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Comment by zzygan | Hacker News Reader

This is definitely the case here in Australia.

Apparently Australia has one of the highest TV piracy rates in the world due to the fact that TV networks here would wait a very long time (6 months or even more) between a show airing in the US and when they would show it here. Its slowly getting better here in that networks are doing "fast-tracked" shows that air a couple of days after the initial airing in the US, but this still only tends to happen for shows that are new and anticipated, and doesnt happen for older shows. I honestly cant understand the slowness, but there must be some reason.

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The case is similar in Canada. I think this recent article by Jesse Brown reflects the reality for a lot of broadband-connected Canadians with similar viewing habits to broadband-connected Americans: http://www.torontolife.com/daily/informer/from-print-edition...

Wow the comments on that article feels like being in a separate universe were everyone seems to find a crappy analogy that doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, Australia is actually where the friend of mine I mentioned is at. It's good to hear some of the times are improving, maybe the companies are finally catching on that the delays just drive people to download...

I think traditionally, the delays are due to contracts with local providers. So for example, a local Australian television station might negotiate for the rights to say, the tv show House, but they get a cheaper rate by waiting 6 months or more likely, Fox doesn't even give them the option of showing it sooner...

Why would it be in Fox's interest to offer it for cheaper if it's shown six months late?

The idea is you charge a high price for other channels to show it immediately, but drop the price later on so that you can still get some revenue from channels that can't afford the initial price.

That's why NetFlix was greeted with open arms by the TV networks at first - because they could make money from their shows that are sitting in their library that they weren't selling on DVD and syndicators weren't interested in. Now that NetFlix is as huge aas it is the networks are getting greedy and want to grab the whole cookie back again thinking consumers will pay first-run rates for third-run content.

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