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2009-08-28 05:06:30
By Rory Cellan-Jones
Technology correspondent, BBC News
Millions of television viewers are now using file-sharing services to access
free and unauthorised copies of programmes, research has revealed.
US drama Heroes was the most popular illegal download this year, according to
research firm Big Champagne.
About 55 million people downloaded the show, while 51 million chose to access
Lost, the second most popular show.
Visits to leading "torrent" sites, which index video and music files, have also
nearly doubled in the last year.
The proportion of file-sharing involving films and television rather than music
is continuing to rise, the research shows.
"Millions of television viewers now access free, unauthorised versions of
favourite shows at least some of the time," says Eric Garland, chief executive
of Big Champagne.
"This is a socially acceptable form of casual piracy - and it is replacing
viewing hours."
Film show
All of the programmes in the top 10 were American, but the survey also examined
unauthorised downloads of popular BBC show Top Gear.
During the most recent series, the figures show around 300,000 downloads of
each episode in the days immediately following their broadcast in the UK.
But the UK accounted for just 4% of the download activity, with 47% coming from
the United States.
Big Champagne says Top Gear has been among the most pirated television
programmes internationally.
The series appears on BBC America some time after it is shown in the UK, and it
appears that some American fans are eager to download it before it is available
legally.
The research also looks at unauthorised film downloads and shows they are
getting lower audiences than those for TV programmes.
Top of the chart was Watchmen, downloaded nearly 17 million times, followed by
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, with 13 million.
The Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, a relatively low budget film compared
with the two Hollywood blockbusters, was viewed by nearly 9 million
unauthorised downloaders.
The research will be presented on Saturday at the Edinburgh Television Festival
in a session on what television can learn from the music industry's experience
with online piracy.
Mr Garland says there are major differences between the two industries and the
impact on television may not be as severe as some TV executives fear: "We may
see a lot of disruption but it is premature to say 'we're next'."
"The effect on the business is going to be very different."
Big Champagne's research also shows that the rate of piracy for live events,
such as sport or talent shows, is much lower than that for popular drama
series.