With the arrival of the new fall television season in the United States came a global surge in piracy of TV programming worldwide. Between the doldrums of July and the middle of the new season in October, TV-show piracy increased more than four times

1. White
Paper
Television
Piracy:
It’s
the
New
Fall
Season
November 2009
Executive
Summary
Fall
brought
not
only
the
most
hyped
new
and
returning
shows
on
the
U.S.
television
schedule,
it
also
heralded
a
huge
jump
in
worldwide
trading
of
pirated
digital
copies
of
those
shows
file-­‐sharing
networks.
Viewer
interest
fueled
by
the
on-­‐air
and
online
marketing
buzz
surrounding
the
new
season’s
offerings
sent
file
traders
around
the
world
looking
for
shows
they
missed
or
can’t
get,
or
to
catch
up
on
story
lines
they
may
have
forgotten
during
the
summer.
Fueling
their
appetites:
Typically
within
hours
of
airing
on
the
U.S.
East
Coast,
even
before
they
show
on
the
West
Coast,
new
episodes
are
uploaded
to
major
file-­‐trading
networks
and
become
instantly
available
worldwide.
Piracy
patterns
appear
consistent
across
all
regions,
driven
by
availability
of
some
particularly
popular
programming.
In
some
cases,
the
file-­‐sharing
networks
sate
demand
for
programming
that
may
not
be
available
legally
or
even
just
conveniently
in
many
countries
for
days,
months
or
years.
Television
Piracy
After
a
quiet
summer,
online
piracy
of
U.S.-­‐produced
TV
content
has
spiked
dramatically
since
Labor
Day,
the
summer’s-­‐end
holiday
that
is
a
harbinger
of
the
imminent
launch
of
dozens
of
new
TV
shows.
The
U.S.
release
of
new
shows
also
has
led
to
a
huge
jump
in
online
trading
worldwide
of
illegal
copies
of
those
shows.
Between
the
summer’s
lull
in
July
and
mid-­‐season
in
October,
file
trading
of
U.S.
TV
shows
has
jumped
more
than
four
times.
The
increase
has
been
particularly
noticeable
in
Europe,
but
also
has
risen
significantly
over
the
past
two
months
in
Asia
and
North
America
(see
Figure
1
below).
There
are
several
reasons
for
the
big
increase.
Premieres
of
many
new
shows
and
splashy
relaunches
of
favorite
holdovers
still
begin
in
earnest
after
Labor
Day
on
most
U.S.
broadcast
and
basic
cable
networks.
The
latest
shows
and
the
substantial
marketing
behind
them
fuel
file-­‐trader
appetites
for
new
content
after
a
summer
of
picking
through
the
previous
season’s
leftovers.
The
file-­‐trading
networks
also
fill
a
niche
for
TV
fans
seeking
shows
they
may
have
missed,
can’t
see
at
all
on
broadcast/cable/satellite
services
in
their
part
of
the
world
or
won’t
be
able
to
see
for
a
few
hours,
a
couple
of
days
or
even
several
years.
© 2009, DtecNet. Reproduction Prohibited

2. Worldwide,
patterns
of
piracy
of
U.S.-­‐produced
TV
content
were
generally
similar
everywhere,
though
there
are
differences
in
scale
from
region
to
region.
Piracy
decreased
tremendously
during
the
summer,
then
began
surging
significantly
beginning
in
late
September
and
has
only
continued
to
increase
since
then.
Figure
1:
TV
Piracy
Breakdown
by
Region
Television Piracy by Region
Infringemenets
6/2/2013
7/2/2013
8/2/2013
9/2/2013
10/2/2013
11/2/2013
North
America
Europe
La:n
America
Asia
Africa
Finally,
the
overall
jump
was
magnified
somewhat
by
the
late-­‐August
shutdown
of
The
Pirate
Bay,
the
most
prominent
and
popular
BitTorrent
site
for
trading
of
illegal
copies
of
all
kinds
of
movies,
TV
shows
and
other
digital
content.
As
discussed
in
DtecNet’s
“With
Pirate
Bay
foundering,
where
have
file
traders
gone?,”
piracy
of
all
media
dropped
briefly
but
dramatically
worldwide
when
The
Pirate
Bay’s
trackers
were
disconnected
Aug.
24,
2009.
File
traders
soon
shifted
to
other
download
sites,
and
when
new
TV
shows
began
arriving
later
in
September,
piracy
of
the
shows
took
off
too.
There
are
several
trends
noticeable
within
the
overall
rise
in
TV
piracy.
Europe
leads
all
regions
in
the
rate
of
piracy
of
U.S.-­‐made
television
content.
This
is
likely
due
to
several
reasons:
• Widespread
interest
in
U.S.-­‐produced
cultural
content
of
all
kinds;
• Widespread
access
to
the
Internet
and
downloading
technologies;
• Widespread
fluency
in
the
English
language;
• Nearly
simultaneous
releases
(and
concomitant
marketing
support)
of
many
shows;
• A
lack
of
legal
online
access
to
shows,
making
illegal
downloads
the
only
source
for
catching
up
with
missed
episodes.
Even
with
widespread
European
piracy,
however,
the
United
States
remains
the
country
with
the
most
television
piracy,
comprising
about
11.6
percent
of
this
fall’s
total
downloads.
Given
that
most
U.S.
content
targets
U.S.
audiences,
this
isn’t
surprising.
The
Top
10
countries
for
piracy
of
U.S.
TV
© 2009, DtecNet. Reproduction Prohibited 2

3. content,
which
together
are
responsible
for
more
than
half
of
all
TV
piracy
worldwide,
also
include
several
European
countries,
Australia,
Canada
and
Brazil.
Table
2:
Top
10
Pirating
Countries,
U.S.-­produced
television
content,
Sep
1
–
Nov
1,
2009
Rank
Country
1
United
States
2
United
Kingdom
3
Canada
4
Brazil
5
France
6
Australia
7
Italy
8
Spain
9
Poland
10
Germany
Figure
3:
Country
Breakdown,
U.S.
Produced
Television
Content,
Sep
1
–
Nov
1,
2009
Country Breakdown
United
States
12%
United
Kingdom
8%
Rest
of
World
Canada
45%
8%
Brazil
5%
France
5%
Spain
Italy
Australia
Germany
Poland
3%
3%
6%
2%
3%
About
DtecNet,
Inc.
DtecNet
is
headquartered
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with
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DtecNet
provides
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with
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solutions
that
track
and
prevent
piracy
of
their
digital
media
content,
while
generating
actionable,
highly
granular
business
intelligence
about
worldwide
demand
for
those
assets.
© 2009, DtecNet. Reproduction Prohibited 3

4. By
monitoring
the
file-­sharing
habits
of
hundreds
of
millions
of
Internet
users,
DtecNet
tracks
and
identifies
file-­sharing
trends,
helping
rights
holders
understand
how
their
content
is
traded
on
the
Internet
and
how
to
make
better
decisions
on
distribution,
business
models,
marketing
and
more.
For
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