by Thinus Ferreira
It took just two days after the broadcast of the first episode of the new 8th season of Survivor South Africa to once again become the country's most sought-after TV show with episodes of Survivor SA: Immunity Island that, like previous seasons, are once again pirated and illegally shared and watched by thousands of viewers worldwide.
M-Net is warning people not to steal the content and that illegally uploading, downloading, sharing and watching Survivor SA episodes anywhere in South Africa except than through DStv is damaging the local South African TV and film industry.
It took less than 48 hours after the premiere episode on 3 June of Survivor SA: Immunity Island for a high-definition version ripped from M-Net (DStv 101), as well as a lower quality version, ripped from 10play that is the video streaming service of Australia's Network Ten, to appear online on 5 June.
Survivor SA: Immunity Island, produced by Afrokaans, has been torrented and directly downloaded thousands of times already.
In online message boards - with some of the conversations that have been shut down and deleted - Survivor superfans from across the globe and in South Africa ask where they can find and illegally download or get torrent links to ripped copies of Survivor SA: Immunity Island episodes.
The same happened with previous seasons of Survivor SA, of which illegal torrents and links to episodes can also still be found online, with the show that consistently ranks as the most sought-after South African television production that viewers globally want to see and follow.
While the illegal sharing and downloading is an added bonus boost for the profile and exposure of the show and its in-show sponsors and advertisers, as well as South Africa's Eastern Cape province that helped with filming location access in the latest season, broadcasters - including M-Net - frown on the illegal sharing of its content that damages the TV industry ecosystem where channels lose out on ratings and revenue and content creators who earn money through selling productions are short-changed in the long run.
The latest season of Survivor SA has been trending on social media for both the past two Thursdays nights as a conversation topic although it is shown on M-Net as one of MultiChoice's most exclusive TV channels that is only available to DStv Premium subscribers.
In response to a media enquiry, M-Net says that it maintains the same stance as per previous seasons and that ripping and illegally sharing episodes of Survivor SA is wrong and damaging to the TV industry.
"Survivor is a global phenomenon and in recent years the South
African version has gained vast popularity among fans abroad. M-Net is
aware of the illegal downloading and sharing of the series, and
strongly condemns it," M-Net tells TVwithThinus.
"Piracy negatively impacts the development of
the local television and film industries and undermines the investment of
broadcasters and sponsors. We encourage viewers to report illegal
downloads or streaming to Bertha.Sekgothe (at symbol) irdeto.com".
