There’s been a bit of a fuss kicked up over a NYT article about TV piracy, particularly among the MythTV community. Although the fuss might be a little overblown, there are a couple quotes which come across as a little misguided:
The members of the MythTV community, who now do not have to pay monthly fees to rent set-top boxes or digital video recorders, have plenty of more mischievous company in trying to outwit the television industry. Millions of viewers are now watching illegal copies of television programs – even full seasons copied from popular DVD’s – that are flitting about the Internet, thanks to other new programs that allow users to upload and download the large files quickly.
What, people who are using their PCs as TV recorders are suddenly rubbing elbows with DVD pirates? Although they don’t explicitly come right out and equate the two groups, they’re putting them uncomfortably close together here.
And horror of horrors, we’re not paying for commercial DVR boxes! How dare we use our own labour instead of paying a company to assemble them for us, and damn our ability to conjure up the parts out of thin air. Oh wait, I guess we *do* wind up paying somebody for those parts… And it’s hard to blame people for choosing to use the free TV listings that are already published on the net by companies in the TV industry itself instead of paying for a subscription service. You can’t give something away with one hand and then slap people with the other for actually taking it.
Not surprisingly, the repercussions – particularly the rapidly growing number of shows available for the plucking online – terrify industry executives, who remember only too well what Napster and other file-sharing programs did to the music industry.
Yeah, the poor, beleaguered music industry went on to develop new methods, break records and increase sales. How horrible it would be if the same thing were to happen to TV!