Once in a while, my DVR (Digital Video Recorder) lets me down. Sometimes it misses recording a show because the hard disk is full. Sometimes recordings mysteriously don't occur. And sometimes the content expires before I get around to watching it or flagging it to be retained until I explicitly erase it.
Such was the case this month with two shows I wanted to see. I lost part one of a two-part A Touch of Frost episode, and I lost the second part of a two-part episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
What's a poor TV viewer to do? Of course, this question arises for non-DVR owners, too, and to an even greater extent.
Depending on the show and the broadcaster, different 'recovery' options exist. Historically, the only way to watch a missed episode was to wait for summer repeats. That approach isn't very satisfying if the program is a serial drama where the storyline of subsequent episodes builds upon prior episodes. And there's no guarantee that 'summer re-runs' will even occur - take Studio 60 as an example. Rumours of its imminent demise due to low ratings abound. If it is cancelled, there's a good chance that it will vanish from program schedules entirely - meaning no reruns.
But today, we've got new alternatives, and I used two of these in executing my recovery strategy.
In the case of Studio 60, my timing was good. CTV had just announced that Studio 60 had been added to their broadband station, including past episode availability to provide 'catch up' capabilities. Off I went to CTV's website and watched the episode I missed. This is an option that has been available for a while to viewers of U.S. network programming - but only if they were accessing the Internet with a U.S. IP address (that's the unique identifier that is used when you connect your computer to the Internet). Canadians have only recently, and on a limited basis, begun to have access to U.S. prime-time programming over the Internet through our domestic networks like Global, CHUM and CTV. This is a great step forward for Canadian viewers - and we need more of it!
In the case of A Touch of Frost, which I normally record from TV Ontario (TVO), I had to pursue other means. TVO doesn't provide broadband television so I couldn't do the same sort of catch up that I did with Studio 60 thanks to CTV. Alas, I was driven underground... BitTorrent to the rescue. If you're not familiar with BitTorrent take a quick look at the Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent). A quick search of various torrent sites allowed me to find a torrent for this lost program - as I knew it would. Virtually any imaginable TV or movie content is out there - 'free' for the illegal taking. After a couple of failed attempts (this is still sometimes a challenging technology to use) and a slow download process, I had the missing episode on my hard disk. [See below for my rationalization for committing this illegal act!] I copied the file to the Media Center PC that is connected to my big-screen TV and watched it on my TV. [Interestingly, both my wife and I felt that the image from the torrent was of superior quality to the up-converted standard definition (SD) broadcast we normally receive from TVO via cable.]
These two different approaches to catching up have one significant difference: one is legal, one is not. By watching Studio 60 on CTV's broadband site, I was operating entirely within the law. The content owner's rights were respected. By downloading A Touch of Frost via BitTorrent, I was committing an illegal act. The copyright of the content owner was not being respected. Now normally I am a law abiding citizen, and I am very respectful of copyright laws. But in this instance, I wasn't. Do I feel guilty about it? No. I financially support TV Ontario and TV Ontario pays the content owner for the right to broadcast that content. Somehow, I missed the opportunity to record (or view live) this specific episode during the broadcast window of opportunity. In my rationalization, the content owner was paid for me to see that content and, although I missed the broadcast and had to obtain the content through unorthodox and unlawful means, the bottom line remains that payment, at a macro level, was made to the content owner for me to see that show. I would not download content for which I could not provide a similar rationalization - but a lot of people do.
In both cases, I availed myself of new technology alternatives to solve my problem. One happened to be legal, the other, not. In the end, though, the fact that I had no legal option to catch the missed episode of Frost (short of renting a DVD, if it is even available) underscores the fact that we've still got a long way to go.
Technology has changed. The expectations of viewers for alternate viewing and catch-up opportunities have changed. 'Appointment TV' is on the wane. Content on-demand is waxing. In one case (Studio 60), the broadcaster had taken steps that provided a solution that addressed my needs and expectations. In the other, (Frost), the broadcaster hadn't. Now I well understand that TV Ontario is a public broadcaster and CTV is a private one. TVO has limited resources, especially when contrasted with the likes of CTV, but it really is time for all networks to recognize that the viewing paradigm has changed, as have consumer demands. All content needs to be available through alternate channels if we are to meet the consumers' expectations. The old world order for content distribution isn't going away, but there's a new world order coming to the forefront and if TV is to continue to be a compelling experience it has to deliver the flexibility and 'on-demand' nature that other content delivery mechanisms provide.
Such was the case this month with two shows I wanted to see. I lost part one of a two-part A Touch of Frost episode, and I lost the second part of a two-part episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
What's a poor TV viewer to do? Of course, this question arises for non-DVR owners, too, and to an even greater extent.
Depending on the show and the broadcaster, different 'recovery' options exist. Historically, the only way to watch a missed episode was to wait for summer repeats. That approach isn't very satisfying if the program is a serial drama where the storyline of subsequent episodes builds upon prior episodes. And there's no guarantee that 'summer re-runs' will even occur - take Studio 60 as an example. Rumours of its imminent demise due to low ratings abound. If it is cancelled, there's a good chance that it will vanish from program schedules entirely - meaning no reruns.
But today, we've got new alternatives, and I used two of these in executing my recovery strategy.
In the case of Studio 60, my timing was good. CTV had just announced that Studio 60 had been added to their broadband station, including past episode availability to provide 'catch up' capabilities. Off I went to CTV's website and watched the episode I missed. This is an option that has been available for a while to viewers of U.S. network programming - but only if they were accessing the Internet with a U.S. IP address (that's the unique identifier that is used when you connect your computer to the Internet). Canadians have only recently, and on a limited basis, begun to have access to U.S. prime-time programming over the Internet through our domestic networks like Global, CHUM and CTV. This is a great step forward for Canadian viewers - and we need more of it!
In the case of A Touch of Frost, which I normally record from TV Ontario (TVO), I had to pursue other means. TVO doesn't provide broadband television so I couldn't do the same sort of catch up that I did with Studio 60 thanks to CTV. Alas, I was driven underground... BitTorrent to the rescue. If you're not familiar with BitTorrent take a quick look at the Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent). A quick search of various torrent sites allowed me to find a torrent for this lost program - as I knew it would. Virtually any imaginable TV or movie content is out there - 'free' for the illegal taking. After a couple of failed attempts (this is still sometimes a challenging technology to use) and a slow download process, I had the missing episode on my hard disk. [See below for my rationalization for committing this illegal act!] I copied the file to the Media Center PC that is connected to my big-screen TV and watched it on my TV. [Interestingly, both my wife and I felt that the image from the torrent was of superior quality to the up-converted standard definition (SD) broadcast we normally receive from TVO via cable.]
These two different approaches to catching up have one significant difference: one is legal, one is not. By watching Studio 60 on CTV's broadband site, I was operating entirely within the law. The content owner's rights were respected. By downloading A Touch of Frost via BitTorrent, I was committing an illegal act. The copyright of the content owner was not being respected. Now normally I am a law abiding citizen, and I am very respectful of copyright laws. But in this instance, I wasn't. Do I feel guilty about it? No. I financially support TV Ontario and TV Ontario pays the content owner for the right to broadcast that content. Somehow, I missed the opportunity to record (or view live) this specific episode during the broadcast window of opportunity. In my rationalization, the content owner was paid for me to see that content and, although I missed the broadcast and had to obtain the content through unorthodox and unlawful means, the bottom line remains that payment, at a macro level, was made to the content owner for me to see that show. I would not download content for which I could not provide a similar rationalization - but a lot of people do.
In both cases, I availed myself of new technology alternatives to solve my problem. One happened to be legal, the other, not. In the end, though, the fact that I had no legal option to catch the missed episode of Frost (short of renting a DVD, if it is even available) underscores the fact that we've still got a long way to go.
Technology has changed. The expectations of viewers for alternate viewing and catch-up opportunities have changed. 'Appointment TV' is on the wane. Content on-demand is waxing. In one case (Studio 60), the broadcaster had taken steps that provided a solution that addressed my needs and expectations. In the other, (Frost), the broadcaster hadn't. Now I well understand that TV Ontario is a public broadcaster and CTV is a private one. TVO has limited resources, especially when contrasted with the likes of CTV, but it really is time for all networks to recognize that the viewing paradigm has changed, as have consumer demands. All content needs to be available through alternate channels if we are to meet the consumers' expectations. The old world order for content distribution isn't going away, but there's a new world order coming to the forefront and if TV is to continue to be a compelling experience it has to deliver the flexibility and 'on-demand' nature that other content delivery mechanisms provide.