European Commission: Pirate site shutdowns are ineffective

[cjb110]

it sounds like they'd be better off keeping the large most popular sites up and get some value from it. i.e. Market research, what are people watching, from where, is the number downloaded >/< broadcast figures...

[MustardCutter]

If legal download/streaming services were cheaper and had access to the content after a shorter period from cinema/tv release and there weren't any exclusive content between services then I believe less piracy would take place. Which will probably never happen. I imagine a lot of TV episodes get pirated by people living in the UK because we often have to wait months for content that's already been screened in the states for it to be shown over here. It's just silly. Another silly example is that until Netflix picked up breaking bad the only way to go beyond season 2 was to pirate the episodes...

[Chadders87]

I download various US shows that don't air in the UK. Or UK shows that are either old and no longer on catchup, or current but are on during the times I can't view them live.

[shaithis]

I have come to the conclusion that the current business model that broadcasters follow has become unsustainable.

They are paying way too much for rights and (rightly) expecting subscribers to pay for those rights. The problem is that you end up paying for a LOT of things you do not watch, nor want to watch. You also get adverts to further subsidise the costs.

These rights need to get cheaper for legit services to flourish. The problem is that for years the various broadcasters keep out-bidding each other and the broadcasting rights are just going up faster than ever.

TBH, I honestly think that the sooner more people abstain from premium services like Sky, the sooner this will be resolved and the constant rapid escalation of prices will end and the legit services will become attractive again.

I have lost count of the number of people I have spoken to recently who are NOT technically savvy but have set up their PC (or purchased a cheap android streaming box) to use XBMC/Kodi and various plugins to stream live TV and torrents....looking at the amount of such devices being sold on eBay shows how big a business this is becoming.