digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About

Battlestar Galactica Webisodes and The Tyranny of Digital Distance

blogcritics.org — The decision to restrict the webisodes to the US has annoyed international fans.

Who dugg this? Made popular Sep 13, 2006

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

44 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • Kamic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24For the Lazy:

    Webisode 1:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=3lT_aoidx_o

    Webisode 2:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vkki8r-wvdQ&mode=related&search=

    Webisode 3:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=zwe5VJ6Wx2g&mode=related&search=
  • b2drb, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16Ever heard of something called satellite tv ?
  • allatti2d, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10From the article, it wouldn't appear to be a "waste of bandwidth":

    " By barring large segments of the BSG fan communities from seeing the webisodes is tantamount to a slap in the face to the very loyal fans in other countries who not only watch the series, but buy the DVDs, comics, soundtracks, and other offshoots from the BSG franchise. "
  • drlha, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8You're the bozo. The Sci-Fi channel in the UK is completely different channel to the US one. Not owned by the same company and they don't show the same shows.
  • rbanffy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Erm... To promote brand-awareness? To increase value when they sell broadcast rights to other networks? To promote other product lines (toys, books etc)?

    Several networks carry BSG. I (Brazil, cable TV) watch it on TNT.

    It makes a whole lot of difference when you enter a meeting and can say exactly how many people actively watch their webisodes in their target audience. If you can throw in some good demographic info, the better.
  • Spanktacular, on 10/12/2007, -8/+11Not only is there satellite, these shows are eventually broadcast overseas on television stations in those countries. Actually reading the article would have permitted you to glean that information from the references by the author to Australia.

    Furthermore, these restrictions are new. Previously, one could obtain the commentary podcast for (U.S.) current Battlestar episodes before those episodes made it across the seas.

    There is an overwhelming global fanbase for Battlestar that is growing each year. These false separations in this age of global communication and increasing internet accessibility means that these old models of tiered seasons and distributions are going to do more harm to the goodwill of the fanbases in other countries. NBC and their subsidiary networks would do very well to take a wider, and longer-term, view of this situation.
  • edzieba, on 10/12/2007, -8/+11The Sci-Fi channel also airs on UK cable. So it's not a US-only channel by any means.
  • zadadka, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6b*stards.

    Thank heavens for YouTube :)
  • MobbyG, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4There are a lot of fans world wide! They should be able to see the episodes too. The only draw back, they have to wait longer till the show airs in their country. Unless they BitTorrent it.
  • ShrimpCrackers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2...And us Americans will bittorrent it for you as you did for us. We won't forget!
  • ringojohn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3The irony and lunacy of the network in question is idiotic.

    Battlestar Galactica is filmed in Vancouver, CANADA. Often, filming of TV shows /movies inconveniences people in the form of road closures, disruptions in and around filming locations etc. If studios want to continue to inconvenience people for because it is less expensive to film outside of the US, then they should also consider their attitude towards those enjoying their product outside of the US.
  • malfourmed, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Or torrents:

    http://thepiratebay.org/search.php?q=battlestar+galactica+webisode
  • somnus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3There's also Canada, you know. I live less than 100km from the US, and I can't even LOOK at the Showtime site. I can watch BSG on TV, but not on the web?
  • geekdreams, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4It's a cylon conspiracy to turn humans against eachother.
  • TheBarge, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Scifi, NBC, who cares. The point is, if someone wants to get the webisodes they WILL. Why not just open up the webisodes to everyone and make some profit from the advertising on the site and be done with it.
  • Liniment, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Ted Leo is indeed the man. I have seen him four times now. I can't wait till he comes back to Chicago again.
  • sonic7777, on 11/18/2008, -0/+1I guess you are just an ***** american then? I live near there and like to watch the show. They show the series in many countries and should simply stream them to anyone since they play episodes internationally.
  • TheBarge, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4It's just ridiculous of the Scifi channel to not realize that if people want to view the webisodes they're going to. So why bother putting forth the effort to only allow US viewers to see them?
  • comradechimp, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I guess it's to encourage overseas viewers to wait until the series is shown in their country (with presumably the webisodes available on a local website) rather than bit-torrenting it when it's shown in the US.

    Pretty lame, though.
  • popezaphod, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Arbitrary divides in a global communications network are ridiculous. When DVDs came out they were made to play only in specific "regions". The result was region-free software and region-free hardware and hardware hacks so that people could watch what they want when they want.

    U.S. films premiering months later overseas (and vice versa) is an antiquated concept. It's not like we have to wait for a ship to sail from England in order to get an episode of "Doctor Who" onto U.S. soil.
  • Plotinus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3@drlha - ok. I accept bozoness and will wear my badge with pride ;-) in my defence I was simply upset that I couldn't watch the webisodes but youtube cured that. So by all means castigate me for being a f*ckwit.

    Cheerfully wrongly yours
    P.
  • drlha, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2You reason for stating this is what exactly?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2There are numerous legal and illegal ways BSG could be viewed from various countries. Amazon sells the DVDs from the UK at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Battlestar-Galactica-Season-Jamie-Bamber/dp/B000GLKNRI/sr=8-2/qid=1158165362. NO thats not an affiliate link. Also, between satellites, btorrents, ebay, youtube, etc... I'm sure there are many viewers in China, Europe, and elsewhere that are regular viewers of BSG. That being said... if they know how to find the television series.... they will also find a way to watch the webisodes.
  • Otto, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Yet we didn't get this kind of criticism on the internet when the BBC did the exact same thing for the past two years for *all* of their Dr. Who related content. Okay, so those "tardisodes" were not particularly cleverly blocked or anything, such that simply using Firefox was enough to get in, but still, they did try.

    My advice to international viewers: STFU and just torrent the damn things and be done with it. Worked for me when the reverse situation happened.

  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I'm using the latest greatest Ubuntu and can't watch those webisodes ( in the US ). Anyone know if it is "sorry, you need flash9, drop dead" things?

    The Linux crowd is probably mostly sci-fi junkies. It would help the sci-fi channel if they made the webisodes available to that group.
  • edzieba, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1The same has happened with the Eureka webisodes. Unfortunately, the dodgy site design means I can't get to them with a proxy.
  • Plotinus, on 10/12/2007, -7/+7@drlha Last time you looked scifi was a US channel - look again bozo!! UK sat viewer here.
  • allatti2d, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I gleaned from the article that it's not SciFi who made that decision about the webisodes... it appears that SciFi is owned by NBC Universal, who is the one that made the decision to keep it local to the U.S. (Seems like they should change their name to NBC-US!!) Mr. Moore and SciFi appear to prefer a global release.

    Also, I read that when YouTube clips were discovered, they were removed at the request of the copyright owner (NBC-US!!). I hate quoting the article in a comment, since people should read it before commenting or digging, but I will anyway, just a little:
    =======================
    " Hours after its release, the first webisode appeared on YouTube, but has since been removed, displaying this notice: "This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner NBC Universal because its content was used without permission." Less easy to police, each webisode is also rapidly appearing on filesharing networks and as bittorrent downloads. "
    =======================
  • craiger316, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I got my buddy down in the states to allow me access to his squid proxy, so I look like I'm from the states :) There must be free proxy's you can go through that are based in the states no?
  • Buckets, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3BSG should be nicer to the internet. BitTorrent was the reason the show wasn't cancled first season.
  • tinnabatty, on 04/04/2009, -0/+0I like a loooooooooooooooooooooooooot youTube!

    http://www.iptvworldconference.net/attendees.php
    http://www.reasoner.org/
  • democracysucks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I can watch the episodeson Ubuntu, it's just the sound is out of sync. However, I download and post the episodes online for direct download, so you can watch them with VLC:

    http://erusan.googlepages.com/zwe5VJ6Wx2g.flv - Webisode 3

    If you'd like links to the others, let me know.
  • prcpaul, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Actually the real irony + lunacy is that Space starts airing season 3 ONE DAY (Oct 7th) after the US broadcast. So we're being excluded not because the air date is a matter of months away, but only HOURS.

    It's realy silly - too bad Space didnt work out some deal with NBC/Universal to allow them to host the webepisodes of their site as wel.
  • jsully, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I get dugg down for posting good music from an album that shares the title of this article, and the jackass below me gets dugg UP for "It's a cylon conspiracy to turn humans against eachother."
    What is wrong with this world...
    At least one of you likes him. Liniment, you made my day at least.
  • felkor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Sci-Fi produces the show, it does not just air it, so any increased viewership or DVD sales increases revenue for Sci-Fi.
  • Ademuth, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Yeah, g2p.org Google proxy!!!
  • elmimmo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Google for "Free US Proxy". Try several of them until one works.
  • jsully, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Dugg for the Ted Leo reference! Tyranny of Distance is one of my favorite albums - ever.
    Here's a bit of Ted Leo for the uneducated (hosted on his official site)
    http://www.tedleo.com/audio/MeAndMia.mp3
    and
    http://www.tedleo.com/audio/WhereHaveAllTheRudeBoysGone.mp3
    I really recommend seeing him live - he's just unbelievable.
  • jefferson, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Thats it im never watch BSG again......ya right
  • drlha, on 10/12/2007, -23/+19Last time I looked, Sci-Fi was a US channel, and scifi.com is a website used to promote that channel. Why should they be wasting bandwidth on people who can't even watch their channel and therefore bring in zero revenue?
  • thewebguy, on 10/12/2007, -9/+5or bit torrent? they could cut the costs of bandwidth with bt
  • drlha, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3Different Sci-Fi channel, do the UK Sci-Fi channel show BSG? No, thought not. Its shown on Sky.
  • drlha, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1"Ever heard of something called satellite tv ?"

    What's your point? Can a satellite dish in the UK pick up the US Sci-Fi channel?
    No.

    Do satellite companies in other countries broadcast the US Sci-Fi channel?
    No.

    The fact is that the webisodes are a marketing tool. When Sky TV show BSG in the UK, I'm sure they want to use the webisodes to promote BSG in the UK. If everyone already watched them 5 months previous from a US site, then its a pretty crap marketing tool. OK, people can copy them via YouTube and BT and such, but the same can be said of the TV episodes themselves.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -14/+6Exactly.

    Besides, the international websites will probably have these clips anyway, and they will almost certainly be included on the DVD.

    Also, what's the big deal? The clips are kind of lame anyway. They probably film them during lunch breaks,

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...


© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
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.