodes of a series via BitTorrent create demand and are extremely loyal viewers. Ok, now how many of those people discovered these shows via television or via the Internet?
Where BitTorrent is having major effects is on the serialised television shows, such as Prison Break, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica, that reward loyal viewers with in-jokes and gradual plot development.
Australian television networks could never "catch up" with the US schedule, because the US launches most shows in September, and traditionally Australia's Low Ratings period starts in November.
Lets look at BitTorrent's numbers again. CBS recently announced that the shows they offered as downloads or via streaming, had better ratings and more loyal fans. If legal television downloads are to overtake BitTorrent usage in Australia, those shows need to be available through iTunes. When BitTorrent finally starts to negatively effect network television ratings, it maybe too late.