Zeebox CEO: pirating caused by bureaucracy
The CEO of one of Australia’s most popular multi-screen companies has called for television networks to eliminate red tape and encourage faster sharing of international television shows.
Craig Blair, CEO of Zeebox, told the Mumbrella360 Conference this afternoon the time taken for popular international series to make it to Australian screens was “too slow”.
“The internal risk aversion processes are a massive constraint. The timeline of approvals, release of content… it’s all too slow,” said Blair.
Citing recent TV phenomenon Game of Thrones Blair told Mumbrella the TV networks haven’t been efficient enough in fast tracking overseas content.
Game of Thrones was broadcast on Foxtel 2 or 3hrs after the US premiere.
You would of thought this zeebox guy would know what he was talking about.
Exactly. Made even worse by the fact Zeebox has a deal with Foxtel.
So to watch this series hours after the USA, before plot lines are spilled all over the internet, one must have foxtel or sign up for foxtel paying for a package of shows one may or may not be interested in OR download it for free, illegally.
For those not having Foxtel the illegal route is very tempting, even if the penalties are high, the risk of being caught are low.
Content providers cannot remain ignorant of the alternatives available, they must serve the consumer not expect the consumer to conform to them.
Throwing good money after bad, fighting piracy is idiocy, providing a consumer friendly platform to access content is the solution.
The success of Apple’s ITunes has shown that people are prepared to pay a reasonable price for content.
Accessibility, quality and price, consumers will go to whichever service offers the best of the three, newspapers found this out the hard way, TV land will no doubt follow.
Piracy is caused by inequitable distribution of a digital product.
The end.
I’m with 2. Even if you paid for GoT on iTunes Australia, you had to wait an extra day (sometimes more) to download it.
As if your coworkers/friends/etc are going to stop talking about the show just because chose not to pirate it!