I’ve noticed that my television viewing hours have drastically reduced off late and this triggered off a question in my mind – Has television become obsolete or has its content merely shifted to a new medium – the Internet? My friends abroad, stream episode after episode of their favourite shows online (legally), and I was curious to understand how the licensing of these shows worked, and whether India could ever benefit from this potentially inexpensive and easier to use distribution channel.
I came across a piece by Craig Engler, explaining the working of the television industry for online content and how producers (the TV studios) offer to license their copyrighted works to TV networks, who then go on to air the shows on cable television and also make them available to be streamed online in different regions. What I gathered from the post was that TV studios generally spend a considerably large sum of money on the production of a particular show and expect to cover the costs by offering different licensing rates to different TV networks in different countries. So, for example, a US-based TV network might have to shell out a million dollars to be able to acquire the cable television as well as the online rights to the show, while a French or Italian network may have to pay a smaller licensing fee, for its relatively smaller viewership population.
Now, for Indians to be able to legally stream these shows online, there must either be an offer by an Indian television network that wishes to purchase the rights to the show, or a network from another country that wishes to allow the show to be streamed in India. The second option is in fact not legally permissible, since the license allows the US network to stream shows in the US only and not every other country, as this would cut away at the ability of the producers to price discriminate and charge different license fees for different regions (who would’ve thought the Internet too has such rigid territorial boundaries!). More importantly however, one must understand that the entire system works on an ad-based revenue model. So it makes little sense for the American network to allow Indian viewers to be able to stream the show online, even if it were permissible, when the ads cater to the average American consumer, and would be lost on the uninterested Indian viewer.
Adding to this is the fact that the TV studio would be reluctant to allow the US network to obtain a license allowing them to just stream the shows online in India at a very small price (even on the logic that the right to stream shows in India has been lying unassigned, and it makes economic sense to license it at a smaller fee, than not license it at all) since online and TV rights are often bundled together and it would be difficult to sell just the TV rights, without the online rights, to an Indian network if there was ever an expression of interest at a later date.
Of course, there are numerous illegal alternatives available to Indians, from where one can stream television shows for free. But I think it’s high-time we cultivated a habit of actively promoting and utilising legal alternatives to content that maybe available for free through illegal channels. Sceptics will shoot down the suggestion, given the rampant p
iracy on the Internet in India, but only when such content is made legally available to Indian viewers, at reasonable rates, and a culture of viewing television shows and other programmes online develops, like in the West, can one really make a fair assessment on its viability in the long run. When Indians become more comfortable fiddling with their keyboards, rather than their television remote controls (and in my opinion, the time will come, eventually) I don’t see what can stop Indian television networks from bidding for online rights as well and making the shows available to Indian viewers on video streaming sites. Who doesn’t benefit from such a system?
Perhaps I am placing excessive importance on a distribution channel that requires higher technical capabilities than our Indian ISP’s currently offer, but with practically half my daily life being spent on the Internet, as I am sure several of our readers’, being optimistic about being able to watch my favourite television shows online and indulging in wishful thinking of this sort, couldn’t hurt anybody.
(Image from here and here by Las Valley and Eli Hodapp under a Creative Commons Attribution license)
Absolutely agree with you and feel the same should be considered for music online. Websites like Spotify using cloud technology should work out licenses with owners of copyright in music this in turn will encourage people to see the internet as not just a source for illegal music but a place where everything can be accessed legally.
I think you meant “of late” in the first sentence.
Actually in India, since the broadband and bandwidth are tight resources, therefore all tv shows online tend to lag a bit, most prefer to watch tv than net.
Moreover, we live in bigger families and contrary to USA where each member likes to have own tv, most common families have a single tv and like to enjoy it together.
TV serials are a craze and nobody want to miss one episode.
But thanks to adjusting attitude of Indians, our tv serial and shows copyright holders are sane and dont jump on lawsuits like RIAA or MPAA if someone views one episode from net. Cause they know if they arrest someone for viewing their tv serial, he, his family, his peers, their family , and neighbours are going to change the channel.
Most commonly Indian users try the net when they miss the show due to powercuts that are VERY frequent, or cable fault or a cricket match on that schedule. But the good people making those shows have good faith in their viewers that they would resort back to tv when they will get the chance.We dont make them regret and view the shows on net only when we cant view on TV. They trust us , and we also trust their sanity.
Rather I think they like that fact that we dont want to miss one episode of their show.
More importantly, some shows from local channels are very popular in NRI’s and those channels are not available even in other states in India,( Oh man, forget states, they may not be available to other cities in same state).
Most fun part is many of these local channel owners would be very happy to know that their show is on the net and somebody overseas is viewing it.They dont get mad and yell “Oh my! those pirates are ripping me off! I could be making more money!” Instead.. “Hey! Great! Now some other people will know about my channels and it will be more popular!”
Hi, I am doing some research on the Indian Broadcasting Laws. Firstly thank you so much for your blog it is really informative. I just had one specific question. Is it legal in India for production houses/aggregators to broadcast their serials over the Internet. For Eg. the whole and current serials of “Chander gupt Maurya”
Best
DJ