digg

Join DiggAbout

The Digg Crew wants to hear your thoughts!
Please take our short survey about Digg and potential feature ideas.

See the original image at torrentfreak.com —

Europe Gets Prison Break Fix via BitTorrent

torrentfreak.com — Last week the fourth season of Prison Break aired in the US with over 6 million viewers on TV. On BitTorrent the season premiere was downloaded more than 2 million times this week. The majority of the downloads go to Europe though. Poland alone is responsible for 12%, compared to only 4% US downloads.

show profanity settings
expand all
  • umbrellainabin, on 09/09/2008, -19/+16hehe
  • Canadianinjapan, on 09/09/2008, -0/+97Well this is what happens when the rest of the world has to wait for content. The world is a much smaller place these days. If you can't give me the content when everyone else gets it then it is time to find it elsewhere.
    • orlyfactor, on 09/11/2008, -1/+29Agreed. Why do they delay it anyway?? Seems ridiculous to me.
      • TheLastFreeMan, on 09/11/2008, -0/+24The idea that non U.S. countries exist is still lost among most Americans.
      • mohsenxp, on 09/11/2008, -1/+2To be fair the last season of Lost aired simultaneously in the US and the UK (not sure about the rest of the world).
      • theodenking, on 09/11/2008, -1/+3Lost is definitely an exception though, most of the time we can expect a wait of several months at the minimum.
      • dandonia, on 09/12/2008, -0/+1Are you sure? I seem to remember talking about it with my American friends before my English friends.
    • CountSessine, on 09/11/2008, -1/+12Dugg up for truth.
      • tedhead2k, on 09/11/2008, -3/+5Yes, when someone's comment gets dugg, people typically dugg it because they agreed and thought it was true.
      • Borgcube, on 09/11/2008, -6/+2@tedhead2k
        Thank you, Captain Obvious
    • Stormwern, on 09/11/2008, -0/+14Not to mention all the shows that never get here at all.
    • KaiUno, on 09/11/2008, -1/+5Subtitles for one. And in some countries even entire re-dubs. Germans and the French are particularly bad with this, everything has to be dubbed in their language.
      • dandonia, on 09/12/2008, -0/+1What about the English territorys like (UK/Austrailia/etc)
    • blindyboy, on 09/11/2008, -3/+1Because they really have to wait for it for that long...considering it's on fox's website the next day anyways. The only reason for getting the torrent would be for HD, other than that you can stream it legally anyways. Same goes with almost every other major show nowadays. And yet some people still think they're screwing someone over by getting it through bittorrent.
      • KaiUno, on 09/11/2008, -0/+3Except that videostreaming doesn't leave the USA. They don't allow connections from all over the world, you know.
    • damack, on 09/12/2008, -0/+2I get my fix for Heroes, Prison Break, Big Bang Theory and a few other shows this way.

      Not only do they appear with a delay in Britain sometimes they don't appear at all and sometimes their not in HD etc.
  • jos22, on 09/09/2008, -2/+10Ireland airs it 24 hours and the US show but not in HD
    if fox allowed no US visitors to watch online they prob see a reduction in torrents. but then again only scene releases can be got with foreign subs
  • MikeFromAmerica, on 09/09/2008, -33/+58Wow, if Prison Break gets 2 million downloads, imagine how many people download shows that *don't* suck.
    • jos22, on 09/09/2008, -4/+25wait till u see how many heroes gets
      • MCGEEST, on 09/09/2008, -15/+5God I liked prison break when the first few eps back then though It's very forgetable and soon lost interest. But after all the hype coming from across the atlantic I was suprised to learn how much the series Heroes completely and utterly SUCKED! The whole concept was so stupid that I never really expected much good from it anyway.
      • Teej, on 09/11/2008, -2/+3Well if you don't like the concept, how are you going to like the show?
      • chewbie, on 09/11/2008, -0/+1well we watch it in batches. So basically we wait for about 3 eps and then watch them one after the other. We don't really sit up waiting for it to spring up on torrent. Case in point, the premier was worth waiting for
      • Darkaged, on 09/11/2008, -1/+11He said "*dont* suck"

        /burn
    • leviathan2k, on 09/11/2008, -2/+4Actually there a a bunch of shows that are being downloaded a lot... Prison Break, Heroes, Lost was very popular, and not to forget Top Gear, which is only available in Britain but is being streamed and torrented all around the globe :)
    • mozert, on 09/11/2008, -8/+7the dumbest comment I have read in a while
    • saldivar182, on 09/12/2008, -0/+2if ppl just gave it a chance its really good. its better than lost (dont get me wrong i love lost) prison break gives you answers .between Lost, Heroes and prison break, PB is the better show because first off its FUN watching it over and over again. the seasons are great, not like Heroes where its fun to watch a couple of times( dont get me wrong again. i love heroes) but reviewing the seasons seems kinda boring. i think theres more True Emotion between the characters of prison break rather than Heroes or lost.. the plot is cool but the depth of the characters are well done.. im just saying. hope you can watch it. my friends got me to watching this show. didnt want to but now that i have its awesome.
      • dandonia, on 09/12/2008, -0/+124 kicks the pants off of all three.
  • Stavrosian, on 09/11/2008, -1/+32All entertainment is on demand now whether the distributors want it to be or not, because that's what consumers want and expect.

    Catch up, guys. We're going ahead with or without you - you may as well hop on board.
    • minorthreat, on 09/11/2008, -1/+1I don't want them to hop on board.. Change = price increase;
    • dandonia, on 09/12/2008, -0/+2Americans have it good. They get to watch most of the good shows on cable for free. We have to pay huge monthly bills to get half what americans get and then they get it online for free too. With services like Hulu and networks actually uploading shows for you to watch.

      Us Brits pay upto £65 per month for Sky and for what? Watered down versions of shows. The amount of shows that get edited when shown in the UK is ridiculas. My favorite shows are 24, WWE Raw and Smackdown, UFC, Prison Break, Bones, Lost, Hero's, Football and a few documentarys. That means I have to pay my TV License, Sky and Setanta Sports - and thats all for SD versions of the shows. To get the HD version of some of the shows we have to shell out for a Sky HD box and pay extra on subscription, even then we only get certain channels in HD.

      All the while people in America get the shows for free and can stream/download them off the internet in High Def for free.

      And to top all that off, because everything worth watching is made in America we get it later than you guys because of the time zones. Wrestling 2am-4am, Prison Break the next day, etc. It sucks.



  • yellowsnowcone, on 09/11/2008, -0/+10so do people in Asia ;-)

    basically, they need to close the distribution windows and give their overseas license holders same-day access
    • WiseWeasel, on 09/11/2008, -1/+1And advanced copies of the scripts so they can get the subs ready ahead of time...
  • seiha, on 09/11/2008, -5/+30This show fell off hard in the last season. They ruined a decent series. Should have bowed out but nope- they milked it for what it's worth and wrote the most ridiculous season ever. Panama FTL.
    • PhilliesBlunt, on 09/11/2008, -0/+5Panamanian jail run by Bunny Colvin ftl.
    • DeucesWild, on 09/11/2008, -1/+4Yeah I stopped watching halfway through season 3. Didn't even know there was a season 4 starting. They really killed it.
    • bacon_skoda, on 09/11/2008, -2/+5if you though Panama was ridiculous, you should see this season. It's written by 4th graders. nothing makes sense.
      • yaddayaddayoda, on 09/11/2008, -0/+4Yeah, but at least they brought back Sarah Tancredi.
      • DennisPwnsj00, on 09/11/2008, -0/+3sort of why it sucks now.

        not that she's not attractive. but it was really retarded/half-assed how they went about it. pretty typical of what I've seen so far from this season.
  • colincattral, on 09/11/2008, -0/+29Coincidentally that's also how I get my Top Gear fix.
    • waydee, on 09/11/2008, -0/+8You owe each British TV-license payer approximately £0.000004359375.
      • Dalhectar, on 09/11/2008, -0/+14I'll take the shows, but I declare INDEPENDENCE from your British TV license fees.

        -America
      • digitalpencil, on 09/11/2008, -0/+4^ damn yanks.. we want our £0.000004359375!!!
    • leviathan2k, on 09/11/2008, -0/+0You're definitely not the only one :)
    • KaJuN4, on 09/11/2008, -0/+1It seems a fair trade to me.
  • conkeso, on 09/11/2008, -2/+3I still have the 3rd season of this show on hold after watching the awful 2nd one.
  • Jdban, on 09/11/2008, -0/+8Same thing happens with Doctor Who over here. I download it from Britain because I don't want to have to wait to watch the same episode like a month later over here...
  • Hoogs, on 09/11/2008, -3/+31I'm sorry, but this series should've ended at the end of season two, with Michael and Sara just telling the truth instead of running and acting like criminals. They would've been perfectly fine. THAT is where the series fell apart.
    • chewbie, on 09/11/2008, -1/+5as if breaking out of one jail and landing into the next one wasn't bad enough
      • Hoogs, on 09/11/2008, -0/+5I think they just wanted to keep the show true to its name.
  • scabbers, on 09/11/2008, -2/+6Because of the internet, you have to download tv shows because idiots will spoil it for you if you wait more than one day let alone the weeks, months or even years it can take to watch it "legit".

  • dupek11, on 09/11/2008, -0/+4Polsat a Polish TV station just started airing the 3 season of Prison Break in Poland.
    • Dalhectar, on 09/11/2008, -0/+4Do yourself a favor and stop watching. It's all downhill from here.
      • dupek11, on 09/12/2008, -0/+1I never started watching it in the first place. I have been inside a real prison as a visitor (I studied law) and unless you like hairy men, sleeping a lot and bad food there is nothing interesting in a prison.
  • smurfen, on 09/11/2008, -0/+11here I would have to wait 8-10 months after the US air date to see new House episodes, and ***** dubbed version too.
  • foffs, on 09/11/2008, -8/+1whoa dude i'm polish
  • evilregis, on 09/11/2008, -3/+8This show could not have been any more asstastic after season 2. That really should've been the end of it. It's redefining jumping the shark.
  • Emachine, on 09/11/2008, -1/+7How else would the world watch Top Gear?
  • kidcodea, on 09/11/2008, -5/+27internet: i see what i want, how i want, when i want, in the resolution and format (hd1080p or 720p) i want.

    tv: i may see one series i like on their lineup and rest doesn't interest me, cut up with commercials and sliced without respect for content or viewer, forced to obey a schedule they not always respect but i have to, in crap sd resolution and 4:3 format.

    not much else to say...
    • hexydes, on 09/11/2008, -0/+14How could you possibly bury this down? It's the absolute truth. If you do what you're *supposed* to do, you have a watered down experience. You actually have a *better* experience if you go about it the illegitimate way.

      In what world does that even make sense?
      • WiseWeasel, on 09/11/2008, -0/+2The world of obsolete (but profitable) distribution schemes...
  • chewbie, on 09/11/2008, -1/+5I travel between Hungary and Romania. My ex-girlfriend and I both get our fixes from BitTorrent. Thank you TPB!
  • web2pointYo, on 09/11/2008, -1/+1Refresh my memory, does that one guy have a hand, not have a hand again?
    Whats his hand status this week?
    • LuckyEMS, on 09/11/2008, -0/+6he lost his hand ages ago but he has a plastic one for appearances
    • Mawds, on 09/11/2008, -0/+1T-Bag for the ***** win. That's all I have to say.
    • dagnabbit, on 09/11/2008, -0/+1He had the money then he lost the money then he ate his Mexican friend in the desert, now he's trying to track down Michael because, well, why not.
  • Spetz, on 09/11/2008, -0/+9I've been saying this for years. The majority of TV pirates do so because the shows are not available in their country or are available but follow a stupid schedule and/or huge delays. If TV studios offered international downloads for money the piracy rate would fall. I would gladly buy TV shows on iTunes - only they don't offer this facility in the UK.
    • reed311, on 09/11/2008, -2/+1Why would a pirate pay for something when they could get it for free? There's always an excuse to justify piracy. Let's say they did roll out an international download service, the pirates would complain about the price or the format or the download speed or something else. It's a never ending cycle to justify piracy.
      • hexydes, on 09/11/2008, -0/+6Either way, they're making either a limited amount of money off of downloads, or no money off of downloads. It's not like having legitimate downloads would open the floodgates to pirated content...that content is already there, and in great quality. Either choose to make some amount of money off of it, or nothing.
      • WiseWeasel, on 09/11/2008, -0/+4Convenience and availability. Your time has value too. Obviously, as long as copyright holders choose to distribute their content with DRM, versus standard formats traded on P2P, there will be a significant usability advantage to the pirated content which will make the legitimate options less competitive, but it's still necessary for them to build their internet distribution infrastructure and customer base, as content consumption is clearly moving in this direction. The choice for them is adapt or continue to lose viewership and income.

        The fact that the world is completely connected, and that this content will be made available on P2P as soon as it airs in any case, means that a staggered distribution system no longer works. In the end, if these TV content creators still want to be able to sell their product (viewers' eyeballs to their advertisers), they are going to have to lure those eyeballs in the first place, and with our entertainment media options ever-expanding, they can little afford to be the last ones to adapt.
  • Blitzwing84, on 09/11/2008, -0/+4I hope that Europe agrees that them bringing Sarah back to life is ridiculous. This show has jumped the shark many times before, but I think that was the last straw. They are one step away from making Michael wake up and realize the past 3 seasons were all a dream.
    • hexydes, on 09/11/2008, -0/+3Shark? This show jumped the whale. It doesn't even make sense anymore.
    • Stavrosian, on 09/11/2008, -0/+3Wait, what? I stopped watching part-way through season two...they actually brought her back to life?

      I guess I stopped watching at the right time.
    • Seth024, on 09/11/2008, -0/+1You can bring the hot female characters back to life, especially if they are the only hot female (that gets some screen time)
  • InJectaH, on 09/11/2008, -0/+1Yea, I was in Greece two years ago, and they where still on the first season of Lost. American entertainment is kinda behind in that part of the world.
  • N0stradamus, on 09/11/2008, -0/+1Just get all tv-shows distributed world wide the same day or atleast within a week of the US premier. This would make me and a lot of my friends watch "regular" tv channels again, bumping up the ratings along with it. I am not watching a show on a preset day/time which is already more then a year old. Often you get references to real live world scenarios in them and they don't make sence anymore. Open up IPTV worldwide!
  • BrokenVisage, on 09/11/2008, -6/+1How is this show still on TV? Bring back War at Home!
    • JParsons4, on 09/11/2008, -1/+2PB is still on the air 'cuz T-Bag still makes the show worth watching
    • Valujet, on 09/11/2008, -0/+5I really hope my sarcasm meter is broken.
  • medfreak, on 09/11/2008, -1/+3Woah, I didn't even know that Prison Break was back.

    *Downloads it from tv.torrents.ro*
  • ElectricKetchup, on 09/11/2008, -1/+4Didn't they escape out of prison like at the end of the first season? Why hasn't this show ended?
    • JParsons4, on 09/11/2008, -1/+4Season 1: They escape the prison
      Season 2: The authorities chase them - some cons die, some end up in Panama
      Season 3: They're in a Panama prison, trying to break out another dude
      Season 4: Stay tuned.

      The show was awesome, but each season it's gotten a little worse. T-Bag still makes it worth watching.
  • Greg2k, on 09/11/2008, -0/+3You didn't forget Poland
  • mozert, on 09/11/2008, -4/+5all pb haters out there.. go to jail dumbasses
  • jcrowbar, on 09/11/2008, -0/+3In Ireland, the new episodes are broadcast the day after they are shown in America. The article makes a very valid point, I didn't bother to get it off bittorrent.
  • hexydes, on 09/11/2008, -2/+9How could you possibly expect any different? These shows are available, in 1080p HD, online, 3-12 hours after the show airs "live". In countries where the show won't air for 6-12 months, what are they supposed to do? Just sit there and see that it is available, in awesome quality, and just say to themselves "NO! I will not download this illegitimate content! I will just have to wait!" Come on. They end these seasons on a cliffhanger, and everyone is anxious to watch what happens. If you knew you could see what happened next week, instead of waiting 5-6 months over summer, you know you would. And yet, you expect people from other countries to wait even longer?! How does that even make sense?

    This is why television needs to die. There's no reason for it anymore. Every channel should just have their own website that you can pay $X per month to access either on a per-show basis, or for the entire network. If you pay, you can watch the HD version of the show "live", otherwise you can watch the SD version of the show from their website the day after, or just download the pirated version (which these companies will NEVER be able to stop, so they might as well work within those realities).
  • Pazz, on 09/11/2008, -1/+3Hulu could cut down on bit-torrents by at least 1/5'th I'm guessing if they allowed foreign traffic to the site. they could perhaps make 0.05$ on every pirated show instead of 0.00$
    ***** hulu
  • HerRedRing, on 09/11/2008, -0/+2The sad part is, I would actually pay for downloading an episode of a series that I REALLY like in hopes that the show won't get cancelled. As it is, most of such sites are for Americans only or... they don't even exist.
  • Vital8, on 09/11/2008, -1/+6no wonder - stupid hulu doesnt work over here
  • MASTERPL, on 09/11/2008, -5/+3YEAHHH ! Go Poland. Soon the image of drunken thieves will be forgotten. Let us be known for Piracy!
  • Aliwalla, on 09/11/2008, -0/+1Someone at my university used to get each new episode of lost 5 or 6 hours (morning) after it aired in the states by the evening everyone had it. I went to University in South Africa.
  • sponeil, on 09/11/2008, -0/+1So would it be piracy if someone uploaded it with the commercials. I mean, those advertisers paid for the show, right?
    • TritonX, on 09/11/2008, -0/+1Its more complicated than that. Producer make the shows, they license it to the channels and the channels gets money from advertisement based on region specific ratings.
  • Owwmykneecap, on 09/11/2008, -0/+1Example: I've been watching house every night at 12 am on Hallmark.
    I cant catch it at 8pm. Then for no reason they stop showing it at 12 while continuing to show it at 8.

    Well, i'm gonna have to get my fix from somewhere....
  • dzhuang, on 09/11/2008, -0/+5BitTorrent is absolutely incredible. It is the most efficient--the best of all file downloading methods available.
  • karacoatta, on 09/11/2008, -2/+1The site this article is on downloaded rogue antispyware on my machine!!! Antivirus XP 2009!!!!!

  • TritonX, on 09/11/2008, -2/+1Does anyone really have cable anymore ?
    • rexprime, on 09/11/2008, -1/+2if Comcast, At&t and Dishnetwork have their way we will. damn 250gb caps
  • sfacets, on 09/11/2008, -0/+1Well yes, why would we (as in the world) want to wait for local releases which can happen a month later?

    Easy solution - release it globally AT THE SAME TIME. Revolutionary.
  • qbelek2, on 09/11/2008, -0/+1there is another side to this. in Poland all the non-polish shows air with polish speaking reader. Every time actor speaks in 1/3 of his sentence there is some polish guy starts speaking to translate - its so annoying - especially when they translate it with a mistake.
  • rexprime, on 09/11/2008, -1/+2tbag is one of the best villains on broadcast tv
  • phreakhead, on 09/12/2008, -0/+0This just shows that the big networks are waaaay behind the times. They really need to suck it up and change their business models.

    I think it would be really smart of Fox/ABC/etc. to just upload their own torrents of their shows, with commercials. People would download them because they'd be seeded by super-fast network servers, and they'd be released sooner than pirated torrents because they don't have to rip/edit/encode/post like the pirates.

    I would gladly download a torrent with commercials if it meant getting it 4 hours faster and I could watch it on my HD projector...
  • Barryke, on 09/12/2008, -0/+1As with most good shows. Especially Stargate.
  • watchserials, on 10/07/2008, -1/+1 Wow!!!
    Prison Break Season 4 Episodes 5 & 6 online in best quality for free here!!
    http://video-trailers.net/show.php?id=Prison_Break ...
    and
    http://video-trailers.net/show.php?id=Prison_Break ...
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.