I was going to end up writing a thought about feeling quite meh, but since talking to my friend from across the seas my mood has picked up and her and I have been having quite the discussion and I want to bring the thoughts here.
We were discussing about our favourite tv show (Once upon a time) and about when it airs in america (where she lives) and in the uk (where i live) i informed her that season 3 doesn’t actually air over here as Channel 5 dropped it. This then of course lead us onto the discussion of airing tv shows and whatnot.
The problem is that tv shows (for example) are aired over in america and then don’t come to the uk till months perhaps even a year later, by then if there is an interest in that show over in the uk the audience will have watched it another way as they cannot wait and wish to watch it as it airs in america so they avoid spoilers and whatnot. Meaning that when it does finally air over here it doesn’t get viewed and so the viewings for the programme are low resulting in a cancelation.
The thing is if they aired films and tv shows around the same time across the world, (or a multitude of countries where it is most popular) they would decrease things such as piracy and illegal streaming and downloading. As in this current age with media the audience wants things instantly, they want to be able to get it as soon as they can. There is this damand for things instantly and as an audience if we are not provided with it instantly then we shall go and use other means in order to get it. Means that are not profitable or good for media institutions, as they do not wish for you to obtain their products in this way.
They might believe that by having this different in airing dates it building up an audience or suspense, and perhaps in some cases, but most of the time if the audience is an active audience and knows how to get it when they want it, they will.
I don’t even think it would be difficult to have tv shows and films broadcast to multiple countries at once, as now most production is done digitally rather than 16 mm film so it is not difficult to distribute. It wouldn’t be even as if the institutions are losing out on money or audience numbers, if anything they would increase as they are meeting the demand of te audience,which would then increase the profit as there in then a higher interest.
It’s just something that as an audience and being impatient, I feel highly strongly about and don’t completely understand why media institutions do separate out the airing dates of tv shows at such extreme waiting periods.
365 thoughts in a year 