1. Television and Digital Culture

3. “When NBC decided not to renew Hannibal for a fourth season
“When NBC decided not to renew Hannibal for a fourth season ... it wasn’t much of a leap to connect its fate with the fact that the show was ranked as the fifth-most illegally downloaded show in 2013.
When nearly one-third of the audience for Hannibal is coming from pirated sites — despite the fact that a legitimate download for each episode was available the following day — you don’t have to know calculus to do the math.
If a show is stolen, it makes it difficult, if not impossible, to fairly compensate a crew and keep a series in production.”
– executive producer Martha De Laurentiis

4. Hollywood’s Fear of Piracy

6. Music Industry Used as Example

7. But …. They Seem to Be Doing OK

8. Pirates are the Best Customers

9. Distribution, Quality & Pricing

10. Early Copyright History

11. Television and Torrents
What is a “torrent”?
In the BitTorrent file distribution system, a torrent file is a computer file that contains metadata about files and folders that help participants in the system find each other.
A torrent file does not contain the content to be distributed; it only contains information about those files, such as their names, sizes, etc.
Not P2P sharing (like Napster)
Users need:
Torrent downloading program
Search engine to locate torrents

12. 2015’s Most-Pirated Shows

13. Where do TV Torrents Come From?
Torrent distribution groups
EZTV
VTV
ETTV
rarTV
Captured digital television content as it becomes available
Ripping material from commercially available DVDs

14. Other Forms of TV Piracy
Link aggregators + video hosting sites

15. Other Forms of TV Piracy
YouTube

16. Industry Responses to Piracy
Pressure ISPs
Issue “takedown orders” for copyright infringement
Intimidation

17. Industry Responses to Piracy
HBO’s change of policy
2013: piracy doesn’t impact the business model
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes: GOT’s status as most pirated show is “better than an Emmy.” “Our experience is, it all leads to more subs. We let the programming and reviews talk for us.”
2016: introduce “anti-theft tactics”
HBO has been sending out warnings to the IP addresses of torrent users who had been caught sharing episodes of Game of Thrones. Requests that sites take down torrents are being issued at a faster pace than ever before as well, according to TorrentFreak, and some of the most popular torrent sites have been complying almost immediately.

18. Industry Responses to Piracy

19. What Does “Free TV” Do to Television?
Newman’s 2012 study examines the discourse of people who share TV shows online
He finds that the cultural implications of “free TV” are contradictory
Part of TV’s rising cultural status as a technology of agency
“… file sharing confirms the value of television as ephemeral and disposable … a shared text which no one buys or sells.” (467)
Negotiation of value