WHAT'S YOUR OPINION? Are we satisfied with the TV series imports we're getting?

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captainbroadband

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I've been reading varying opinions about how people feel about South Africa's broadcast of international series and events, especially with regards to debuts and premiers. In my opinion, it's a very mixed bag. Sometimes we're better off than more first-world countries. Sometimes we're just falling behind. We've seen series' premiere in the same week as the US airdate (FOX's "Falling Skies", FX's "The Walking Dead"), sometimes we're seriously far behind (SABC3's Survivor and Rules of Engagement, etv's How I Met Your Mother) and sometimes where we might think the broadcast is way delayed, we're more ahead than most (Days of Our Lives, 3 years behind in SA, up to 5 years behind in most of Europe; Bold and Beautiful, 10 months behind in SA, up to 4 years behind in Europe and Asia). Currently the television series in South Africa closest to it's US airdate are The Wendy Williams Show (same day), WWE programming (3 weeks) and several others.

So, without mentioning downloading/streaming series online, what is your opinion on where South Africa stands with television imports. Are you satisfied? Could it be better?
 
The problem with television is that it tries to (and has to) cater for the widest demographic possible. This then lures in more advertising which generates more revenue etc.

I'd rather consume my content on-demand and ad-free via the internet. I know you said you didn't want to hear it. But it's the truth.
 
Lol does no one get the point of the topic? Don't mention the internet. If I asked you what's your opinion of World War One, are you going to steer off and give me your opinion of beachsand?
 
captainbroadband said:
That's how I feel too. We moan a lot about television in SA but there's also a ton to be thankful for.
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If I look at the discussion thread on Series, I would like to see some of them coming through a little sooner :o
 
captainbroadband said:
Lol does no one get the point of the topic? Don't mention the internet. If I asked you what's your opinion of World War One, are you going to steer off and give me your opinion of beachsand?
Click to expand...

I don't the point. We get the best quality series. The difference is you have the choice of watching it on dstv or downloading it. Majority of the stuff we download is available on dstv but the catch is ads.

Are there series we missing out on? if so perhaps list them for us.
 
I dont get what the fuss is with ads, ever since the pvr came out i've been happily zipping through ads and sometimes watching the ones that are relevant to my interests.
 
It has definately been getting better than it was before but to be honest, the delay in modern series is pretty stupid, especially with technologies like twitter, facebook and I'm because someone, somewhere, has watched something, mentions it and spoils it for others. A global, sameday, digital distribution is the way to go. Whether it's actually ever provided by pay broadcasting companies or downloads, is up to the cost/conveniance factor.

Would love to have access to Hulu, Netflix, tivo etc but hey, they don't actually want MY money. Go figure.
 
Kosmik said:
It has definately been getting better than it was before but to be honest, the delay in modern series is pretty stupid, especially with technologies like twitter, facebook and I'm because someone, somewhere, has watched something, mentions it and spoils it for others. A global, sameday, digital distribution is the way to go. Whether it's actually ever provided by pay broadcasting companies or downloads, is up to the cost/conveniance factor.

Would love to have access to Hulu, Netflix, tivo etc but hey, they don't actually want MY money. Go figure.
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Why do you need those? you can download the series within hours of it being released.
 
An interesting show needs to be watched over a perod of days and not weeks.
Once the season ends in the US downloading it in its entirety beats having to wait for to air locally once a week, if and when it does air.
PVR assists in ensuring you don't miss episodes but the stagnation kills the rhythm.
Not to menton the ad breaks.
 
We have not watched local TV since getting uncapped adsl and a HP Microserver with Openelec. Many thanks to Keeper for his Ultimate TV post.
 
killadoob said:
Why do you need those? you can download the series within hours of it being released.
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I would like to actually support the cast/show financialy, merely downloading does not but cheap access to digital content, on demand is worth paying for and does.

And by cheap I mean the rates of those type of providers ie: $5 or $9 a month.

I can't stomach the thought of R600+ mostly for shows I have no interest in. I do have TOPTV but mainly for discovery, kids and my wife loves TLC etc.
 
I wouldn't know... I haven't watched any South African TV in three years.

But I am highly satisfied with the quality of my imports! ;)
 
Personally I think that the rate of new shows is too slow. The SA TV channels are obviously not to blame, its the US who only distributes the shows based on the ratings in the US. They must be changing their attitude though, they are slowly realising that the driving force behind piracy is the fact that the show is available in the US ages before the rest of the world, people are blogging, Facebooking and tweeting about the shows and the rest of the world is waiting.

However this is just one aspect. Its gone beyond just watching that is available in the US, the Brits also have good TV shows... and so does Australia. I want my pick of what I like... not what some SA network thinks I should watch. I like to watch it at my own pace, when ever I feel like watching, I don't need your promo's or spoilers or what ever you call them.

I want to choose.
 
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