Category Archives: Television

Virtual buccaneers escape to plunder another day

Film, Latest News, Online Media, Television,

The pirates themselves are too hard to catch individually, and suing customers is
not a good look for film studios.

THE High Court has decided that an internet service provider (ISP) is not liable for
any copyright piracy by its customers.

Even though the Hollywood movie studios and television networks had notified the
ISP of the bad conduct of several customers, that was not sufficient to make the ISP
liable. The decision is not a surprise. Australia Post is not liable for copyright
infringement if it delivers a pirated DVD. The court has confirmed that the same
rules apply to ISPs.

Copyright owners prefer to bring legal actions against intermediates, rather than end
users. It is not a good look to sue customers, even if they are engaged in infringing
activities. Also, it is harder work to find and sue each person who downloads a
pirated movie. Bringing legal proceedings against ISPs, which are the gatekeepers to
the internet, seemed like a more efficient approach to stopping infringement. But the
High Court has taken away that weapon for copyright owners in this instance.

Continue reading Virtual buccaneers escape to plunder another day →

Hulu Announces New Shows

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The video website reports $420 million in revenue last year, but it is spending even
more to develop new shows, including series from Adrian Grenier and Michael
Wendschuh.

At a presentation to ad buyers Thursday, Hulu touted its growth, saying its more
than 2 million paid subscribers have made its $8-per-month video subscription
service the fastest growing in U.S. history. The company also reported $420 million
in revenue last year and expressed a commitment to original programming with new
series including The Awesomes, fromSaturday Night Live star Seth Meyers.

Hulu was the first of many online giants scheduled to roll out their content and meet
with advertisers in TV industry style upfront presentations during the next two
weeks. In a room that included Meyers,Smash star Megan Hilty, Morgan Spurlock
and Adrian Grenier, the company touted that Americans watched 2.5 billion videos
on Hulu in February — about 1,000 videos a second. Hulu also said it held 20 percent
of the online video market and 40 percent of the premium video market.

Continue reading Hulu Announces New Shows →

US: DVR may be behind primetime ratings woes

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The theory that growing DVR usage is to blame for the mysterious ratings malaise
gripping primetime got some new credence from a Nomura Equity Research analysis
issued Thursday.

A comparison of audience figures in the 18-49 demo drawn from live and C3 viewing
over the first quarter of 2012 versus the same period the previous year revealed a
dramatic difference. The 22% plunge registered by the Big Four in live shrinks to just
8% when the first three days of DVR usage is factored into the rating. And even that
level of decline is likely overstated largely because of the sizable dropoff this season
in TV’s most watched series, Fox’s “American Idol.”

In recent weeks, many of TV’s most popular series, from “Modern Family” to “NCIS,”
have been experiencing either series or season lows. While everything from daylight
savings time to warm weather have been cited as factors, increased DVR usage has

also been mentioned as a factor.Fox was feeling the live downturn most of all with a
46% drop in live viewing compared with the first quarter of last year due to both the
decline of “Idol” and the absence of the Super Bowl, which it aired in February 2011.
With C3 accounted for, that loss drops to 33%.

Given the Super Bowl aired this year on NBC, which is also surging with the success
of the second season of “The Voice,” NBC is up 32% once C3 is calculated–but still
down 3% on live alone. ABC and CBS demonstrated less dramatic single-digit
declines in both live and C3 over the same period.

When measured on a season-to-date basis instead of a quarterly one, the increases
remain dramatic when compared with full seasons past. Fox’s C3 numbers through
March, for instance, are 35% higher than its live ratings, followed closely behind by
ABC (34%), CBS (33%) and NBC (23%). Those totals are significantly higher than the
differentials the Big Four registered in the 2007-08 season, which were all in the low
teens.

While it’s hardly surprising that broadcast’s live numbers declined in the first quarter
considering that trend has been in motion since 2008, the discrepancy between those
numbers and C3 in the first quarter are greater than ever. “Note that broadcast’s first
quarter 17% lift in C3 ratings vs. live is the highest level of lift we have ever seen,”
wrote Nomura analyst Michael Nathanson.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, the live-C3 difference was 13%, which itself was a
sizable leap from the third quarter, then 8%. When broadcast’s decline is combined
with cable, which was down 4% in the first quarter, the overall decline of TV was
10%. But C3 shrinks cable’s loss to just 1%, and TV overall by 4%. All in all, broadcast
has a one-third share of live viewing, but a 50% share of C3 viewing.

While C3 is technically a measurement of viewing of the commercials in a program
over the three days following live, as opposed to the program itself, the ad-skipping
on DVRs is actually declining. The “skip rate” for the Big Four in the 2011-12 season
is 46%, down from 51% the previous season.

By ANDREW WALLENSTEIN – VARIETY – Thu., Apr. 19, 2012

Hollywood loses final appeal in piracy case

Film, Latest News, Online Media, Television

Downloaders be warned, the film industry suffered a blow in the High Court but
copyright holders still have means to attack pirates, says lawyer David Moore.

A damaging blow has been dealt to the giants of the film industry in the High Court
today after it decided to dismiss their copyright infringement appeal case against
internet service provider (ISP) iiNet in a landmark ruling.

The High Court’s five judges unanimously dismissed the appeal. In a summary the
court observed that iiNet “had no direct technical power” to prevent its customers
from illegally downloading pirated content using BitTorrent.

But copyright law experts say the case is not the end of the story as more ISPs could
be targeted in future and pressure will remain on internet providers to do something
about piracy on their networks.

Today, the court said iiNet’s power to prevent customers from pirating movies and
TV shows “was limited to an indirect power to terminate its contractual relationship
with its customers”.

Further, the High Court judges said that infringement notices sent by the film
industry to iiNet did not provide the ISP “with a reasonable basis for sending
warning notices to individual customers containing threats to suspend or terminate
those customers”‘.

Continue reading Hollywood loses final appeal in piracy case →

Net gets with the program

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The rise of television via broadband is finally giving pay TV viewers a choice,
writes David Braue.

Let’s face it, when it comes to pay TV options in Australia, there hasn’t been much of
a choice: Foxtel (or Austar in regional areas). No wonder writer and 10-year Foxtel
customer Anna Spargo-Ryan was amazed to find she was paying more for pay TV
than she needed to. Like most of us, she thought she had no alternative.

That changed when she found most of the same channels she, her partner and
children liked could be watched for about $20 a month, plus the cost of a broadband
connection. She switched to FetchTV, a fast-growing pay-TV provider that delivers
the National Geographic Channel, Animal Planet, E!, MTV and free and on-demand
movies through various internet service providers (ISPs).

”We were getting frequent price increases on Foxtel and it got to the stage where it
just seemed like too much to pay for TV,” Spargo-Ryan recalls.

Increasingly, people are questioning their subscription choices as television via the
internet – known as IPTV (internet protocol TV) services – begin to push their way
into more homes via ADSL, cable, video game consoles and mobile connections.

In many cases, internet service providers are presenting them as lower-cost
alternatives with more choice than free-to-air TV. ISPs such as iiNet, Internode,
Adam Internet and Optus offer services from FetchTV to their subscribers but they

are not alone. Foxtel offers its services over IPTV to Xbox 360 users, while Telstra’s
T-Box has more than 300,000 users who access IPTV channels and Foxtel via its T-
Box. TPG Internet has offered IPTV for years – it includes 17 primarily overseas-
based channels in its broadband subscription package.

Lack of big-name licensing content agreements had kept IPTV on the fringes and
viewer reluctance to download high-quality TV over internet connections measured
by strict monthly quotas didn’t help. But download quotas and perceived quality
issues have all but disappeared. Bundled broadband and IPTV packages now offer
quota-free and quality-guaranteed services.

Telstra moved early in this space, promoting its T-Box to its massive BigPond
internet customer base with great success. It has been aided by incentives such as
early access to newHomeland episodes and extensive AFL coverage.

Thanks to mainstream support for IPTV and moves to exempt it from monthly
quotas, access prices are expected to come down and offerings expected to expand
significantly in coming years. Analysts from research firm IDC Australia believe the
market will grow rapidly, particularly on the back of the National Broadband
Network – Australia’s newest national infrastructure project – which promises faster
internet speeds.

IPTV is also becoming popular thanks to smart TVs (our story last week), with
brands such as Samsung, LG, Sony and Panasonic offering on-demand IPTV
services, although they are usually not quota-free.

FetchTV – fetchtv.com.au

Set-top box delivers quota-free channels, free-to-air channels and on-demand video
to your lounge room. Supports recording, time-shifting, iPhone app and more.

Cost: Full service about $20 a month, basic service $10 a month; must rent a set-top
box and subscribe to Adam Internet, iiNet, Internode or Optus.

Foxtel on Xbox 360 – foxtel.com.au/xbox/packages

Xbox 360 users can subscribe, then access IPTV channels such as MTV, National
Geographic, Nickelodeon, Discovery Channel and more. Unmetered for BigPond
internet customers, so if you’re with a different ISP, ensure you have an internet plan
with a large download quota (more than 100 gigabytes).

Cost: Basic service $19.50 a month; sports $10, Showtime movies, Movie Network
and Entertainment ($15 each) add-ons available.

Telstra T-Box – telstra.com.au/tv/tbox

Set-top box includes Foxtel channels, free-to-air and other content. Records, rewinds
and has an iPhone app.

Cost: Buy the box outright for $299 or pay $35 + $11/month on 24-month contract.
Add plans at $19.50 a month; sports $10 and Showtime movies, Movie Network and
Entertainment ($15 each) add-ons are available. Unmetered for BigPond internet
customers.

David Brue, SMH – April 22, 2012

The new golden age of TV

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Call it the kaleidoscopic age of TV drama. Never before has there been such a range
of colorful story lines, styles and sensibilities at work in the genre.

One program producer enthuses that hour-long series are now indisputably “the
jewel in the crown” of small-screen creativity. Inroads into schedules by reality fare
during the last decade and a recent spate of sitcom successes notwithstanding, it is
drama that still sets the tone for most broadcasters—and potentially returns the
biggest rewards to its backers.

Think high-end, high-cost American network series like Smash, Touch or The
River or the current crop of pay cable contenders like HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and
Showtime’s Homeland, as well as basic cable’s Covert Affairs on USA Network
or Breaking Bad on AMC. Never has there been a time when so many top talents,
behind and in front of the camera, were so attracted to, and adept at massaging, the
genre. Nor a time when so much money was at stake.

Continue reading The new golden age of TV →

SPAA demands local content increase

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The Screen Producers Association of Australia has responded to a proposed
Television License Fees Amendment rushed through the House of Representatives by
the Government late Thursday, demanding an increase in Australian content. The
rushed amendment will cut 25% off the licensing fees payable by the free to air
television networks for the use of public spectrum.

Geoff Brown, executive director of SPAA said: “It’s time for the federal government
to ensure that Australians see an increase in Australian content on our television
screens, as promised by the big three networks in return for a reduction in their
obligations of hundreds of millions of dollars.” The promise Brown mentioned came
in February 2010, when the initial breaks were given to the networks.

Brown told Encore: “Ryan Stokes said the slashing of the licenses would allow the
networks to protect local content. There has been no delivery on that. We understand
the economics on the multi-channels are still being worked out but some form of
local content regulation needs to be instilled on the primary channels. We were
promised a new landscape and they haven’t delivered.”

In a statement, Brown said: “This renewal of the rebate will now amount to savings
in excess of $275m for the networks and they expressly requested it of the Minister to
ensure appropriate levels of Australian content. There has been no appreciable
increase in Australian content since the license rebate and in that time the amount of

foreign content on the free to air multi channels and on the Internet has increased.
The government must now act to shore up Australian content by legislating for an
increase in the Producer Tax Offset for television.”

In the recent Convergence Review interim report, the Review panel suggested the
government increase the Producer Offset for television from 20% to 40%. Brown
said: “The government must heed the recommendation in the interim report and
commit to an increase in the Offset.”

March 23rd, 2012 at 4:23 pm – ENCORE

ABC gets head start in race to mobile TV

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TV viewing on mobile devices is set to rocket in the next year.

THE ABC is set to steal a march on its commercial rivals when its popular catch-up
TV service is made available on iPhones within weeks, signalling in earnest the
beginning of the mobile TV revolution.

The corporation has confirmed it is putting the finishing touches to the technology of
its iview service that will enable the 3.7 million users of iPhones in Australia to watch
shows on the smallest of the four screens – computers, tablets, TVs and phones – used
to view TV content.

TV viewing on mobile devices is set to rocket in the next year as data plans for mobile
phones get larger and come down in price, thereby allowing people to watch TV on
the go.

Continue reading ABC gets head start in race to mobile TV →

Adam Zwar on Agony Uncles. ABC Wednesdays 9.30.pm

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THE creator of Wilfred and Lowdown has a new show, Agony Uncles, in which male
celebrities talk about sex and relationships.

How long has the idea for this show been kicking around?

Since 2004. I had a newspaper column called ”The Wise Guy” and it was kind of like
a lad’s version of Sex and the City. At the time I’d been single for many years and I
wanted to educate women about how men actually behaved in relationships and
what went on in their minds when they were dating. I thought it would make a good
TV show so I did a pitch document and I didn’t get much interest … I kept rejigging it
over the years and each time I made the sizzle reel better – I got more people involved
and finally in 2010 I went to the ABC and they went for it.

Who do you see as the audience?

My ambition would be everybody. People say that I make stuff that’s cult – well that’s
not my ambition. I don’t want to be cult. I want people to watch stuff that I make. To
me it’s a celebration for men of how they deal with relationships – finally the truth is
out. For women it’s a behind-the-scenes insight into the locker room – what men talk
about.

Guys talking about sex could go horribly wrong. How important was the
input of your female co-producers, including your wife, Amanda
Brotchie?

So important. Amanda was the creative consultant and I’d be sometimes surprised by
some of the things that were considered misogynist or were a bit too wrong. We’d
have a few debates. Sometimes I’d put my foot down and say, ”Even though you
think that’s offensive, I think it’s important it goes in there.” And also you want to
make an impact. I really want this to be as authentic a representation of the male
voice as possible.

Was it at all awkward working on a show like this with your wife?

Amanda and I have a long-standing working relationship so if we have creative
disagreements it doesn’t tend to have much impact on our personal life.

Why did you choose to interview celebrities rather than the man in the
street?

You need to know how to tell a story with a beginning, a middle and an end with
jokes in between and I find entertainers have a greater sense of how to do that than
your average person in the street. It wasn’t that they were famous, it was that they
were good storytellers and had the guts to say what was on their minds.

Did anyone have regrets?

A lot of them can’t remember a thing they said. Yesterday I had a conversation with
Ed Kavalee and this journalist apparently said, ”You’re very brave in Agony Uncles,”
and he goes, ”What do you mean brave? What did I say that was particularly brave?”

How different is this from its sister show Agony Aunts, which airs later
in the year?

The guys talk about relationships in a jokey kind of way but the girls are taking this
really seriously. It doesn’t matter that we’ve got all these great comediennes talking
about relationships – I haven’t even touched the sides with how much I’ve thought
about relationships compared to them. It’s a serious business.

Do you think you’ve discovered the difference between men and women
after doing these shows?

I think it’s quite profound. And I think men should really think about relationships a
lot more than they are or the war is always going to be written by women. They’re
just like 10 steps ahead of us. It’s like we’re a C-grade team playing against a bunch of
international stars. We’ve got no hope.

Greg Hassall – SMH – March 18, 2012

Blokes share the agony of ecstasy

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Agony Uncles, ABC1, Wednesday, 9.30pm

Des Dowling, Scott Brennan and Adam Elliot come clean about their experiences of
sex and love in this new series.

With tongue firmly in cheek, writer and actor Adam Zwar (Wilfred, Lowdown)
bravely goes where few people have hitherto dared: inside the psyche of men and the
rituals of love and romance.

On paper, this could have been a stinker. A bunch of self-satisfied blokes sitting
around discussing their experiences of women and the game of love has the vague
stench of locker-room misogyny.

The clip-and-talking-head format of this also bears strong similarities to the tedious
Grumpy Old … franchise, in which washed-up boomer-era comedians nostalgically
kvetch about what’s wrong with the world today.

For starters Zwar, who narrates and can often be heard in the background laughing
at the responses the discussions elicit, has rounded up a diverse bunch of men who
span generations, cultural backgrounds, personalities and sexual preferences.

There are blokes’ blokes like broadcaster Tim Ross and comedian Lawrence Mooney,
SNAGS such as Josh Lawson and Damian Walshe-Howling, Muslim academic
Waleed Aly, out-and-proud gay filmmaker Adam Elliot and the odd-couple pairing of
father-and-son John and Tom Elliott, among others.

As they talk about the first tentative steps that single men take in their quest to meet
Mr or Miss Right, or to paraphrase Robin Williams, Mr and Miss Right Now, what
emerges is a far cry from the stereotype of blokes bragging about their sexual
conquests, an image reinforced by background, Puberty Blues-era footage of leering
surfers standing next to their shining ”shaggin’ wagons”.

Continue reading Blokes share the agony of ecstasy →