For those who know about The Long Tail theory as it applies to TV (yes, this is partly an excuse to link to both), they can recognize that the shutting of the virtual doors of tvtorrents.tv will make the tail shorter by removing a very convenient method of accessing shows that otherwise a large number of viewers would never see. I discovered their closing when I visited the site to download some recent episodes of The Contender. If this pattern continues and other such sites close their doors (I won't mention them here because the feds are ALL OVER this site (jk) and I don't want to draw them any undue attention, but leave a post and I'll send an email), then my recent trend of "media hoarding" will be over. Due to time limitations, which limits my TV watching among other things, and the fact that one never knows when a show will be gone for good and you will never be able to view its episodes again, I've been downloading shows just for the hope of watching them one day. The Contender, Numbers, Veronica Mars, House, even this season of my "favorite show", Amazing Race, among others I have not watched at all, but just saved for potential later viewing. In a business sense, I'm not sure how production companies should really feel about this. I seriously would just never watch these shows otherwise and I doubt they will be coming to DVD anytime soon. From the networks perspective, is it better for a potential viewer to just never watch a show or for them to save it and view later (probably without commericals)? If they ever want me to buy the DVD set (which I have done for a few shows after recording all the episodes myself) or to watch it live with commercials, the latter is their only option. Oh well, so long tvtorrents.
Btw, I am pretty sure this isn't just part of TV Turnoff Week.
Posted by boo at April 25, 2005 10:29 AM | TrackBackBittorrent is also about the only way to be able to watch American TV when you're in Australia... well, at least it's the only way if you don't want to wait for a year after a show's original airing in the US.
Oh well. btefnet has always been faster for me anyway.
Posted by: lurp at April 26, 2005 05:24 AMThat was actually the main one I was going to suggest. They are by far the best, but they seem to have a blind spot toward certain shows (like The Contender). Also I wonder what their policy is toward "decommissioning" torrents. I've started looking for some back episodes of a show and they don't go back all that far. Scratch the biggest itch I guess.
Posted by: boo at April 26, 2005 12:11 PM