Video piracy downloads internationally are now available so quickly that it could "put the whole pay TV ecosystem at risk", according to a new report from the American company Macquarie Equities Research.
Tim Nollen, analyst and author of the new report found "practically everything that's popular on TV" instantly for free on the internet on piracy websites a mere three hours after an episode of a TV show was broadcast on television in America.
He found episodes of Dallas [the second season of which is shown just a few episodes behind America on M-Net in South Africa], The Walking Dead [the latest episode shown within days on FX on TopTV in South Africa], the hot new drama Vikings [not shown at all by History on MultiChoice's DStv but shown by History in America] and The Big Bang Theory [which is shown on M-Net but a season behind].
MultiChoice's DStv, pay-TV broadcaster M-Net and Fox International Channels Africa (FIC Africa) which runs amongst others the FX and Fox Entertainment channels on On Digital Media's TopTV, have all taken incremental but serious steps to dramatically try and close the broadcasting windows for several popular TV shows between when they're shown in America and when it's broadcast on TV channels in South Africa.
In South Africa, as well as across the African continent, online piracy is rapidly growing, especially in South Africa where internet and broadband penetration and speed is rapidly growing although it's still lagging far behind the rest of the world.
With television shows and episodes becoming available a mere three hours after broadcast on the internet, South African viewers are turning to online piracy to download and watch their favourites American shows.
South African broadcasters or TV channels which simply haven't picked up the shows viewers want to watch, broadcasters or channels which are too far behind showing the latest episodes, or pay-TV operators such as DStv or TopTV whose monthly subscription charges for their bouquets are deemed to expensive, are the major reasons for the growing online piracy problem in the country.
South Africa however does not yet show up on the top international rankings of countries where internet users are the biggest offenders when it comes to online piracy, but that could start to change as the growth in broadband availability and speed into South African homes continue to accelerate.
According to Tim Nollen, the annoyance of online video piracy is about to become a big problem for pay TV, saying that young people especially could "ditch pay-TV for pirated content".
