Panorama : Murdochs TV pirates

[cHodAX]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01dlvbm/Panorama_Murdochs_TV_Pirates/

Anyone else watched it yet? If the allegations are true it looks like they played a sizable part in killing off a serious competitor illegally and have repeated the act in a number of countries. Wonder if Leveson is going to have a look into this? Doubt OFCOM will, weak as water.

 

[Moriath]

they are too big to die tho ... too many ppl in thier payroll

Why i wont touch sky with yours

 

[Shagrat]

yeah I saw it last night. It always amazes me how these people continue to say "I was never involved and it was nothing to do with me" even when confronted with the fact that there is filmed evidence.

Do they think that if they deny it enough they will pop into some alternate reality where this is actually the truth?!

It just makes them look even more crooked than they do anyway. Some of the findings from this investigation are mind boggling, deliberately peddling dodgy pirate cards of competitors.

 

[Chilly]

yeah I saw it last night. It always amazes me how these people continue to say "I was never involved and it was nothing to do with me" even when confronted with the fact that there is filmed evidence.

Do they think that if they deny it enough they will pop into some alternate reality where this is actually the truth?!

It just makes them look even more crooked than they do anyway. Some of the findings from this investigation are mind boggling, deliberately peddling dodgy pirate cards of competitors.

They have to deny it, their lawyers have told them to stfu until a judge asks them directly at which point it turns into a crime to lie and they may well about-face.

 

[Zenith.UK]

Do they think that if they deny it enough they will pop into some alternate reality where this is actually the truth?!

It's a well known propaganda tool.

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.

It's usually mistaken for Hitler quoting it.

 

[Fweddy]

I haven't seen it but there's a story on The Register

 

[DaGaffer]

My ex worked for OnDigital. Murdoch hacking them was the least of their problems.

 

[Raven]

I think the fact that they were ITV was quite a big stumbling block for them.

 

[Zarjazz]

I read the Register article earlier. When I read the statement that he thought hacking was the main reason their service collapsed I honestly laughed-out-loud at the whole ridiculous idea.

 

[cHodAX]

I read the Register article earlier. When I read the statement that he thought hacking was the main reason their service collapsed I honestly laughed-out-loud at the whole ridiculous idea.

The Panorama report was more accurate, even had a senior executive confirming that OD had many other serious problems but he did admit that the instability caused by the mass availabilty of the hack had damaged the business to the point where it could not survive even with massive management changes.

 

[DaGaffer]

The Panorama report was more accurate, even had a senior executive confirming that OD had many other serious problems but he did admit that the instability caused by the mass availabilty of the hack had damaged the business to the point where it could not survive even with massive management changes.

Which is an overstatement of huge proportions. The ridiculous football rights costs that hardly any customer was interested in, the interesting "less content for more money" marketing strategy and the shonky encoding quality were all far bigger issues. To put it in context, even with the hack widely available, people still didn't go out and buy the set top boxes. Over here in Ireland UPC (main cable co) had a similar hacked box issue, but when they finally sorted it out (after several years) it turned out to be no harm at all to subscriptions and their installed base actually grew because people liked the content they'd previously been getting for free enough to pay for it, and that was in the middle of a recession.

If the hack did put the final nail in the coffin for ITV Dig, the real irony is that from the ashes came Freeview, which is been by far the most successful competitor to Sky Digital over the last decade, so a bit of an own-goal for Rupert.

 

[cHodAX]

No mate, the issue remains this, Sky illegally broke copy protection and put out a hack that damaged a competitors product. They broke the law. What happened afterwards to OD is irrelevant, all that matters is News International have yet again been implicated in criminal activity on a grand scale and not just in the U.K.

If they pass the fit and proper test the whole thing is a fucking farce, they are a bunch of crooks.

 

[ECA]

If this was in the US I'm pretty sure the govmint could use RICO and send the whole executive board to jail for 15 years.

 

[cHodAX]

If this was in the US I'm pretty sure the govmint could use RICO and send the whole executive board to jail for 15 years.

Indeed, a work collegue said exactly the same at lunch, it is racketeering on an international scale.

 

[DaGaffer]

No mate, the issue remains this, Sky illegally broke copy protection and put out a hack that damaged a competitors product. They broke the law. What happened afterwards to OD is irrelevant, all that matters is News International have yet again been implicated in criminal activity on a grand scale and not just in the U.K.

If they pass the fit and proper test the whole thing is a fucking farce, they are a bunch of crooks.

Oh I'm not disagreeing with any of that; heads should roll. All I'm disagreeing with is the actual effects the hacking had on OnDigital.

 

[cHodAX]

Oh I'm not disagreeing with any of that; heads should roll. All I'm disagreeing with is the actual effects the hacking had on OnDigital.

Yeah I misread what you said somewhat but it did have an effect, there is no doubt, it became the easiest PAY TV device in the country to pirate, it altered investors perceptions of what should have been a fairly safe bet. Definately had an effect, didn't sink the company but it definately didn't help.