Those Crazy Brits
A few posts back we discussed how demand for American TV shows had driven Britons to being the leader in TV piracy via the internet. To once again support this claim they have now turned to pirating their own programming:
The publicly funded broadcaster was forced into damage control mode when one of its most highly anticipated programs, the first new series of the revered sci-fi drama “Doctor Who” in 16 years, leaked out onto the Internet.
Thousands of fans, unwilling or unable to wait for the scheduled broadcast date in three weeks’ time, downloaded the show using the popular file-trading software BitTorrent and other file-trading networks.
A new show getting pirated before broadcast just really isn’t that big a deal anymore. What makes this whole situation ironic however, is that the BBC had intended to release the show on the internet as part of its distribution strategy already. Perhaps the BBC felt that if they paid homage to the ‘net that they would be protected but users are unlikely to prefer the BBC’s new DRM “enhanced” offerings to what is freely available online.
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