Before the return of the Cylons, human civilization spanned twelve colonies (or thirteen, if you're superstitious and believe in Earth), but the Battlestar Galactica webisodes (reviewed for TVS by Jen Creer every Tuesday and Thursday) are strictly limited to viewing only by users with a United States ISP (or, internet address). Nope, not in the U.K. or elsewhere -- not even in Canada. That's the Tyranny of Digital Distance as Tama at Blogcritics.org calls it, who also charged the decision is "tantamount to a slap in the face to the very loyal fans in other countries."What gives? The webisodes are meant to build anticipation for season three, and apparently for that reason, they're being shown only in the immediate run-up to the premiere date. And season three will begin later in other countries than in the United States.
Still, this will only drive non-U.S. fans to YouTube, where webisodes appear, then get taken down -- the usual YouTube hide-and-go-seek copyrighted-content cycle, in other words. Or it will drive fans to other methods to get them. All this over something that is free and meant to just promote the series and make fans happy and get them talking in the first place.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-14-2006 @ 2:01PM
Akbar Fazil said...
The whining over this annoys me.
It is as simple as this.
1. BSG is primarily a US market show
2. These webepisodes are funded by the SciFI channel to help boost intetest in the US PREMIER of Season 3.
3. They are not making any major money off of this so it is their rights to control who can and cant see it.
Calling it a slap in the face of world wide fans is ridiculous. It's business, plain and simple.
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9-14-2006 @ 2:01PM
Douglin said...
The thing is it wouldn't cost them anything to let people in other countries watch it.
I wouldn't be surprised if they show up on Sky digital in the weeks before the third season airs in the UK, since Sky helps fund the show.
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9-14-2006 @ 2:02PM
Akbar Fazil said...
You are wrong Douglin, it would cost them extra bandwidth to let it out to the rest of the world.
Think also in terms of broadcasting. Is it legal to view a US broadcast channel outside of the US? Nope.
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9-14-2006 @ 2:02PM
Kurifurisan said...
For the Non US fans who don't want to play hide and seek on Youtube...there's torrent files of each webisode of BSG on tons of search sites. Usually available within hours of showing up on SCI-FI's site.
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9-14-2006 @ 2:02PM
Douglin said...
Okay it would cost them more but I find it odd that they let other countries download Ron Moore's podcasts, which don't help sell the show really, but they won't let us download what are basically commercials for the show.
On your second point, this isn't a broadcast channel, they're made for the internet, they're not meant to be broadcast. In my mind it would be like a US movie site not letting people in other countiries download movie trailers from their page.
I'm sure they'll be on the dvd in a years time anyway
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9-14-2006 @ 2:02PM
lp said...
"1. BSG is primarily a US market show"
It is?
I thought the pilot & first series was aired first on Sky TV in the UK?
Yup & Series 3 premieres in the UK on the same day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(2004_television_series)
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9-14-2006 @ 2:02PM
Slanky said...
I'm in Ontario, Canada and I've been able to watch every episode on sci-fi.com. Maybe it's just blocked outside of North America.
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9-14-2006 @ 2:03PM
Akbar Fazil said...
Well, lp that is a tricky issue.
Premier dates may be the same (although I can't find confirmation outside of wiki to prove that skyone will start S3 at the same time) but SciFi channel is the PRIMARY funder on the show. Skyones involvment is smaller. The only reason they got the show first was because SciFi wasn't ready to put it in their schedule yet. Also, I don't believe Skyone has ANYTHING to do with the webepisodes in terms of funding and geting them made.
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9-14-2006 @ 2:03PM
erroneous_nick said...
Fans are fans and it's never a good idea to insult them or make them angry. If the webisodes are on scifi.com, I think it's counterproductive to limit their access. The returns on allowing full access to all will outpace any extra costs associated with more bandwidth. While there are several ways for international viewers to see these webisodes, anything short of allowing them access to the official site is going to make those fans feel as if they're "fighting" scifi for access to them.
It only makes sense to get the appetites of as many fans and potential fans of the show whetted asap and let the hunger grow until it's viewable wherever you are.
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9-14-2006 @ 2:03PM
Christian H. said...
You probably just have to use a US proxy server and then it should work for non-US citizens as well...
I had to go through the same thing to the Showtime-website when I wanted to read something on "Huff"...
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9-14-2006 @ 2:03PM
Douglin said...
Akbar: about the broadband costs; then why do they let other countires access the site at all. We can download the video blogs and podcasts which both must take up bandwith but letting fans in other countires access these has no benefits to the scifi channel, only to the show itself by increasing the number of fans.
The webisodes are basically commercials for the show, not letting other countires view them would be like a US movie site not letting people in other countries download the trailer
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9-14-2006 @ 4:00PM
Adam Rakunas said...
Yeah, dumb move on SciFi's part (and after doing such a smart move like making these webisodes in the first place). Especially since someone's just gonna rip these videos and put up on TorrentSpy or some P2P. The best advertising for the show is the show itself.
I'm starting to think there are two squads of execs at NBC/Universal: one that comes up with great ideas that will get people to watch their shows, and another that's really a bunch of lobotomized apes who can only hurl their own feces at the first squad. Good job, feces-hurlers!
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9-14-2006 @ 4:10PM
Bob Jones said...
I am a UK member and what annoys me is the UK broadcaster who do buy the rights to air the show legally, don't do anything like this (or we have to wait months).
Don't attack the US broadcasters for doing it, its not legal for them to even show it outside of the US.
You should be rallying for the UK (and other countries) to get VOD and other rights and put them on their websites.
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9-14-2006 @ 6:36PM
Skip said...
TV on the web is a bit like early days of web radio, things are still shaking out but in the meantime is allowing startups to try out shows on a pretty low budget. We'll have to see how the whole thing pans out in terms of the big guys vs the little vs too much crap...
One interesting sitcom launched recently on the web: FloatersTv.com - not the highest production values, but good quality by web standards... http://www.floaterstv.com . see a clip at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpZOty47564
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9-22-2006 @ 7:11PM
Yasmine said...
this has to be THE worst show i have ever seen!
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9-23-2006 @ 2:02PM
R said...
Insulting fans, sure. Irritating people of course. But the real question if the show is so special it can only be sean by the US. Why do they film it here in canada?
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9-23-2006 @ 3:54PM
Jeff Johnson said...
BSG is the worst show ever?? Yer crazy...
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9-24-2006 @ 1:20AM
Yasmine said...
ok,, so its not THE worst show.. lol,, i may have exagereated,,, its ok, just not my favorite.. sorry if i ticked anyone off...
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10-07-2006 @ 3:44PM
Anne said...
Well, all Scifi is doing now is making the fans angry.
There are people outside the US as well and guess what, we buy DVDs, surf the net and watch TV too. Not to mention thinking. If Scifi tells me through blocking my access to some videos on their site that I'm not a good enough fan/viewer/customer for them because I live in another country and use a different currency, there's something I can do about it too. Stop watching the show on our own channel. And guess what, if enough people gets mad at them and stops watching on whatever channel in whatever country, that channel won't buy the show from scifi therefore they won't make money out of it. So how blocking people from outside the US to watch those vids good for Scifi then?
On the other hand, I'm resourceful enough that I already saw all the webisodes and that only makes Scifi's attempt more ridiculous. This is the internet we are talking about here. It's supposed to be free and borderless...
As for the bandwith problem... do you think that's a big deal for Scifi? It's just a small piece of all their expenses and they get back a LOT more from all the countries they sell the show to. From all those fans in all those countries they are banning and ignoring right now.
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10-09-2006 @ 10:17AM
hideki_matsui said...
It's not really bright for any network to block eyeballs from viewing a promotional clip (much less SciFi). The network seems to be stuck in the old days, out of touch with the on-demand reality of the web. Blocking interested people from accessing a clip they want is a LOT different from not broadcasting a clip on TV in another area of the world. (i.e., the Japan audience isn't complaining, "Hey, why can't I see the new commercials for BSG on TV over here?" They are not even aware that they're missing anything. Whereas with on-demand, the network is actively pissing people off that they cannot access the promotion they just clicked on.) The whole idea of blackouts is smart when you are trying to control SALES in different markets, not PROMOTIONS...I mean, has anyone ever seen an online Buick car commercial or a Spiderman movie trailer block an IP address? That would be dumb marketing. If Jeff in L.A. e-mails his friend Haim in Jerusalem about these cool new BSG webisodes, who then e-mails his friends in D.C., Iowa, and Seattle, that's great for the show. Seems like some dumb lawyer had a knee-jerk security reaction to the term "online video" and this is what we international fans get. Good thing for proxies...
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