Britain downloads the most TV shows

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
Administrator
According to an article posted by UK newspaper The Guardian, a recent study has shown that Britain is the country that downloads the most TV shows from the Internet; accounting for a whopping 18.5% of worldwide (illegal) TV downloads. Austrailia scraped in at second with 15.6% and the US could only manage a surprising third with 7.3%.

Given it isn't specified by the article, we are naturally left to wonder if anime fansubs (and the large number of UK anime fans who download them) were also included in the results for this study.
 
If anything, this is a tribute to the currently (all time, in my opinion) low standards of British TV. On average, I must watch under an hour of TV a day; anime is so much more inventive, emotionally compelling and mentally challenging than the majority of tosh we get on our picture box these days. These figures don't surprise me in the slightest.
 
Hmmmm...

I know what you mean about low standards, I saw 10 minutes of Coronation Street and thought "this would be soooooo much better if there were giant robots in it". To be fair, I had finished watching Gundam SEED beforehand....
 
Paul said:
anime is so much more inventive, emotionally compelling and mentally challenging than the majority of tosh we get on our picture box these days.
Click to expand...
The majority of anime is just as un mentally challenging as the stuff on UK TV...
 
IanC said:
Paul said:
anime is so much more inventive, emotionally compelling and mentally challenging than the majority of tosh we get on our picture box these days.
Click to expand...
The majority of anime is just as un mentally challenging as the stuff on UK TV...
Click to expand...

I don't know, I'm sure I'd learn far more from even Kiddy Grade than say, "I'm a celebrity...". I take your point though, I was in my over zealous fanboy mode at the time (especially since I've been watching the likes of Gungrave and Cowboy Bebop lately) ;) Then again, these numbers speak for themselves; a lot of people are obviously unhappy with the selection of 'shows' on UK TV.
 
i can't say i'm surprised either. the only TV i watch apart from the news is the odd documentary and detective show. if the anime fans are to blame for this high figure, it might also say a lot about how much titles are delayed before being released here. a series is released in the US, UK fans hear about it and download it to avoid what could be months or even years of waiting for a region 2 release.

another factor is that the TV industry is going through what could be a revolution with the advent of digital and freeview. i'm not sure how different the system is across the world, but in order to see more than 20 or so channels (even with digital freeview), we have to pay for satellite or cable.

there is of course the fact that British TV is piss-poor, consisting of dire soaps, endelss lifestyle/makeover programmes and moronic reality TV shows. i could rant about that for ages but i won't. ;)
 
When i do watch tv (which is less and less nowadays) everything i watch is either anime or american or re-runs of old shows like Red Dwarf which i love and would be watching at the moment if my sister wasn't watching the Pokemon movie.
Frankly i can't stand soaps and i can't stand reality tv shows....but then who can. What i wonder is why the heck to they keep showing them if everyone clearly hates them
 
Not particularly suprised here either really , I know a great deal of people I know prefer American shows to UK ones. I'm not particularly keen on either to be fair , Ive never had much interest in T.V for a long time.
In fact is only really down to anime I watch much of anything at all, as beforehand I would watch maybe 5 films or so a year , and barely any T.V.
 
Charter_Mage said:
When i do watch tv (which is less and less nowadays) everything i watch is either anime or american or re-runs of old shows like Red Dwarf which i love and would be watching at the moment if my sister wasn't watching the Pokemon movie.
Frankly i can't stand soaps and i can't stand reality tv shows....but then who can. What i wonder is why the heck to they keep showing them if everyone clearly hates them
Click to expand...

Pretty much the same here (except the part about the Pokemon movie), however I do know quite a few people who like soaps and reality TV and actually seem surprised that I don't watch them. Mind you, no matter how bad the content gets, there always seem to be new channels cropping up (Teachers TV, Soundtrack Channel, who watches these things?)
 
I think you'll find it's mostly the younger generation that downloads off of the internet, the majority of older people still watch TV normally! (and no! I don't necessarily class myself in this group :lol: ). I have never downloaded a "normal" programme or film off of the internet!

I watch Coronation Street and Eastenders (I have followed Eastenders since it's debut in 1985! and Corrie for about 16 years) and ocassionally I stop watching if there's a really bad storyline. I also like those awful shows where people have their junk valued and then sold :shock: I also enjoy the odd quiz show.
I thoroughly believe the BBC have been stealing our money for the past 20+ years and should go independent :lol:
I also reckon most people download off of the internet purely because they can but also because it's free and it's human nature to want something for nothing! I mean how often have we all been tempted to buy a particular magazine because of the free junk stuck to the front of it :lol:
 
Miaka-chan said:
I think you'll find it's mostly the younger generation that downloads off of the internet, the majority of older people still watch TV normally! (and no! I don't necessarily class myself in this group :lol: ). I have never downloaded a "normal" programme or film off of the internet!
Click to expand...

I think I agree with older people watching more television than the younger generation , my parents who are both in their 50's still watch a lot of T.V it seems to me .
 
Miaka-chan said:
I think you'll find it's mostly the younger generation that downloads off of the internet, the majority of older people still watch TV normally! (and no! I don't necessarily class myself in this group :lol: ). I have never downloaded a "normal" programme or film off of the internet!

I also like those awful shows where people have their junk valued and then sold :shock: I also enjoy the odd quiz show.
Click to expand...
I have never downloaded a normal program either since frankly i wouldn't even know where.

And i have to also admit that i love quiz shows (it's a good feeling when you get to answer things right) and those value your junk shows are ok too since i live with a house full of that junk i find it quite interesting. But i guess they are the kind of thing i will watch if it's there but not especially plan to watch
 
UK TV = LOL.

Seriously, the only half decent programme on UK TV anymore is the goddamned news... and even then it's heavily biased and sometimes badly constructed. A year or two ago, the only four programmes I watched were: the Simpsons, Futurama, 24 and Have I Got News for You. The Simpsons has bored me through endless repeats... then it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered. Futurama is never shown in hours of the day that appeal to anyone without acute insomnia. 24 was lost as a Sky exclusive... and I hear it's crap anyway now. And Have I got News for You... well, I just miss it.

The rest of TV is utterly pathetic. Soaps were never very good, but the storylines are becoming worse and worse. These are programmes that lack soul and any requirement of intelligence. What I think encapsulates the stupidity of soap audiences is the fact that the gutter press reports on the outcome of storylines like 5 months before they even start. As for reality TV... the first BB held my attention. A little. But endless new series every year, nothing ever new? It's pathetic.

Even the popular series of the last year or so really don't work for me. Little Britain? The Office? Yeah, they're funny, but they're not half as funny as everyone makes them out to be (and I know so many people who just go along with saying the like them, Emperor's New Clothes stylee). Still, I suppose i'm outside this system of UK TV anyway. After a daily dose of soaps filled with "actors" who make Keanu Reeves look several levels above wooden (cardboard?), I guess you'd find anything funny.

If UK TV isn't offering enough to stop people from downloading so many programmes of the net, it needs to do something about it. Or just curl up and die, because I frankly couldn't care less.
 
kupoartist said:
UK TV = LOL.

Seriously, the only half decent programme on UK TV anymore is the goddamned news... and even then it's heavily biased and sometimes badly constructed....

Even the popular series of the last year or so really don't work for me. Little Britain? The Office? Yeah, they're funny, but they're not half as funny as everyone makes them out to be (and I know so many people who just go along with saying the like them, Emperor's New Clothes stylee). Still, I suppose i'm outside this system of UK TV anyway. After a daily dose of soaps filled with "actors" who make Keanu Reeves look several levels above wooden (cardboard?), I guess you'd find anything funny.
Click to expand...
Man what is it with guys and the news, my dad is the same.
Sorry, but i just can't stand the news. I will be perfectly happy and then i will sit down and watch the news and i will be over come with a uncontrolable depression and a urge to commit suicide. I mean i know it's informative, but how often does good news ever make the news, i'm tired of hearing how our planets going to come to a end with a super volcano or how half of Britain and probably me are going to be wiped out by bird flu and what a pompus big head Tony Blair is.

I though it was just me that never really found Little Britain and The Office very funny. I mean i watch Little Britain occationally but i never find it laugh out loud funny, it's more of a little laugh in my head, and i watched The Office once and i thought it was just boring
 
Totally agree here, I will never understand the male obsession with the news. Every guy in my family watches it , if I go into a living room in any of my relatives houses my Step-dad , Grandad , Cousins are more often than not all glued to the news! I cannot understand why people want to hear about such depressing things.
 
I watch the news, or at least try and read some of the headlines on AOL. As, embarrasing as it may seem, I was totally unaware of the September 11th incident/twin towers disaster until a full 24 hours after the event!
I decided that never again would I not know if something that sombre happened again :(
 
Half Decent - HALF DECENT! I never watch TV but the News just happens to be on when I'm eating food and stuff. That and I've been forced to watch it for two weeks because of school work... But now that i've been forced to sit in front of it, I've realised it's actually kind of good in a way. Actually that's a lie, TV News seems to be packaged for the rest of the TV audience. Murders, Deaths, Killings. Oh and the intellectual stuff that's tagged on someplace: "Tony Blair says Michael Howard is a smelly head". You know, I don't like the news. Why did I say that? o_O

Hmm, I could have cut down on a lot of words if I just said that "all TV is crap" couldn't I? ^^.

Edit:
Miaka-chan said:
As, embarrasing as it may seem, I was totally unaware of the September 11th incident/twin towers disaster until a full 24 hours after the event!
Click to expand...
I was personally unaware until the evening. No-one said anything at school and I was busy with delivering papers. My mum was like; why haven't you got the radio/tv on?

I think what is more embarrasing is that I didn't actually know what the World Trade Centre was until that day :/ I do try to be interested in news now, perhaps because I felt like such a dullard when that happened. Using the web for news is the best policy though: you can mix and match your own news programme and read the news you want to read. Hooray for the internets!
 
Not all TV is crap!
Tonight I watched "Spring Watch", the Bill Oddie nature thingy on BBC2, nothing cuter than lickle birdies and barn owls.
Tonight I am watching The 2 Ronnies, the best comedy duo in the history of comedy :mrgreen:
 
Back
Top