Uknova - No More Torrents

[AyG]

The front page of UKNova says they been issued with a "cease and desist" order by FACT (The Federation Against Copyright Theft) and they have now removed all torrent links.

It's just a pity that the UK entertainment industry can't think of a way for people living overseas legally to view British TV programmes at a reasonable cost.

Fingers crossed that TheBox stays open.

[Daffy D]

Just tried to log on and got the same message.

If this goes on we'll have to go back to listening to the BBC World Service on crackly short wave.

[theoldgit]

Likewise it's a dam_n shame, I suspect The Box will be next, as AyG says it's a pity the industry cannot/will not, find a way to tap into the vast expat market.

[sumrit]

That's one more site where expats could download torrents for UK TV that has been forced to close.

Now I understand there are copyright laws to protect program makers but surely they are really designed to prevent foreign broadcasters from stealing these TV programs and make them pay if they want to broadcast them in their own country.

The download quality of these programs is not good enough to rebroadcast anyway so the only people using them are a few thousand (?) expats who want to keep in touch with, and watch UK television. I f there was a 'legal' alternative, such as paying an annual fee similar to the licence fee in the UK, I'm sure the vast majority of us would be more than happy to use it, but there is't.

With just a few thousand expats scattered across the globe using these sites the loss in revenue must be negligible anyway but sites like UK Nova are membership sites so why not simply make them charge members an annual fee, maybe similar to the £145.50 UK licence fee, that's payable to cover copyright that would solve the problem and keep (almost?) everybody happy.

If we don't pay the fee we would loose our membership and the ability to download in the same we do already if we break other site rules.

In paying the fee we are contributing to copyright fees in exactly the same way as people in the UK. In fact some of us would actually pay more because we're members of more than one site.

In forcing these sites to close everybody looses!!!

[BWPattaya]

Yes, I went to UK Nova this morning. Very disappointing. I have to watch on BBC and ITV players now though a slightly more circuitous route. Not as efficient but it does work as long as your ADSL speed is good.

[Greenside]

The UKN model has always been really good for those of us unable to access British TV while remaining respectful of producer's commercial interests by not featuring anything that was available on DVD.

Really, the industry should come up with a system that has something along the lines of a Torrent Distribution License which could be offered for programming not expected to be released to DVD or sold to other platforms. There is so much stuff that just vanishes or only gets sold to UK re-run channels, that you'd think they would be pleased to get extra payment for. English speakers abroad simply never get to see a lot of less populist material without doing (probably technically illegal) workarounds with proxys and even then much of it seems only viewable from the seat at your computer.

We're a small market I know, but the accounting wouldn't be too difficult and the current loss they may feel exposed to must be infinitesimal. We all know that people can't produce programmes for free - provide decent access and hey presto! there's a revenue stream. I suppose FACT is a one mission outfit and not interested or able to look at the wider picture but I'll be emailing them as soon as I can find an anonymous way to do it.

I'd pay the BBC if I could get TV content on equal terms to UK residents. Would we pay for a continuing UKN type service providing material across many channels? I think so.

[theoldgit]

I seem to remember that the BBC announced some time ago that they were going to introduce a paid IPlayer service internationally, that seems to have died a death.

[JeremyBowskill]

I too was horrified this morning when I saw the message and have been a regular user for 6-7 years, I have subscribed to Thai expat tv for a year and its ok as long as you happen to be awake at the time the programme is broadcast in the uk but isnt up to much otherwise. Its pretty cheap and I got it for the British open and olympics mainly but it does need a facility for watching shows at more convenient times

[elshaheen]

So, what torrent sites are still up.

I tired Thepiratebay.se the other day or the past week and got mostly crap from that site.

[Daffy D]

tvchaosuk dot com

thebox dot bz

theempire dot bz

[Lite Beer]

xspeeds dot com

[p_brownstone]

http://eztv.it/

http://kat.ph/

Patrick

[sumrit]

xspeeds dot com

It appears you need an invite code to register for this site.

The layout of the page that can be accessed is very similar to TVChaos so I assume it's run by the same people.

What are the main countries programs on xspeeds?

[SourPunk]

UKN were asking for trouble with a domain hosted and registered in the US. Surprised they lasted this long.

Can't see the Box going the same way frankly.

[dhrobertson]

What a bunch of b***ards these FACT people must be. This site harmed nobody.

I wish them great harm......

[astral]

UKN were asking for trouble with a domain hosted and registered in the US. Surprised they lasted this long.

Can't see the Box going the same way frankly.

TheBox is in Sweden.

TVChaos in Luxemburg

[skybluestu]

Interesting report on BitTorrent file-sharers being monitored.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19474829

[SourPunk]

TheBox is in Sweden.

Right, the servers are in Sweden and the domain is registered in Belize for a good reason. And I believe they're made of far sterner stuff than UKN who were always going to fold at the first hint of legal trouble (I don't know of a single other private tracker that is hosted and whose domain is registered in the US or UK).

[Chicog]

Interesting report on BitTorrent file-sharers being monitored.

http://www.bbc.com/n...nology-19474829

A good reason to use encryption and PeerBlock.