Canadians to Broadcasters: “I want my Web TV”
In a recent study, it seems that more and more Canadians are turning to the Internets for their boobtube fix. But if you’re among them, and if you’re a fan of virtually anything not available on Canada’s major networks, and even then if that content is U.S. produced and not licensed for any distribution beyond your living room screen, odds are you’re getting your shows via non-sanctioned means.
Two of Canada’s largest networks, CTV and Global, offer 24% and 15% of their content online, respectively. This pales in comparison to US broadcasters who offer anywhere from 52% to a full 80% of their programming online as full, downloadable or streaming episodes. That’s all well and good, but US broadcasters rarely open up their online content to the worldwide viewing public, due to various reasons, principal among them, cost. Any Canadian who has ever logged on to NBC’s website in the hopes of watching the latest episode of “30 Rock” and seen a message telling they’re out of luck because they’re watching from outside the US knows what I’m talking about. For this reason, more and more Canadians are turning to alternative means to get their programming, such as peer-to-peer networks. It’s a practice that is indicative of a general shift in viewing behaviour, and it seems the savvier the viewer in terms of technology, the more likely they are to get their entertainment from sources other than their local cable provider.
Said study author Alan Sawyer, “Canadians do an awful lot of that. I believe one of the reasons that Canadians do an awful lot of that is that they are not being offered sufficient alternatives.”
“A very important thing to realize is that every television program that is broadcast is available in most cases in illegal peer-to-peer broadcasting”.
The phrase “Illegal peer-to-peer broadcasting” may not be entirely accurate, as evidenced by a 2003 ruling by the Copyright Board of Canada declaring P2P file sharing legal, much to the chagrin of the CRIA. In addition, the use of the word “broadcasting” is fairly vague. Regardless, the fact that US broadcasters aren’t willing to open up their programming to a global market clearly indicates that they want to keep it very much in their own back yard, likely until such time as advertisers are willing to foot the bill for such an action.
The issue goes beyond simply downloading a movie. So concerned are broadcasters that people are seeing their content without paying for it that one of them, Viacom, successfully levied a $1B lawsuit against Google, that effectively forces Google to surrender private information about its users to the production company under the allegation that “the most popular content being posted and viewed on YouTube is material that Viacom owns.” To that end, Viacom now has access to (likely) billions of unique searches, each one entered privately and at the Google user’s discretion. Is it extreme for Viacom, or any other private party, to force another company to surrender its clients private data based on the possibility that a percentage of those people may have seen their copyrighted material? Who knows. In any event, the legal precedent has been set, which, from an invasion-of-privacy point of view, is more than a little disconcerting.
For the time being, P2P transfers are not illegal in Canada and Canadians will still be able to get their media through that method if they so choose. Other alternatives to exist, of course; there’s always the ubiquitous YouTube, which features content both copyrighted and otherwise, and of course there’s Veoh, through which our weekly podcast is broadcast. There’s also the less-known Surf the Channel, on which you can choose from pretty much any show ever aired and watch nearly any episode ever done. (STC has had its share of legal problems and bad press, but they insist that their site is completely legit.) There are even news groups, pay-systems that allow for a faster and more direct method of sharing files. There are also 100% legal options, of course…Apple’s iTunes Store has video and TV rentals available on demand, as do many others. But until such time as broadcasters decide to open up their content to the world, seeing US content online will require a little fancy footwork on Canadians’ part, something which, it seems obvious, Canadians are more than willing to do.
Mr. Sawyer’s study, “Changing Channels: Alternative Distribution of Television Content”, can be found here.
