Positive Content

The big problem with the TV industry is that it still exists or the benefit of the suppliers, not the consumers.

Let me qualify this. If I want to watch highlights of football matches in the UK I have to figure out the rights holders for that window, and then hope they have a 'tv everywhere', or at least an online VoD service. More often than not they don't.

The default position of the content industry, somewhat understandably, is that you can't see something. The default position of most consumers is that 'I'll bloody well find a way'. Hence the popularity of piracy.

I truly believe that piracy is the result of an inefficient marketplace and nothing else. Very few people want to criminalise themselves, and, ironically, it's the fact that they're often such huge supporters if the content that leads them to err on the wrong side of the law.

A fabulous Danish cop series called The Killing gained a cult following for it's original release in the UK: the second series was filmed a couple of years ago, but still isn't available anywhere apparent from illegal download sites. Equally there are so may sporting events that are shown in just their domestic market, often due to the complexities of building and exploiting an international market. It's easier not to than, er, to...

So, what's the way around this? Well, this is my next challenge: to build an infrastructure and environment where it's easier for rights owners to err on the side of availability. As well as pleasing the consumer and cutting down on pirates, it should make the content owners more money.

Watch this space...