A few posts ago I talked about how the BBC America was canceling EastEnders. This means that expats like my wife no longer have any way to watch it.
They had an online chat with David Bernath, the Vice President of Programming for BBC AMERICA (transcript). From what he said about their ratings, I calculated that approximately 60,000 people were watching it each week in the U.S. That's only one tenth of their best shows. Given that it is the longest (in minutes) show the aired, it was also the most expensive. I guess it is not enough of an audience to justify having it on a cable network.
The sad thing is that there isn't any legal way for these 60,000 viewers to see their show. The rec.arts.tv.uk.eastenders usenet newsgroup has been buzzing with messages about how to download illegal copies from the internet. "Sparky" posts it to alt.binaries.multimedia each week. That seems to be the only solution. Why isn't there a way to have it magically appear on my TiVO each week for a small charge? Most people have to pay to get access to alt.binaries.multimedia, so they are clearly willing to pay if they could.
Just think of the untapped revenue if companies had a way of targeting little niche markets like these.
EE would be a fab money spinner- i would happily pay for Eastenders- best show in the world!! If anyone knows where i can download it please let me know- i am lost without it since September! please contact me, heidistier at hotmail if anyone knows how to access EE in America.. thank you!!
Posted by: heidi | January 07, 2004 at 10:59 PM