V8 Supercars : Bathurst

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Hammered
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#873654 8-Aug-2013 08:15

Lias: IANAL but from everything I can read, watching an foreign internet stream is not illegal in NZ. It's possible (probably even) that the person creating the stream is breaking the laws in their country, but that's pretty much irrelevant. The person in NZ watching the stream is not breaking any laws. If watching a stream that the copyright owner didn't want you to watch was in itself an illegal act, then all the members on GZ who use netflix, hulu, etc would equally be criminals.

You're comparing paid services to a service providing licensed material for free. People watching Netflix and Hulu might be bypassing geo "restrictions", but the service itself still requires a paid subscription. Not quite the same thing. The License owner isn't out of pocket.

Don't get me wrong here. If that option works for you, then that's cool. Not everyone is happy to use that type of "service" though and I do know people who will not use it and unless they can find someone with Sky then Bathurst and what is an annual social event is now basically ruined for them.

Personally I think it sucks that we're being forced to decide between dubious offerings or paid services for what should effectively and legally be available at no cost. This is my feeling for all major sporting events.

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Jas777

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#873692 8-Aug-2013 09:26

BigHammer,

Why should it be available at no cost? If all major sporting events where available at no cost then you are preventing those sports from obtaining their best revenue as no real FTA competition. Would you like to have your salary restricted?

Stu

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#873693 8-Aug-2013 09:29

Then why not charge for all TV and be done with it?

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#873717 8-Aug-2013 10:27

BigHammer,

I am fine with that. Of course it won't work fully.

But what I was meaning is that by saying that a sport can only show their product a certain way then you are effectively placing a restraint of trade on them. If both TVNZ and TV3 knew they were the only ones who could show a sports event and TVNZ knowing that TV3 is bankrupt do you think they would bid what the market value is?

And what happens if like in the case of Bathurst neither TVNZ or TV3 bid at all as they know the advertising revenue and viewing numbers they get wont be what they would want?

Stu

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#873771 8-Aug-2013 11:54

Firstly, please understand that I have no trouble with anyone covering costs and making a realistic profit in the process. The problem with how things have evolved (especially with the financial situation with TV3) is that FTA TV doesn't really stand a chance of competing with the SKY TV types with big money events like Bathurst and therefore Sky TV pretty much have a monopoly. Not much you or I can do about that though.

Anyway...

Hypothetically, let's say I only watch one sport event a year (we'll stick with Bathurst). If I could only pay for that one event then that would be fine, in principle. The problem with how things work though, is that I have to pay ongoing fees for services I don't need just to watch one event. I wouldn't have a problem paying a nominal fee for certain events, providing it was the sort of thing I didn't have to pay an ongoing subscription for when it's only one or two events a year I wish to view. Unfortunately Sky doesn't operate that way and I'll need to either pay for the service for 12 months or pay a cancellation fee once Bathurst is over, and then go through the whole process again next year. If, as in this case, you don't spend much time watching live sport then this makes the cost of viewing the one event rather expensive and a waste of effort in supplying\installing equipment you really don't need.

How about Sky (as they're the ones with the rights in this instance) offering a facility where you could purchase access to live-stream Bathurst (or whatever sporting event they have sole rights to) at a one time cost with no ongoing subscription requirements? If Sky are broadcasting over the whole four days, they could offer a price to access streaming for the whole four days, or just purchase access for the main event on Sunday. Can't see it happening as obviously Sky want everyone to buy their full service. Might persuade some who might normally opt for not-entirely-legit methods to pony up and make Sky a bit more pocket money though.

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Lias

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#874121 8-Aug-2013 19:26

dickytim:
Lias:
BigHammer: Great. Now to find a legal free version for everyone else!

IANAL but from everything I can read, watching an foreign internet stream is not illegal in NZ. It's possible (probably even) that the person creating the stream is breaking the laws in their country, but that's pretty much irrelevant. The person in NZ watching the stream is not breaking any laws. If watching a stream that the copyright owner didn't want you to watch was in itself an illegal act, then all the members on GZ who use netflix, hulu, etc would equally be criminals.

Does that mean that when someone streams Game of Thrones, Walking Dead etc that they are not breaking the law? So it is only breaking the law if you keep a copy?

I like the sound of that!

Watching the stream is legal.. Creating the stream.. probably not

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highspeedsteel

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#874256 8-Aug-2013 21:30

Ok I don't think I have seen this in the discussion but how they watching the stream that every other country in the world so a VPN should sort that out see V8 streaming . You have to pay to stream, the next race is AU$5 or for the rest of the season is AU$25. In saying this I haven't tried it but I plan on trying it out for the Winton round.

GregV

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#874269 8-Aug-2013 21:56

I would gladly pay the streaming fee for Bathurst, like anyone else on the planet can do. Instead I am expected to pay 75/month for 12 months to watch the odd event, along with other stuff I have no interest in watching.

highspeedsteel

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#874272 8-Aug-2013 22:00

I'll let you know how I get on in a couple of weeks when the Winton round is on. I have already booked it and NZ cards seem to work fine. I guess I will have to pay for a VPN or similar service since most of the free services seem to have data limits or limited band width.

highspeedsteel

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#884563 26-Aug-2013 11:19

Just an update if anyone is interested. You can pay to stream V8supercars through there website using a VPN service. I did this this weekend for the Winton round. Unfortunately I wouldn't describe it as a high quality stream. On a 15" laptop it was ok(not great), but on the 47" TV it wasn't the best.
I will probably aim to find a friend with Sky for Bathurst.

Cheers

Stu

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#884576 26-Aug-2013 11:41

Thanks for the update. Doesn't sound like it would look too good at 120" then!

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#884583 26-Aug-2013 11:55

The stream played fine, but I would guess they are streaming 640x480 or similar given the quality. In fact its not much better than some of those dodgy websites where people re-stream sport. Its disappointing, if they had the quality better then it would have been a good alternative. There are no ad breaks or anything so the content is good but the quality isn't.

I agree on 120" unless you are sitting along way back it would probably be unwatchable.

Stu

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#884585 26-Aug-2013 11:59

Out of curiosity, which VPN service did you use?

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#884701 26-Aug-2013 14:15

I was using Tunnel Bear (free version) don't know if it any good but its simple to setup. I would have to use a pay VPN for bathurst due to the volume of data I suspect.

One other thing I noticed was when I paid a couple of weeks ago for the streaming service it was $5AU and the day of the race they were asking $10AU.

Stu

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#884702 26-Aug-2013 14:16

Cheers for the info.

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