What's Your Country?

[Estelindis]

Do people in the Republic point their aerials towards the UK to get our television?

Um, no. We all get RTÉ 1 & 2, TV3, and TG4 for free, paid for by our TV licenses - but almost no one makes do with just those channels. (They're okay, but not super.) BBC1 & 2, UTV, and Channel 4 are part of the standard package for everyone who gets cable.

To be honest, I find your suggestion somewhat offensive. We're not a nation of thieves. On the other hand, I must compliment the UK on their excellent TV. I think it's the finest in the world, and am quite happy to pay for it.

[iheartseverus]

It just seems SO unfair that certain countries just can't get certain programming--I'm at a loss to understand why! I mean, I'm sure bureaucrats and marketers can come up with all sorts of techno-blah-blah, but the bottom line should be 'just cut through the crap, people--get it done!' Open up the world to the rest of the world, let all the world see all the world. Get it done!!

:whip:

[Dire Wolf Summer]

Somalia.

How do I use pirates to watch the show again?

I know a couple.

[dalThor]

Another Greek here. As already stated, the show isn't going to be aired here, at least not in the foreseeable future. I will be forced to find other ways to see it even though I've never done so before.

What she said (though technically I'm not Greek). I've never watched anything through dubious means and disagree with it in principle. I would be willing pay an exorbitant fee to get this rapidly on DVD but I don't see it happening ever. If I want to see this, and I will, it will have to be by some other means.

[iheartseverus]

What she said (though technically I'm not Greek). I've never watched anything through dubious means and disagree with it in principle. I would be willing pay an exorbitant fee to get this rapidly on DVD but I don't see it happening ever. If I want to see this, and I will, it will have to be by some other means.

Can't you guys order DVDs from the U.S. or is it different technology?

And, do your various countries offer Netflix or Blockbuster or Amazon or some other 'rent a movie' outlets?

[Quiet Wolf]

The DVds will only be released after the end the first season, right?...that´s a lot of time to wait and avoid this forum.

[Black Wizard]

Um, no. We all get RTÉ 1 & 2, TV3, and TG4 for free, paid for by our TV licenses - but almost no one makes do with just those channels. (They're okay, but not super.) BBC1 & 2, UTV, and Channel 4 are part of the standard package for everyone who gets cable.

To be honest, I find your suggestion somewhat offensive. We're not a nation of thieves. On the other hand, I must compliment the UK on their excellent TV. I think it's the finest in the world, and am quite happy to pay for it.

Sorry I didn't mean to imply that. Someone suggested that to me a few years ago and I wasn't sure if they were joking or not.

Your national football team are theives though. :P

[Estelindis]

Sorry I didn't mean to imply that. Someone suggested that to me a few years ago and I wasn't sure if they were joking or not.

Your national football team are theives though. :P

Don't worry about it; I clearly picked you up wrong. :)

As for the footballers, considering how unsuccessful our team is on the world stage I'd think you'd be glad of their thefts! :D We must be stealing the bad players or something... (I'm assuming there are some British players in our national team? Sorry, but I haven't got much interest in soccer - I prefer Gaelic sports!)

[dalThor]

Can't you guys order DVDs from the U.S. or is it different technology?

And, do your various countries offer Netflix or Blockbuster or Amazon or some other 'rent a movie' outlets?

DVDs have different 'zones' if I'm getting the term correct. US DVDs don't work here.

Anything on-line like Netflix "isn't available in our area".

[lady narcissa]

Can't you guys order DVDs from the U.S. or is it different technology?

DVDs are made for different regions. So the ones that play on US DVD players won't play on European DVD players, etc. Computers can be configured so you can play different regions DVDs but I noticed on my brand new laptop that I'm only allowed to change the region 5 times. (Someone might be able to find their way around that I am sure.) But the gist of it is that most people outside of North America won't be buying their DVDs from the US unless they have the equipment to play it. Which means waiting until the DVD is released for their region. Which still is a long time after it has aired on tv here.

[Black Wizard]

Don't worry about it; I clearly picked you up wrong. :)

As for the footballers, considering how unsuccessful our team is on the world stage I'd think you'd be glad of their thefts! :D We must be stealing the bad players or something... (I'm assuming there are some British players in our national team? Sorry, but I haven't got much interest in soccer - I prefer Gaelic sports!)

Yeah Aiden McGeady and James McArthur/McArthy. :mad: Celtic fans since boyhood and one Irish grandparent so they consider themselves Irish.

[Revan]

In Romania we have HBO Romania, which carries all the latest productions as soon as they come out - or at least that's what they're supposed to do. However, my family doesn't own a subscription for it, and we don't intend to pay for one very soon - because we don't have an excess of income and we can do very well without it. :) So, unless another channel here picks the series for syndication - and that, I suppose, will happen many years from now - I don't think I will be able to see it. Unless of course, I resort to an activity which shall remain unnamed for now. :)

[iheartseverus]

In Romania we have HBO Romania, which carries all the latest productions as soon as they come out - or at least that's what they're supposed to do. However, my family doesn't own a subscription for it, and we don't intend to pay for one very soon - because we don't have an excess of income and we can do very well without it. :) So, unless another channel here picks the series for syndication - and that, I suppose, will happen many years from now - I don't think I will be able to see it. Unless of course, I resort to an activity which shall remain unnamed for now. :)

I say mooch off a friend. You bring the popcorn and beer, they supply the HBO feed! :cheers:

[Werthead]

Do people in the Republic point their aerials towards the UK to get our television?

Back in the days of high-powered transmitters, most of the Republic could pick up the TV signals passively from transmitters in Northern Ireland and Wales without a problem, so I think they did a deal with the BBC so they could retransmit the service across the whole country. The number of Irish EastEnders fans I encountered when I lived in the far west of Ireland was quite surprising :)

Same is true of the Netherlands, Belgium and France, large chunks of which along the coast picked up the TV overspill from Britain, and again as they got used to having those TV services the national governments made deals with the BBC to continue showing the channels even as the transmitters got toned down and after they're all switched off across the next couple of years (actually, maybe not in France, I'm not sure).

I was under the impression that various series air in the UK up to a year after airing in the US, or is that not always the case? Sometime back I was discussing 'Rome' with a UK member on another board and I inadvertently gave away a major bit of news about season 2, which was over and done with here in the US. Didn't realize it was just starting in the UK. :uhoh: And, isn't Tudors 3 just starting now in the UK? Its over and done with here in the US.

It is important to remember that the BBC are cofunding Game of Thrones, which automatically gives them transmission rights in the UK. The question mark is how quickly they will show the series. Recently the BBC were going the right way by showing Heroes within one week of US broadcast, but they've just announced that they might wait until January to show Season 4, five months after it debuts in the USA, which is a retrograde step. They've also only just started showing The Tudors when S3 was completed months ago in the USA and they've actually started filming S4 (I believe).

So it's up in the air. The BBC may show it straight away or they may wait months, as they did with Rome despite the fact they were also cofunding it.

DVDs are made for different regions. So the ones that play on US DVD players won't play on European DVD players, etc. Computers can be configured so you can play different regions DVDs but I noticed on my brand new laptop that I'm only allowed to change the region 5 times. (Someone might be able to find their way around that I am sure.) But the gist of it is that most people outside of North America won't be buying their DVDs from the US unless they have the equipment to play it. Which means waiting until the DVD is released for their region. Which still is a long time after it has aired on tv here.

Region-free DVD players are extremely cheap and easy to find in most countries, however, and at the worst you can always reinstall Windows to reset the region settings (there's also probably less drastic ways of doing it, like just reinstalling the DVD software).

It is likely that the series will also be released on Blu-Ray simultaneously with DVD, and Blu-Ray, although also region-locked, seems to be moving faster to get region-free BR players out than DVD did.

Do HBO shows come out on iTunes? If so, European viewers can watch the series by using iTunes combined with an American-based proxy server (which is legal, for now anyway). You may need an American bank or credit card account (or American friends and some juidicious use of PayPal) to pay for it though. I'm not up on how the payment side of it works.

[brook]

I'm in Australia, the chances are good that the series will be shown on free-to-air here eventually although very likely up to a year behind the US.

There is always a chance one of the pay tv channels will pick up on it earlier though.

That is what happened with Dexter which at one stage was showing season 3 on foxtel (pay tv) at the same time as season 1 was screening on 10 (free to air) so I've got my fingers crossed that the Sci-Fi channel picks it up.

[Evrach]

Region-free DVD players are extremely cheap and easy to find in most countries, however, and at the worst you can always reinstall Windows to reset the region settings (there's also probably less drastic ways of doing it, like just reinstalling the DVD software).

But people whose english is not mother tongue would prefer to wait the DVDs with their language subtitles :rolleyes:

[Estelindis]

Yeah Aiden McGeady and James McArthur/McArthy. :mad: Celtic fans since boyhood and one Irish grandparent so they consider themselves Irish.

Hey, that's nothing. :D In the US, some people consider themselves Irish if they have an Irish ancestor from six generations ago (or more!). ;) We Irish do like to get around, don't we?

Anyway, to gently steer my post back on-topic: I'm going to France for a year, so in fact I will probably be there when the series is actually aired. Hopefully there'll be a way for me to catch it on TV without asking my parents to record it and then using a trip home for a marathon series watch instead of, you know, visiting my beloved progenitors. :)

[Evrach]

Anyway, to gently steer my post back on-topic: I'm going to France for a year, so in fact I will probably be there when the series is actually aired. Hopefully there'll be a way for me to catch it on TV without asking my parents to record it and then using a trip home for a marathon series watch instead of, you know, visiting my beloved progenitors. smiley2.gif

:rofl:

Think you can forget about this ^^

[Matarreyes]

...I wonder how long it will be until a mod closes this thread ;) "Alternative means" and all.

Some corporative high-salary HBO mastermind should just figure out a way to let people watch things online after paying a fee. I mean, Anazon is selling books, iTunes is selling music, why can´t HBO sell their shows? It can´t be that difficult, and it sure as hell would be profitable. I am seriously considering cancelling my cable suscription seeing as I only seem to be watching things on Internet now. There are things I can´t wait 1 week for, let alone a year. Who in his right mind would wait a year to watch GOT? Is it my fault I happen to be spanish?

I will watch GOT online and I will be adding it to my collection of DVDs as soon as it comes out. Keep them between my "normal edition" LOTR pack and my "extensive edition" LOTR pack. If corporative high-salary masterminds can´t come up with a way to bring the show ASAP to Europe, they should at least wait until the worldwide DVD sellings come up to judge their profit.

On another note, and speaking about HBO selecting GOT over its other shows. GOT will be appealing to ALL THE WORLD. A gangster show or a New Orleans show probably will never air here in Spain. Of all the past shows you guys talking about, we got Sopranos on cable without much sucess. We may get True Blood eventually, but may not. This Wire thing everybody keeps admiring so much a total stranger. Compare to Rome, that was on national spanish TV and rather well talked about (read: people bought DVDs). They must realise this, right?

[Matarreyes]

But people whose english is not mother tongue would prefer to wait the DVDs with their language subtitles :rolleyes:

Last spring, spanish subtitles for Lost were consistently up 24 hours after an episode would air in the US. And better translated than the official dubbing that came up 4 month later. Do not underestimate the power of sheer passion, my friend.