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Good point there. I know how much people value and enjoy the interchange of video and information that is Stage 6. Without doubt the very best site of its kind, so of course its the one that gets targeted. There are already so many TV and Movie relay sites there that the cat is out of that bag.

And the moguls have only themselves to blame. None of them have prioritized making their video shows, and esp TV output, easily accessible to people around the world in return for a small fee.

The situation here in Canada is instructive here. Despite living within NAFTA and within reach of the US TV networks, I can neither view, nor download, any TV shows through the Canadian ITunes site (the only one I can use). Nor can I view any material on the US network’s websites. That nice new NBC site – sorry … no entry for anyone outside of the US. And the Canadian providers aren’t offering much on the web – most shows can only be see on air.

The other country whose materials I treasure and would willingly pay for is the UK. Having lived in London for more than 30 years, it would be really nice to be able to purchase and watch UK shows. I’d happily pay for access to episodes or documentaries if the amount asked was fair and reasonable. Can I buy access to the UK shows legitimately – the answer is, again, of course not!

I have to go to an ‘offshore’ provider and pay $40 a month to get access to UK TV, which I do with pleasure. But why can’t I get this direct from the TV channels themselves?

Some people believe that all entertainment should be able to be “shared” for free, and post shows to different boards, but this is a small group in comparison to the large numbers who pay to view a good quality episode of a show or a movie.

The recent US writers strike shows how slowly the worlds big entertainment providers are realizing, as they often comment in their programs, that we now live within a global distribution medium that can deliver high quality entertainment through downloads.

If protective barriers stop people getting the entertainment they want, they will find a way to get it some other way. Most of us would be happy to pay a reasonable amount, and probably accept some sort of DRM as well, to see the content they want to see when they want to see it. The BBC and US networks sit on enormous back catalogues of material that people like me would love to view……

It’ll happen some day but I’m not getting any younger and I can’t wait for them any more !

Check out our article about the hacking here:
http://averad-blog.com/news/stage-6-hacked