May 22, 2007
America lags behind Europe and S Korea in watching TV Online
In a related article on South Korea's grip with US TV series fever, YONHAP News reports that according to a recent poll of 114 college students, forty-four percent of the viewers said they take the episodes off peer-to-peer Web sites, while 48 percent said they watch the dramas on cable TV.
"We started adding our own translation scripts to watch American TV series on our computers long before TV adopted them," said one co-runner of an Internet fan club of 150,000 members, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of possible legal complications. "Public TV has belatedly jumped on the bandwagon."
Some warn that digital viewership can pose serious legal problems. "It does present a copyright issue, no doubt," said Won Woo-hyun, a mass communications professor at Korea University in Seoul.
Early May, the BBC reported that almost half of European broadband users are using their computers to watch television online, with the French being the most enthusiastic in consuming their favourite programs via the web.
And yesterday, TBO reported that in the US, only about 4 percent of the people who have an online connection are watching TV shows online.
So the US is really lagging behind. Behind Europe and behind Asia.
One explanation which I have given before and am sure it's a main reason is that in Europe at least, we get TV series 6 months to a year on our TV channels after their broadcast in the US. So being able to watch as soon as they come out in the US, is a huge attraction. They are usually posted on video sharing sites one to two days later.
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/tv/archives/2007/05/016003.htm
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)