Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Disrupting the Television

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  • James W,

    I don't believe the "attitude" of not expecting to pay for television/movies is unassailable. It's becoming ingrained because the systems aren't in place for a good, timely, legal way of buying television shows at the moment. But it used to be that way for music, too, and iTunes significantly changed that. Personally, I used to steal music all the time; now that it's so convenient to use iTunes, I buy legally. If TV series were available on their store (or similar) shortly after they aired, I'd happily purchase them too.

    Since Jul 2008 • 136 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    The TPPA may well make that a reality!

    Those daft copyrighterers. Cant they see that people downloading stuff is the ultimate backup?. It could prevent the loss of great movies, or movies like this one.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Paul Brislen, in reply to Matthew Poole,

    Pausing aside (my memory must have emphasised it more than is needed), my point was that TG wasn't defending the practice, she was instead saying it was at an end and they'd try to be simpler, easier to deal with.

    Clearly that wasn't the case, but I never felt she deserved ridicule for saying what I thought needed to be said - that telcos had been screwing customers gleefully for years (and not in a good way).

    Now ridicule for other things, yes. Yes indeed. Telecom at the time was shockingly arrogant towards both customers and competitors and when the hammer fell it did so after more than a decade of last chances. I was pleased to play my part in that and I'm pleased it's a game we no longer have to play to quite that degree.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 200 posts Report

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to James W,

    I don’t believe the “attitude” of not expecting to pay for television/movies is unassailable

    The evidence from the home of The Pirate Bay is that useful, realistically-priced music services destroy the incentive to pirate for many users. Which shits all over the supposed argument that people won't pay in future for things they're currently getting without paying though, as you point out, the longer that people are forced to resort to downloading if they want to get content digitally the harder it may turn out to be to make such services viable in NZ.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Paul Brislen,

    saying it was at an end and they’d try to be simpler, easier to deal with.

    Wasn't it said before an international telco conference, and part of the reason the audio was considered so damning was that it was a "This is what they say to each other in private" moment, revealing the inner workings of a coven of devious bastards.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report

  • merc, in reply to Matthew Poole,

    revealing the inner workings of a coven of devious bastards.

    Who had and still do not have any recourse to us, protected as they are by being unhinged from the taxpayer by their quasi-corporate status. Duopoly anyone?
    It grates, you know, when the Crown pees on your back and tells you it's raining...again and again and again and again...

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report

  • Steve Withers, in reply to Tom Semmens,

    Sky is 43% owned by Rupert Murdoch, so "racketeers extracting monopoly rents" is to be expected. That this present government is actively *enabling* this agenda by running down public broadcasting assets we all own (and that Rupert Murdoch hates).....is just one more example of the "national" in National Party referring to some other country. Not his one.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 312 posts Report

  • TracyMac, in reply to Lucy Stewart,

    I have no problem with somewhat gratuitous sex after some kiddie-friendly hour (Lost Girl), but I found the first book (at least, I couldn't stomach any more) had lots of that shitty sex (incest, rape, devious) I can't stand reading about. Or watching.

    There's a kind of underlying misogyny in the first book that I disliked mightily, thus my entire avoidance of the TV show. Sounds like boobs-of-the-week is in that vein.

    On a slight tangent, why is it that epic fantasy is nearly always based on quasi-Saxon or medieval societies with more-or-less retrograde sexual politics? The only exception I can think of is the Kushiel books (which won't be TVised anytime soon).

    Canberra, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 701 posts Report

  • TracyMac,

    Regarding the question about who would pay, I certainly would for the three shows I currently watch. Since Amazon has proven that the "long tail" model works, I don't see why that doesn't apply to other media. Sure, there may not be zillions of Lost Girl fans in NZ, but if you add the global reach and consider fans in Oz, SA, the UK, etc...

    Canberra, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 701 posts Report

  • Lucy Stewart, in reply to TracyMac,

    On a slight tangent, why is it that epic fantasy is nearly always based on quasi-Saxon or medieval societies with more-or-less retrograde sexual politics? The only exception I can think of is the Kushiel books (which won't be TVised anytime soon).

    Part of it is What People Expect. I was at a con last month with a great panel on SF v. fantasy, and what everyone agreed on was that *epic* fantasy had to have horses and swords and visiting every country on the map, trappings which lead to a medieval world, which people inevitably endow with medieval sexism. I can think of other counter-examples, but they're either not well-known or have somewhat mixed results. The Wheel of Time series, which is definitely well-known, attempts to depict a world with a reversed gender balance and...actually doesn't do too badly a lot of the time, but is far from flawless. Same with Melanie Rawn's Ambrai books.

    Largely, it's because a lot of SFF fans will accept any magic you like, but the idea of a low-tech world with gender- and sexual-identity-egalitarian politics drives them batty. Whereas a sexist and homophobic future setting is often accepted as normal...it's a massive problem with genre fiction. At least we *have* series like the Kushiel books to make up for it a bit, but I'd be surprised if they see any sort of film treatment in the next half-century.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to TracyMac,

    retrograde sexual politics

    puts me off the genre

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Attachment

    Leave your telly at home...
    Next week you can throw off the shackles of the suckling screen and get out and celebrate some kiwi music history.... (well, ok, only if you live in New Plymouth, Whanganui, Palmerston North, Napier or Masterton).
    Chris Bourke and Nick Bollinger are embarking on...:

    ...a three-day road trip in the central North Island to share tall stories, sounds and images of New Zealand pop, historic and contemporary: not just ‘Blue Smoke’ and ‘Blue Beat’ but ‘Blue Lady’ and into the wild blue yonder.

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

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