Heh, probably would take a while. They're not gonna give up the old models of distribution too soon. And there is money to be made in holding pockets of different audiences around the world hostage from seeing the movie/tv show when it first airs. How are local tv channels/cabel channels going to make their money if HBO decided to air Mad Men stimulataneously everywhere on the net?
Or PBS, what would Masterpiece Theatre be without the BBC or ITV withholding their costume dramas and mystery shows from Americans/Canadians for months on end? Who on earth would donate to PBS without those British Imports that they lord over us? By god, that would mean PBS would need to spend a lot more money making their own TV shows with lower budgets. Or just a lot of cheap educational shows with talking heads to fill time.
No, there are hundreds of tv channels out there and not enough good content to go around (see all that crap reality tv), so it wouldn't make sense if they'd put it all on the internet for us to watch whenever we want. It's not just about people who make the product, it's about the distributors as well. They're not gonna screw over the distributors who pay them good money for the rights to air these shows just to make us all happy. It would be nice, but it's not gonna happen any time soon.
Re: An open letter
Or PBS, what would Masterpiece Theatre be without the BBC or ITV withholding their costume dramas and mystery shows from Americans/Canadians for months on end? Who on earth would donate to PBS without those British Imports that they lord over us? By god, that would mean PBS would need to spend a lot more money making their own TV shows with lower budgets. Or just a lot of cheap educational shows with talking heads to fill time.
No, there are hundreds of tv channels out there and not enough good content to go around (see all that crap reality tv), so it wouldn't make sense if they'd put it all on the internet for us to watch whenever we want. It's not just about people who make the product, it's about the distributors as well. They're not gonna screw over the distributors who pay them good money for the rights to air these shows just to make us all happy. It would be nice, but it's not gonna happen any time soon.