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Lost finale gets Euro simulcast

To minimise online piracy, the Lost finale will be screened simultaneously broadcast in the U.S. and Europe.

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The highly-anticipated Lost finale airs in the US around lunchtime Monday Australian time.

In a move to to minimise online piracy, the two and a half-hour finale will be screened simultaneously broadcast in the U.S. and Europe, regardless of international time differences.

It will air in the US on ABC May 23 from 9pm Pacific Standard Time, and simultaneously on Sky One in the U.K., on Fox Italia and Telecom Italia in Italy, Cuatro in Spain, Fox in Spain and Portugal, Digiturk in Turkey, HOT in Israel and CTV in Canada.

Disney, which distributes the series, said 59 countries will air the final episode of Lost no later than 48 hours after the U.S. broadcast.

In Australia it will be seen at 8:30pm Wednesday on Seven, in an upgrade from its usual 7TWO premiere. ABC bringing the finale forward to a Sunday finale instead of its regular Tuesday clashes with Seven’s usual Desperate Housewives / Brothers and Sisters night, but with Nine airing the State of Origin game on Wednesday, Seven will be unlikely to win the night. That at least allowed Seven a win / win in to moving it from 7TWO to its premium channel while keeping one more Pacific episode under its belt instead of competing against State of Origin.

Soft figures for the show arguably precluded it from airing on Seven in place of Housewives / Brothers, although a Monday 7TWO airing might have been a more satisfying compromise.

Ben Pyne from Disney Media Networks said, “Lost’s intrinsic global appeal and enthusiastic international following have driven a demand to create innovative windowing opportunities to air the programming on earlier and more convenient platforms.

“Since the show’s first season, we have greatly accelerated all of our U.S. network series’ international delivery, broadcast and marketing.”

No spoilers will be published on TV Tonight until after 11pm Wednesday AEST.

Source: Variety

31 Responses

  1. call me a cab but I want the explanation of how Jack managed to shave all this time on the island with no hot water or clean razors and a mirror ? how kate washed her undies and how james controlled his BO. That’s the big issues ….but here’s a clue…the non smokers will love the ending..hahaha

  2. Yeh I’ve been wonderig about Vincent too. I’m annoyed that they set up an awesome story for walt in seasons 1 and 2, and then it comes to nothing. Why did walt appear to Locke at the end of season 3?

  3. “No spoilers will be published on TV Tonight until after 11pm Wednesday AEST.”

    Why the change of heart, David? 😉 You’ve always been so adamant that if something’s screened anywhere in the world, it’s fair game to post the outcome.

  4. I’m not sure what I should be hoping for exactly with the final episode, but what I do know is I’ll be seriously annoyed if no showing of Vincent occurs. He hasn’t been shown this whole season. So I’m hoping he pops up (along with Rose & Bernard?) in the final episode.

  5. Arrr! Piracy!

    This season has been almost a complete bust. The Dharma story has been forgotten, good characters killed left and right, a story heavily skewed toward the allegorical… At this point, it’s just a matter of watching to find out how it all ends.

    PS. “An ABC source confirmed that the DVD and Blu-ray release of season 6 will feature twenty minutes of additional scenes, some of which will have answers to questions, cut from the storyline due to running time.”

  7. I’ve been about the biggest lost fan for the entire run of the show and i find myself in a position of this season and the end of, i don’t care. Instead of wrapping up the mysteries we’ve been watching for 5 years, they just seemed to have focussed on some background things and made a season to explain this broader history of the island, which is about the setting but not what the story has been.

    There’s so clearly going to be lots of major things left hanging and so many changes to characters, motivations and story lines into nothing this season. It’s a huge shame. They could still blow me out of the water but during the last two seasons there have been numerous perfect opportunities to address many questions and mysteries in organic ways which weren’t taken, now it’s impossible.

    BTW i’m not talking nit picky things, things that were major mysteries. Lockes dad appearing on the island, who dropped the food, widmores plan with the marines, bens plans, the 4 toed statue, ancient civilisation on the island. How everyone could come and go and then couldn’t. The babies. what were the others doing all along? Still lots of dharma stuff and much more. The show was never about jacob until this final season and it’s a storyline to avoid all the others up until this season.

  8. I’ll probably check out the summaries after the USA airing so that I can make note of things to look out for that the writers might sneak in.

    For those like BM-Dog who are planning to watch this (after not watching for a while), you will need to familiarise yourselves with what has been going on in season six because the final episode won’t make sense if you haven’t.

  10. Considering the figures it will get, I would have happily comprimised a spot on Seven for a Monday night 7TWO slot so we could see it earlier. Isn’t that the pont of something like 7TWO anyway?
    Its hard to begrudge Seven at all for even showing the finale within a few days of it airing in the US, but even a couple of days is enough for pirates.

  11. Yet another example of the commercial networks here not respecting Australian audiences.
    And they wonder why so many people turn to internet downloads and DVDs…

  12. Thanks David for not spoiling the ending for us. At least i know i can come here and not be spoiled. Other sites on the otherhand that i visit will be no go zones for 2 days until i have seen it.

    I recon Seven should air it on 7TWO at 8:30pm Monday night. I mean whats stopping them? They could then air it on Seven on Wednesday night and no harm done.

  13. This is gonna screw up my series link on foxtel isn’t it? lol

    I think I will be staying away from fannish/tv sites from tomorrow till wed. Between Lost on wednesday and Ashes to Ashes which concludes in the UK sat night (their time) I want to avoid as many spoilers as possible.

  14. David, if we are deein it wednesday night, that’s like 50+hours behind, so we can’t possibly be one of those 59 countries 😉

    Sigh, so does that make us one of the last countries to see it? Even though Australia is a large set on the show- we were the take off nation! Boo chanell 7!

  15. Just a quick one – we cannot be one of the 59 countries, because from lunchtime Monday (our time) to 8:30pm Wednesday is about 56 hours (or outside the 48 hour window).

  17. That’s annoying, I was considering watching the finale (haven’t watched Lost for a while but am vaguely interested in seeing how it all turns out), but if it clashes with Origin then the choice is pretty obvious. Maybe I’ll watch it on Plus7 on Thursday.

  18. I’m happy with the way it is. If it were on againts DH I still would have to tape one and wouldn’t have time to see it until wednesday. Plus I’d rather the Lost finale be on 7 as i only have a set top box, which only gives me the choice of seeing the picture up too close or too far away. On 7 I will have the chance of a normal picture.

  19. If they are simulcasting the Pacific Time broadcast, they aren’t going to prevent piracy. Shows can be obtained “from other sources” from the Eastern / Central broadcast (3 years ahead of the Pacific) well within that three hour window.

  20. I heard Triple M in Sydney doing a big promotion for the finale, so Seven seems to be putting some marketing behind it. Unfortunately it probably is too late to change it then. I would have thought 90% of Sydney Triple M listeners would watch State of Origin live anyway, no matter how much Seven tries to advertise Lost. Try 2Day and Nova.

    And isn’t the gap slightly over 48 hours?

  22. David, I hope after 11pm you place a whole summary of the plot in the title. Just to annoy all those whingers. Suppose thats why I dont run a successful TV blog. I wouldnt be able to stop myself from being an ass. Will you write a review of the finale?

  23. I agree the final should have been shown on 7TWO (where it’s been all season) first Monday and then re-run Wednesday against SOO.

    Is it too late for Seven to change their plans?

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