What is it about this "Desperate Housewives" show that drives people to piracy?
Jennifer Dudley, technology reporter
DESPERATE Australian TV viewers are turning to the Internet for their Desperate Housewives fix as television program piracy takes hold in Australia.
Frustrated by late-night programming, re-runs and delayed broadcasts – or just hungry to resolve cliff-hangers – an increasing number of Australians download TV shows from the Internet, minutes after the shows air in America or the UK.
And the country has quickly gained a bad reputation, with research finding Australians are the second-worst offenders for illegal TV downloads.
Web-tracking firm Envisional found Australians accounted for 16 per cent of the world's illegal TV downloads; second only to Britons, who downloaded 18 per cent. Americans ranked third with 7 per cent.
The study found downloading of TV shows had jumped 150 per cent in one year and 70 per cent of the downloads were made using BitTorrent websites.
The Motion Picture Association of America last week filed lawsuits against six BitTorrent websites, in an attempt to shut down the practice.
MPAA president Dan Glickman said the illegal practice threatened the jobs of "thousands of people in the entertainment industry who are working to develop, produce and promote television shows".
"Internet thievery of all creative materials is unacceptable and these thieves need to realise they're not anonymous," he said.
"On these sites, anyone in the world can download entire televisions seasons in a single click."The MPAA has so far succeeded in shutting down 90 per cent of websites sued and Mr Glickman said it now took longer to download a file from a BitTorrent website as a result.
Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft operations director Neil Gane said the organisation was aware television piracy had become a significant problem but the company had no immediate plans for legal action.
"It's certainly something that will be addressed," he said. "We are looking at it but it's now a case of formulating policy and procedures," he said.
Fusion Strategy media analyst Steve Allen said the recent boom in broadband Internet had fuelled the criminal trend, but TV fans also turned to the Internet out of frustration.
He said viewers turned to the Net last year when Channel 9 delayed the final episodes of Friends and Sex and the City.
"We do have a lot of programming that comes from the States or the UK and we are weeks, if not months behind, depending on how the networks are programming the shows, and pirated copies are out there," he said.
"Also when the core viewership is really strong, people will seek to get more recent episodes of a series, no question."
Mr Allen said cult shows such as Lost, Desperate Housewives and The West Wing, and shows that attracted younger audiences, were more prone to being downloaded.
Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association executive director Debra Richards said the practice would impact all broadcasters and content providers and was similar to issues faced by movie and music makers.
Ms Richards said online TV show piracy would be difficult to eliminate but ASTRA would seek to warn downloaders their actions were illegal and carried harsh penalties.
