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Game of Piracy - fans say they have no option but to download
The world's hottest show on television right now is undoubtedly the American-based HBO TV network series Game of Thrones, based on the novels by George R. R. Martin.
Full of sex, violence, plot twists and even the odd dragon, it has found a legion of fans down under that can't get enough of the epic drama series.
But as of season 4, the only way to legally view it in Australia is via a subscription to Foxtel television or its digital offering, Foxtel Play. It wasn't always like this, with previous seasons available through either the Apple iTunes store or the Google Play store.
The change came as a result of American parent company HBO bringing Australia into line with their licensing deals across the world.
But the wheelings and dealings are little consolation to viewers who just want to watch their show at the same time as the rest of the world without signing up to a Foxtel product.
Taking to the web and social media, the outcry was swift and vocal about what the changes meant.
Forced into piracy
The choice became simple for anyone wanting to keep up with the goings on of Westeros; subscribe, stop watching or figure out another way to view it.
"Unfortunately, I've had to break the law I guess, just because I want to see it before everybody spoils it for you by telling you what happens. There's no other way to do it," says Alex, a 36-year-old devotee.
What makes his response to the situation slightly different to many copyright infringers is that Alex has never downloaded anything illegally in his life.
A huge film buff, he owns thousands of DVDs and Blu-ray discs, all purchased officially. He's also spent thousands of dollars purchasing content from the iTunes store, including the first three seasons of Game of Thrones.
It's the HBO model
As Foxtel head of Corporate Affairs, Bruce Meagher has followed the outcry online. He's even written an open letter explaining the reality of supporting a multi-million dollar per-episode television program.
The response to the letter from internet commenter's wasn't exactly warm, although it served to highlight the very real issues facing both Australian businesses and consumers.
"People can legitimately disagree with our business models; they can disagree with our pricing. But I can't think of any other industry or sector where the next step would be to say 'therefore it's okay for me to steal it,' Mr Meagher says.
That's pretty much what Australians are saying, and not just with Game of Thrones. Other popular television shows like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Orange is the New Black and even exclusive digital content like House of Cards are all being downloaded in record numbers by Australian users.
"Australians unfortunately are the world champions when it comes to piracy. It's a serious issue, and we've been having conversations with the government about ways in which we might make the copyright act work better," Mr Meagher says.
Long way to go
There doesn't seem to be a clear answer to piracy in Australia because while we're up to date with the Lannisters, we're a long way behind the rest of the world in many ways, and the issue hinges on a number of constantly shifting factors - ISP's, content providers, global trends, delivery platforms and devices.
Internet giant Google has even thrown its opinion into the mix, with Google Australia's head of public policy Iarla Flynn saying that piracy is '...an availability and pricing problem.'
As the government talks about implementing harsher fines for people breaking copyright laws, there is some silver lining in the ever-growing cloud, in that not all Australian Game of Thrones fans are taking the illegal way out.
"We actually saw quite a significant lift in the numbers in the weeks leading up to Game of Thrones; it was quite a solid increase. We were happy with that," says Foxtel's Bruce Meagher.
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