I Can’t Even With The Australian TV Industry Anymore


That’s it. I’ve had it. Whoever is making programming decisions in Australia’s TV industry needs a swift kicking. I’m not sure how many times I’ve had to say it, but clearly it bears repeating: if you keep popular, viral international shows away from Australian audiences, they will pirate it. Today’s lesson: FOX8 and a new show called Jane The Virgin.

Now I understand that Jane The Virgin doesn’t exactly speak to Gizmodo’s target demographic, and that’s ok. Whatever floats your boat. This particular show looks to float mine based on what I’m hearing about it. It’s based on a Venezuelan telenovela and looks like a whole bunch of fun.

I also understand that it’s not exactly a mass-market epic that everyone is going to beg, borrow and steal to watch like your Game Of Thrones, The Walking Dead or Homeland. It’s a mid-level comedy on the CW Network in the US that’s designed for an audience who wants something to pass the time with when The Mindy Project isn’t on.

Regardless, it’s getting buzz on social media, and that usually attracts new viewers like a curious moth to a brightly-lit television screen. Australians are especially attracted to what’s hot in American popular culture, meaning more and more locals will be checking out this show as time goes on. A cursory glance at a television guide, however, will tell them that Jane The Virgin won’t air on FOX8 until December.

That’s right: the hot new CW show that people flocked to when it premiered last week is being delayed in Australia by two months.

Sigh.

So what are Aussies going to do about getting access to a show FOX8 doesn’t want them to see yet? Pirate it, of course.

It’s the wrong thing to do and not being able to get access to a show is no justification for piracy, but that never stopped anyone during the last season of any show that was ever delayed in Australia before.

We’ve said it time after time. Fix your shit, Australian TV industry, or those subscriber numbers will keep on falling.