Better Call Saul successfully launched on Stan last night, an hour after it aired in the US. Source: Supplied
AUSTRALIA is a nation of pirates. It’s one record we lead the world in which we wish we didn’t. For a long time that blame has been put squarely on the fact that Australia often gets new TV shows later and for a premium price than the rest of the world.
But last night, new streaming service Stan premiered the much anticipated Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul on its service right after it aired in the US.
A Choice survey last year showed that most of those who pirated did so due to the inconvenience, price and delayed availability of getting the content legally.
While we certainly don’t condone pirating, they are fair points that local players in the Australian market needed to look at to stem pirating in this country.
Game of Thrones is Australia’s most pirated show. Source: Supplied
Game of Thrones has been a constant problem for studios, with Australian’s pirating the show more than any other series. At first, the excuse was the delay, then when Foxtel fast-tracked it, the excuse became the price. Foxtel then dropped pricing just for Game of Thrones fans.
Streaming services like Stan, Presto and soon-to-be-launched Netflix aim to fix that problem.
Stan’s launch of Better Call Saul last night offered the premiere for free (via a free 30 day trial, before it becomes $9.99 a month), in HD quality and via an easy to use service straight after it aired in the USA.
Netflix is to launch in Australia in March 2015 Source: Supplied
If you were interested in actually owning the show rather than streaming it, Aussie company EzyFlix is offering 10 episodes 24 hours after they air in the US for $10.
So there goes the excuse that you need to be able to watch it when you don’t have an internet connection.
While it may just be a publicity stunt for now, it shows that the ability is there for Australian services to have content available exactly how consumers want it.
As Mumbrella perfectly pointed out, people often feel like “Robin Hood” when they don’t give money to big corporations like HBO who make Game of Thrones. But services like EzyFlix are just small locally owned businesses which need your dollar to survive.
Presto, like Stan, is just one of the new services in Australia offering premium shows easily and affordably. Source: Supplied
With Australia’s barrage of streaming services launching locally this year and TV show rights being snapped up by them, more and more shows will be available easily, affordably and quickly in Australia. If streaming isn’t your thing, services like EzyFlix offer quick, cheap alternatives to legally download and own shows. All ground will be covered.
So to those people still pirating Better Call Saul as we speak, you now have no excuse. You’re simply harming the industry that makes the content you enjoy so much.
News Corp, publisher of news.com.au, partially owns Foxtel.
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