Starting to understand why people pirate

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I came across a tv show on Stan recently that finished up last year. I had heard of the show, but had been unable to view previously. Watched an episode or 2 and fell in love it. Then started showing it to my mum, and again to my sister. So far have watched season 1’s 21 x 40 min eps 3 times in less than 10 days and am making my way thru season 2 at the same time. We all really love show and would love to be able to buy it on dvd, firstly because mum knows nothing about the internet nor owns a computer, but she can work dvds. We also have a crappy ADSL connection that is at the end of the exchange.

As the FTA network it aired on is owned by Disney, I contacted Disney Australia and New Zealand. The replied with the following:

"Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately there are no plans at this stage to release on DVD/Blu-ray in Australia."

I then tweeted the US Network it was on explaining I’m Aussie and was wondering if it was on dvd in the US, because would be willing to import it. They replied saying to get their shows on dvd to follow the link they gave, which landed on Disney US. So I sent a message to them, explaining all over again and that I had contacted Disney AU/NZ. They sent a reply saying:

"[the series is] unavailable and no re-release date has been set. We would be happy to share with the rest of our team that you would like to have this available for purchase again! Your feedback helps us build a better experience for all of our guests and is truly appreciated!

To see what great titles are currently available and coming soon, please visit www.disneydvd.com!"

The link they included automatically redirects to the Disney AU/NZ site. I wrote back to them explaining that the site redirects so have no way of checking that site without a VPN. Also told them it was disappointing due to the low quality of Australia’s internet, plus the fact that 1 of the leads in the series is Australian, and there another Australian in a recurring role from season 2. They replied back again saying:

"Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Our offices only have information regarding the U.S. and Canada. Please contact our Australian office for assistance:

Buena Vista International Inc. (Australia)."

There’s also a spinoff of the series airing on the same network, with one of the Aussies as one of the leads. Stan currently doesn’t have the rights to it. That also isn’t on dvd. Also wanted to purchase the theme song to the show, but couldn’t find it available anywhere other than US iTunes. So I contacted the singer/songwriter through their website asking if it would be made available in Australia. Received a reply back from one of their reps today saying that unfortunately they don’t own the rights, Disney does, and Disney have only released in the US and not the rest of the world, and they don’t know why.

They are making it so hard for people that actually want to buy instead of pirate!

On a side note Stan has so much better customer service than Netflix!

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Interesting post. I’ll neither confirm nor deny my past actions re retrieval of similar media in less than copyright congruent methods :slight_smile:

It is interesting to reflect though, that I once thought I’d never subscribe to a streaming service, yet I now have both you refer to and while I give them minimal use, I enjoy shows on both.

Real, simple, straight forward access, affordable, and I don’t think people will pirate. Stuff people around, as you have described, and people will address their needs in whatever way is most achievable.

I heard a story the other day about a collection of series that are involved in co-crossover events across exclusive DVD and two separate streaming services. Collaboration or conspiracy? :rofl: I don’t even own a DVD player connected to my (media only, no antenna) tele …

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Piracy has always been a supply, pricing and availability problem.

Consumers want to watch what they want, when they want, where they want, how they want, and on the device they want. Piracy gives consumers this flexibility very easily and often through very well designed interfaces with all content available in one place.

Geoblocking, exclusive licencing practices, rent seeking, DRM, differential pricing, restricted libraries all limit what the consumer wants. Whenever supply is artificially restricted the emergence of a black market (i.e. piracy) is an inevitable response.

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Have you tried a retailer (in Australia or overseas) to see if they stick or can get it in for you,

Also, what is the name of the series?. …backflip?

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I’ve tried all the Australian and US websites. Disney AU/NZ pretty much confirmed they have never made it available here. Disney US confirmed it had been released in the US but is no longer available and have no plans to release it again. The series started in 2013 and ended last year, so dvd’s may of been available in the US around that time. But I have only been able to watch it here after Stan got the Disney rights. I do have people in the US looking out for me. Even tho my Blu-ray player says it is region locked, it actually isn’t. We have recently bought an all regions dvd player too.

The Fosters. Also want the spinoff Good Trouble, which began airing this year. Both shows have Australian Maia Mitchell in one of the lead roles. She started in the 2006 kids show Mortified. Aussie Jordan Rodrigues who is known from Home and Away and Dance Academy, has a recurring role in The Fosters from season 2.

Maia and her The Fosters co-star, Cierra Ramirez, were consulted and involved in the creative process of Good Trouble, including rewriting some scripts and having Executive Producer credits.

It just sucks when you want to do the legal thing and feel like you get punished for it. It’s also seems illogical to me that Disney allow the show to be aired on pay tv/streaming services other than the US, own the rights to the theme song and won’t release it for sale outside the US.

Also bought a dvd of a movie released last year that isn’t available here. Bought it off amazon US, then checked amazon AU to see if they had it, and the price. The AU site had it, shipped from the US site, and after conversion to AUD, the AU site cost about $2 more.

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I have done a quick search of US DVD TV series sites and can’t find that The Fosters has been released on DVD. It could be that it is yet to be offered on DVD. It only shows as being available through streaming.

There are significant risks in downloading illegally a stream capture of the series…not only risk of action by the producer…but a good way to get malware, ransonware, bots etc.

Why not have a regular TV night at home and invite the extended family…and stream it legally for all to view, if it is that important for everyone to see.

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The response I got from Disney US included the line, “The Fosters is currently unavailable and no re-release date has been set.” So assume that it has been made available on dvd previously.

We have been watching it legally through Stan. I live with my mum and sister. I work afternoons into the night, so I go to bed late and wake up late. My sister wakes up early and goes to bed early to go to her work, which can make it hard to find a time that suits all of us. Due to health reasons Mum is always home unless she goes out on short trips with me. The only way we can stream as a family is to hook my computer up via hdmi to the tv. We have slow adsl due to being at the very end of the exchange, plus my computer seems to have gpu/video card problems causing interrupted streaming, and I can’t upgrade my computer for another couple of months. If we were able to get it on dvd mum would be able to watch it while my sister and I are at work without having to rely on 1 of us. Plus I’m always living in fear of contracts ending and favourite series being ripped off streaming services with little to no warning.

I currently have no plans to download illegally. Since the spinoff is not available on Stan, if necessary I will buy that legally through YouTube, but at the same time dvds would still suit us better.

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Sometimes you wonder whats going on. They want people to stop pirating, and I believe its become less of an issue since streaming became so available… and then, theres this.’

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No, it means that it isn’t available on dvd and they haven’t decided if and when it may be released on dvd (release date), if at all.

If it had been released on dvd in the past, there would be records of it being on dvd. I haven’t been able to find any such records.

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It is able to be purchased through the Australian section of the iTunes store for seasons 1 to 5.

Season 1 https://itunes.apple.com/au/tv-season/the-fosters-season-1/id650045698

Season 2 https://itunes.apple.com/au/tv-season/the-fosters-season-2/id881934187

Season 3 https://itunes.apple.com/au/tv-season/the-fosters-season-3/id997852090

Season 4 https://itunes.apple.com/au/tv-season/the-fosters-season-4/id1120828013

Season 5 https://itunes.apple.com/au/tv-season/the-fosters-season-5/id1239910602

Good Trouble Season 1 I could only find on the US iTunes site so it is in US dollars https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/good-trouble-season-1/id1445616192

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Like iTunes, it can also be streamed through [Stan]https://www.stan.com.au/watch/the-fosters) as @backflip has indicated as well as some US streaming services.

Maybe if Disney gets enough enquires about a DVD release, they might make a decision to release it on DVD in the future.

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Yes, but iTunes also allows the user to use it by copying to a device to watch offline rather than streaming the show eg it can be downloaded and saved to a PC, phone or tablet to be cast/sent to a TV at any time and as often as the user wishes to watch the show.

The iTunes Library on the device can be backed up on multiple storage devices and so the risk of loss of the item can be well protected against. Also once purchased the show/item can be downloaded from your iTunes store account if it does become lost or damaged on your device in the future.

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For some shows, I prefer to own the DVD, which I then rip to a hard drive and play via Plex or Infuse, + AppleTV. For example, I love Star Trek, Stargate, Farscape (and a variety of other shows, The West Wing is a favourite) and I have all of those on a hard drive, with the DVDs stored safely in a cupboard. It means I dont have to waste my bandwidth watching shows I already own. There are lots of shows which don’t warrant more than one viewiing (and sometimes less than one) and in these cases I am grateful to have access to Netflix et al.

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I haven’t used iTune for donkey years and was unaware this was potentially possible.

Could be a workable solution if the series is downloadable/backup-able. The T&Cs associated with this are here…

This link also provides information on how to download …

I wonder if The Foster series has the download button symbol which it appears indicates the video is downloadable.

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I feel your pain @backflip, and thanks to everyone who has provided some specific ideas to accessing the show. I’ve also started a more generalised thread for people to explore TV options for situations where the internet or an more advanced tech solution just doesn’t cut it.

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On visiting the Apple Store it has the show and offers it as both a HD 720 or1080p download for me if I purchase it & it is also available in SD.

Now to delete myself from Apple’s clutches lol. Ran it in a VM so at least no extra on-going checking of my computer.

EDIT: The SD versions are cheaper than the HD versions by about a $1 per episode so depending on the quality you want you could save a little by buying the SD version/s.

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Disney has a long and storied history of ‘managing’ releases. I understand that if you want one of the items in their lengthy back catalogue you may have to wait years for it to be released - briefly - and grab it before they pull it back.

I mentioned MoviesAnywhere in another thread; Disney is not a part of it. The company is planning to launch its own streaming service, so Stan and other existing services will lose access to Disney properties as their existing contracts expire.

A quick search for The Fosters turned up a '70s British comedy series, but if you’re prepared to use a VPN Amazon Prime Video has 13 episodes of Good Trouble.

As will occur with Disney, per above.

I hate to break it to you, but this is against Australian copyright law. You are not permitted to copy videos/DVDs/BluRays that you have ‘purchased’, even for backup purposes.

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Whats with this “purchased” business. Have I paid bazillions to just rent the things? If so, pirating is starting to look more attractive.

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You purchase a licence to only use the work on the media it was sold on eg that DVD the movie came on. That licence may never expire but the physical DVD certainly can. In the US you can back up any commercial movie you have but ONLY as long as you do not break any DRM, Copy Protection or encryption that is on the media. As most DVD/BluRay movies are not free of these protections even in the US you are breaking the law to copy those movies so protected, by using programs that bypass/break these protections. The cold hard facts are you can’t copy protected media in Australia. If you purchase a movie or have a library service eg FandangoNOW, that can be downloaded to view then you can backup that item or library. I would hazard most do not use these services for most of the content they have.

I have always felt that if you have that licence to the content you should be able to request a replacement for damaged media at a cost that only covers the cost of the media and putting the data/movie/program back on it…this is a very small cost in most cases perhaps a couple of dollars. Once a movie is no longer copyright there are places that do have non protected versions available but most are extremely old shows.

https://archive.org/details/movies&tab=about

http://www.publicdomaintorrents.info/ (if a movie is found to not be public domain it is removed)

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I realise that this article is five years old, but as far as I am aware nothing has changed since then.

Even if we had permission to ‘back up’, we would still be unable to do so because it requires circumventing digital ‘rights’ management (DRM) - which our bosses on the other side of the Pacific don’t like too much.

I find it amazing that Mickey Mouse has made such a joke of ‘protecting artists’.

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