24 reasons why TV piracy is soaring

Popular US TV shows such as 24 and Star Trek are being pirated in vast numbers online where whole shows can be downloaded free of charge, without adverts, and within minutes of first screening, much to the annoyance of TV bosses.

And it is The UK which leads the way, accounting for around one fifth of global television piracy, ahead of Australia in second and the USA in third.

Research released exclusively to silicon.com today uncovers the full extent of this growing problem which threatens to undermine the business models of pay-TV providers and companies creating new shows.

According to web monitoring firm Envisional the amount of TV show piracy increased 150 per cent over the past year.

David Price, research consultant at Envisional, told silicon.com: "With popular shows such as 24 we're talking about 100,000 copies of the latest episode being pirated – with around 20,000 of those shows being downloaded in the UK. That is inevitably going to start hitting the likes of Sky, especially as the people typically doing this are the young, affluent demographic their advertisers want to reach."

Price said after each episode of 24 screens at 21:00(EST) in the US, Envisional has seen copies circulating online by 22:20(EST).

"That means users in California with a fast connection can actually watch that episode before it has even screened on the West Coast."

The growing popularity of BitTorrent software is playing a large part with Envisional claiming that 70 per cent of television piracy takes place using its software. As with Kazaa, BitTorrent is an entirely legal application but its users are making the most of its capabilities, which exploit idle bandwidth to speed file transfers, in order to download vast amounts of pirated content.

Unsurprisingly this high-tech larceny has a strong sci-fi bent, betraying the geeky culprits, with two Stargate shows, one Star Trek show and Battlestar Galactica in the top 10. The list also comprises entirely US shows which typically screen on pay-TV stations long before screening on UK terrestrial television, suggesting it is an unwillingness to pay or wait to watch these shows that has sparked the piracy boom.

The top 10 pirated TV shows worldwide are:
1. 24
2. Stargate Atlantis
3. The Simpsons
4. Enterprise
5. Stargate SG-1
6. The O.C.
7. Smallville
8. Desperate Housewives
9. Battlestar Galactica
10. Lost

A spokesman for Sky, which gave many of those shows their first runs in the UK, said the company is aware of the issue of content piracy and "continues to monitor the situation closely".

"The people doing this may only have a Sky subscription so they can watch shows like The Simpsons or 24 first. If they realise they can get them for free online before they're shown in the UK they may well cancel that subscription," said Price.

Unlike the argument in favour of music downloads, Envisional's Price doesn't believe television piracy will be complementary to sales if allowed to continue.

"People will download these shows, watch them and delete them," he said.

He is in no doubt that further growth in this piracy will hit television companies but like with music the large companies are not entirely blameless. Many accused record companies of simply missing the boat with digital music, almost creating the need for illegal services such as Napster through their inactivity and inability to innovate.

"I don't think TV companies have quite missed the boat yet but it's certainly getting close to that point," said Price who cited the internet's ability to 'Tivo'-ise television content as one of the major appeals for downloading shows – beyond availability and the fact they are free when downloaded.