Seven in new fastracking bid?
Is Seven considering airing US programmes concurrent with the US in order to combat piracy?
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
The Australian Communications and Media Authority says Seven is mulling new ways of tackling television piracy.
According to ACMA, the Seven Network is considering airing programmes of US origin at the same time as they are screened in the United States in order to combat piracy.
The claim is part of a report on IPTV and Internet Video Delivery Models.
ACMA says the threat of piracy has motivated commercial FTA broadcasters to reduce distribution lag with international content.
Such a move would make promotions of international titles a lot more challenging, with limited materials available for press.
Seven was quick to pounce on ‘fastracking’ some years ago, a word it was swift to claim in branding. These days it is used sparingly, if at all. But there are still some shows enjoying a quick turnaround. Lost caught up to the US, airing same day / date -although the network was cornered when ABC brought forward the finale episode.
However Seven has been aggressive in its stance against piracy, including joining movie studios in the test case against iiNet.
But the idea of a permanent fastracking may not be realised.
A Seven insider told TV Tonight they were surprised to hear the claim, as reported by ACMA.
Source: ACMA
38 Responses
good point lisa
lets hope so
Simple … supply the product fast and keep the time slot stable …
piracy problem solved!
Anything less than that … the Networks have no right to complain!
Don’t waste time and resourses suing people … spend the money on what the public REALLY want to watch!
@ Craig the thing about NCIS is it’s a procedural, you could pretty much repeat the crap through it, the only real difference between the episodes is Gibb’s hair maybe… when it comes to Lost or Prison Break, both are heavily serialized, it’s difficult to throw a repeat in and expect people to take it in stride.
With the end credits thing, channels love to advertise their news during that time, it is unsettling, you’ve watched a heavily emotional episode and then when you’d like to reflect during the credits, you hear “breaking news” that some d-grade Australian celebrity lost his phone and has sent out a nationwide manhunt to find it… Unfortunately it’s what the networks do these days.
I doubt they will air TV shows in the middle of the day, just to air it the exact same time as US, people are at work, I doubt many people would be allowed to run out of work, just to watch a TV show.
If the show airs within a week of the US airring, then that would be fine. 9 fast tracked 2.5 men, it airs about 6 days after it airs in the US, and it still rates high. Why? Because it’s consistent, the new episode airs in the same time slot, same day every time. After all I don’t think 9 would put a new episode of The Mentalist on Friday just to counter piracy, I think that most people would be happy to have the uncut episodes of US TV shows air in the same week as the US, even if shows were delayed and airred two, maybe 3 weeks, I still think it would be fine, just don’t wait 9 months to air the show, and then still have random breaks and timeslot changes.
IMO before too long FTA TV as we know it will be dead, you’ll pay a premium for first run content and maybe just DL the shows you want, then extra if you want to keep them. Later they will be shown on TV with ads.
Yes there are lost of problems with fast tracking (within 24 hours) even SG U was a 6.5 day delay because SciFi didn’t want to stick it on Saturday nights. And just look at the Lost final. I think for this to work networks need to better advertise their shows and stop with the constant changes that make printed guides useless.
I don’t think they can be forced to show a program that is not rating, or move it to the 2nd channel at the same time, what happens to the program it replaces? I think one of the keys is to have encore airings to allow for conflicts and people to record them in the middle of the night/day when not much else is on.
fast tracking will do nothing look at modern family and the figures its getting!!
People will continue to download so as to get continuous versions with ad breaks removed. That is one advantage the networks will never overcome. Over time, I am sure some people, not all, would even pay for ad free vserions with no bug/watermark as well.
The ABC needs to learn about fast tracking too, United States Of Tara Season 2 which has only just got going here, finished in the US over 3 months ago!!!
They should have done this with Lost season 3-6
The real solution here is to drop local TV stations out of the picture. Add a US/UK stations package (probably subscription) to the options available for cable and satellite subscribers. Let people timeshift the content to suit their needs. Also, allow those who prefer to download to do so legally – why can’t I subscribe to a US or UK TV package online. The industry always complains that piracy is a global issue, but it causes the issue by failing to operate well in an international market
i think one of seven’s biggest problems when it comes to scheduling is their live reality shows running overtime. fast-tracking is useless if programs constantly begin late due to live programs. this was a big problem for me with grey’s anatomy, which always began fifteen minutes late due to australia’s got talent, and on the weekend bones 8.30pm start time became 8.50pm when dancing with the stars ran over.
One problem will be that a lot of successful show air on Thursday nights in the US, which means 7 would have to air them on Friday night if they want to really fast track it and i can’t see that happening.
I don’t think they need much education, just have at the end (before the credits) returning in… because of US scheduling. Most people who get them from else where already know this, it’s not that had and just means the FTA networks need to be more flexible.
Pay TV manage to do it with shows like StarGate Universal as I don’t see why it won’t work on Seven. If memory serves TEN has also done it several times with NCIS and other shows. Nine on the other hand give no warning and chop and change their programing so much it’s hard to know why they are showing.