Smallville entre los programas mas bajados en UK

Six-year-olds are illegally downloading TV shows
Mark Prigg, Science and Technology Editor Mark Prigg, Science and Technology Editor
14.01.10


Children as young as six are illegally downloading TV shows before they are aired in Britain, research has found.

Shows such as Glee, Heroes, Lost and House can be downloaded hours after they are broadcast in the US, and played back on a computer or TV.

Some 31 per cent of children aged six to 14 admit they regularly watch programmes illegally, either by downloading or streaming them to a TV, according to the study published today.

Sixteen per cent also download pirate films before they are released, the ­survey of 4,347 children found.

“We were incredibly surprised by how young these children are — for six-year-olds to be downloading is astonishing,” said Justin Pearse, editor of in New Media Age magazine, which commissioned the study.

“Kids are leading the way when it comes to the convergence of broadcast television and the internet.

However, there are also legal issues, and parents only have themselves to blame if they are not monitoring what their children are doing online.

“Copyright and legality don't seem to be a barrier for kids — if they want to see something before it's on TV or DVD, they'll just get it online.”

The problem is so bad it could force broadcasters to air shows at the same time as in the US.

David Price of Envisiona, which monitors illegal downloads, said: “Downloading TV has always been a huge problem in the UK, as people have to wait so long after the US broadcasts.

“With the most popular shows, like Heroes and Lost, UK broadcasters have been forced to move transmissions to a day or two after the US.

“Within two years that will have to become the case for most shows. The problem is that downloading is so easy and the quality is very high. You can even download high definition. My three-year-old uses YouTube, which works in a similar way.”

Watchdogs have called for online TV services to put strict controls in place to stop young viewers accessing adult programmes.

Vivienne Pattison of Mediawatch UK said: “Ofcom's most recent research found that fewer than a third of parents use parental controls or are confident about how to use them.”