Australian politics is just like bloody medieval television epic Game of Thrones, right? Well, not really, but ex-ex-prime minister Julia Gillard laboured a comparison in a piece for The Guardian splashed on the front page in Britain …
“I first felt the addictive power of Game of Thrones when I was prime minister, living in a world where power was also pursued relentlessly, albeit far less colourfully. Certainly the characters of my world were nowhere near as good looking or exotically dressed …
“Drawn in, I binged on series one over three days on brief Christmas leave in 2012. I devoured the second and third as soon as I could. Fiction and reality started to collide. Returning to my office after an aborted coup in March 2013, I was greeted with posters of sword fighting with the slogan: ‘What do we say to the god of death? Not today.’ I made it known I was barracking for the Khaleesi. After all, what girl has not yearned for a few dragons when in a tight spot?”
What girl, indeed.
The hundreds of comments left on the story are more entertaining (“you were and probably still are, one of the villainous pursuers of power for your own sake”, noted “LoveMustBeTough”). Then there was this one from “historyhead”:
“What I would like to know though is why your government didn’t introduce cultural anti-siphoning laws to Australian pay-TV. From next August, all BBC programmes except Dr. Who will be on Pay-TV only, and will take up to two years to appear on free-to-air. We are left with only one recourse, which is to buy the series that interest on DVD when they eventually go to DVD. Why didn’t you stop this when you could when you were PM.”
It’s a more pertinent question to Gillard than what she thinks of the Khaleesi’s future. Most Australians — the most ruthless internet pirates on the high seas — would have downloaded GOT yesterday from file transfer sites, the only alternative to an expensive, long-term contract with a monopoly pay TV company.
Maybe Gillard did, too.
I never understand this sense of entitlement people have to TV shows. If Foxtel buys the rights to it, well people can choose to buy Foxtel or not. The idea that this justifies stealing it if you don’t want to pay for it just doesn’t follow.
I am sure if the BBC considered that there was a benefit to the Australian public in seeing their product for free, that they would not have sold their content to a Pay TV operator on such an exclusive basis.
As it stands, instead of seeking constant government hand-outs and subsidies, a company that sells it’s product in Australia, has bought content that they see as making their product more desirable and saleable, and has entered a commercial arrangement with a foreign corporation to do so.
I am not sure why Australians claim that they want smaller government that taxes them less, but complain when our Government does not spend billions propping up unviable foreign multi-national corporations such as car manufacturers, or does not support free-to-air television by restricting the viability of a business like Foxtel when they choose to enter into valid commercial contracts to show Australian sporting events or British made television shows.
It is fair enough to watch whatever content is offered for free, it is not fair enough to expect that all of the content that costs millions of dollars or pounds to produce should be offered for free to all Australian viewers as a human right, or that if it is not offered for free, that theft is justified.
I am yet to see a Crikey editorial supporting shoplifting as “the only alternative to an expensive” trip to the supermarket every few days (and that costs much more per month than a Pay-Tv subscription). Those supermarket goods, which most of us don’t seem to feel an entitlement to be taken for free, are much cheaper to produce than the television products which you seem to believe viewers are entitled to have for free, so what is the difference?
Declaration: I am a Foxtel subscriber (but not to the Channel that shows Game of Thrones or Mad Men “express” from the USA), but otherwise have no connection to the company in any way.
In response to Kevin_T: If I want bread, I can go to Coles, Woolworths, IGA, or even the petrol station. But for content that is made exclusive, I HAVE to pay a fortune for the one Foxtel channel I want? What happened to competition?
I’m happy to pay for my content, just not happy to pay for a lot of channels I don’t want at the same time. I’d prefer even a subscription model to particular shows!
Having said that, I’m NOT a Foxtel subscriber, but nor do I download pirated shows.
I bought the previous series of GoT on iTunes for $35 each. Good value, just downloaded onto laptop and plugged them into the big telly.
We binged on them, two or three episodes at a time.
Twas brill.
I don’t understand why so many people believe they are entitled to watch high quality expensive drama without paying for it.
If you don’t want Foxtel, buy the DVDs when they come out. If you don’t want to wait, subscribe to Foxtel.