Fox! You got some ‘splainin’ to do.

Fox recently made the move to make online tv viewers who aren’t paying for their service (Hulu Free users) wait for 8 days after their shows air to watch them.  A few show already have this limit on them and while Fox is the first to do this widespread they definitely won’t be the last.  All the trouble that cable companies are in and someone goes and kick a hornet’s nest.

This story isn’t about Fox and their waiting period though, it’s about what happened after the 8 day wait was made a reality…

PIRACY.

Here are some stats from TorrentFreak.com:

During the first 5 days, the number of downloads from the U.S. for the latest episode of Hell’s Kitchen increased by 114% compared to the previous 3 episodes. For MasterChef the upturn was even higher with 189% more downloads from the U.S. For MasterChef; the extra high demand may in part have been facilitated by the fact that it was the season finale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, one thing to take away is that you don’t get between The Food Network and its viewers.  I believe that some if not all of the content creators and providers out there (like cable companies) think that sites like Hulu and Netflix are the competition when really the competition is torrent sites and piracy.  Sites like Hulu and Netflix allow content creators a chance to make some money off of their content whereas if they put it behind a paywall people will just find other ways to get it for free.

(Keep in mind that this time restriction only affects free users of these services and paid users will find no change in their service.)

 

 

About Jesse (The Pen of Doom)

A small time blogger with big time dreams and a love for everything geek.
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