Australians Pirate Breaking Bad More Than Any Other Country

[Steven Bogos]

Australians Pirate Breaking Bad More Than Any Other Country

Breaking Bad airs in Australia just 5 hours after it does in America.

Earlier in the year, it was revealed that Australians pirated biggest Breaking Bad pirates [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123515-American-Ambassador-Lectures-Aussies-On-Game-of-Thrones-Theft]. Australia only barely beat out the USA, taking 16.1% of all Breaking Bad torrent traffic compared to the US's 16%. Melbourne (a city in Australia) had the largest piracy percentage in a single city at 4.8%, with London following at 3.5%.

Previously, it was easy to point to the lack of legal alternatives as a reason for Australian's to pirate. This is indeed still the case for many TV shows, including the recent Season 4 of Arrested Development, which still is not legally available for Australians to purchase from any outlet, but the Breaking Bad crew have been trying their best to remedy this solution. Breaking Bad airs in Australia just 5 hours after it does in America on pay TV service Foxtel, and is available for download via iTunes.

However, a recent controversial policy by Apple effectively forced users who had purchased a Breaking Bad season pass to national inquiry [http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/breaking-bad-fans-repulsed-by-rotten-apple-deal-20130815-2rxx5.html].

So, while it's easy to point at Australians and say "Har har, a country founded by convicts are now all pirates," you have to understand that they have been pushed around with American TV shows for a long time. Legal alternatives are often slow, expensive, and only arise once the show reaches the level of "mega-popularity" that shows like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones have achieved, so you can understand why Australians would want to give these guys the middle finger and pirate.

Source: TorrentFreak [http://torrentfreak.com/breaking-bad-sparks-global-piracy-craze-130812/]

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[dumbseizure]

I can safely say it isn't me because I haven't even started watching it yet!

Also, you spelt "barely" as "barley".

Had to do a quick double take at that.

 

[RicoADF]

Nice article, gives both sides of the story and informative. I haven't seen the show yet, will probably get it on DVD sometime myself, I prefer physical copies.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

As long as corporations keep charging people extra for digital goods, for no reason other than said people live outside of America and said corporations can, I simply won't be as outraged by piracy as I should be.
And now they literally charge EVERYONE extra just because they can? What little sympathy I had is lost. Fuck you, Apple, and this is coming from someone who doesn't give a shit about this show.

 

[Versuvius]

Maybe this will change business practices, so they aren't losing a huge amount of cash. But probably not.

 

[Elijin]

The amount we get charged for Foxtel (Which is our ONLY cable provider. Some people might nitpick and say there are other services in certain regions, but those are actually just different branding, and still actually Foxtel) means that no one will ever feel bad about it at all.

 

[oliver.begg]

considering the commison into overcharging in software said that "because we can" is not justification into said overcharging, and piracy is understandable. and then they said US companies should only expect the bare minim of copyright enforcement, i doubt this will go more then a couple of examples at the most

 

[Joccaren]

Doesn't surprise me.
Whilst I don't watch it myself, its rather huge here in Melbourne. At least in some parts. It seems to be the one TV show that is talked about. Then there's the people who talk about GoT as well, however most of them are somewhat into more 'nerdy' passtimes.

 

[LittleMikey]

As an Australian, this is a huge problem in Australia. Unlike the US, pay-tv is very uncommon (because like everything else it costs heaps, but that's another story) so saying that "It's available on Foxtel, so don't pirate it" isn't exactly a solution.

While personally I'm not a Breaking Bad watcher, there are so many hurdles to jump through to get access to American/British television I can frankly see why so many people turn to piracy.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

If you want us to pay for soemthing, make it easy and convenient for us to pay. Make it a trustworthy service. Do not screw us at evry turn.

thats it.


is that to much to ask? Since when is it customary

That would imply there's mad bank in serving convenience to the customer /sarcasm.

Captcha: "Good morning!" Um, actually? I'm off to bed.

 

[Anomynous 167]

"Har har, a country founded by convicts are now all pirates"

First!....

To point out that that is indeed, quite funny.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Of course they are. People need their entertainment and NOTHING is easily accessible to Australians due to the retarded government and even more retarded bureaucracy. What else can you expect as a result of such inefficient system?

 

[ron1n]

Also worth pointing out that we have a long history of TV series not airing until months/half a year after The U.S and U.K.

(still happens even now) so even if a show is broadcast a few hours or a day later, we are already so used to just grabbing everything as soon as its uploaded that most people wouldn't even think to check regular tv schedules, let alone the overpriced rubbish that is foxtel.

 

[BanicRhys]

<-- Melbournian

Whether I've pirated the last few seasons of Breaking Bad/Game of Thrones will remain unsaid because it is a dirty, dirty practice that I'm loathe to even mention.

Inefficient system huh? Is that why our dollar is worth more than America or that that we have the one of the highest standards of living in the world or that the low crime rate? Tell do you actually know anything about us or are you just another person who bases their idea about Australia on the rating system?

Also, I hate to nitpick (not really, but w/e) but... [https://www.google.com.au/search?q=aud+to+usd&oq=aud+to+usd&aqs=chrome.0.0j5j0l2j69i62l2.1609j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8]

 

[Zhukov]

Hey, I haven't even watched that show. Don't look at me.

Incidentally, are those figures adjusted for population? I'm surprised that we could possibly beat the US in hard numbers considering we only have a population of 20m or so. That's, what... 7% of the US.

 

[Kahani]

Melbourne (a city in Australia) had the largest piracy rate in a single city at 4.8%, with London following at 3.5%.

"Rate" does not appear to be the appropriate word there; this is the percentage of all downloads, not the downloads per unit population. The actual rate of piracy in Melbourne is nearly three times higher than that in London, since it had about half the population. That also means Perth is right up there with Melbourne in piracy per population, it's just smaller so it doesn't get the same proportion of global traffic.