The Yiz
03-04-2008, 10:49 AM
The Professor's Position
On the Effect of the Internet
This is the Professor's Position and this week we're looking at the effect of the internet on wrestling. Not in the sense of booking or kayfabe or any of the normal reasons you see this topic addressed. Instead I'm going to take a look at the effect of torrents, peer-2-peer clients and the effect of illegal internet downloading on a wrestling and how it effects a company's bottom line. Before I get into that though, I want to personally thank TNAWrestlingNews.com for their awesome support of the Professor's Podcast which debuted a little over a week ago. It was a big success with several hundred downloads off Rapidshare and over 500 live listens with many more downloads on the MadCaster Networks. I hope that with the continued support the TNAWrestlingNews.com Professor's Podcast will become part of your must-have wrestling podcasts. Expect a new one up later this week. Onto the column!
For years we've heard the RIAA and MPAA complaining about illegal downloads of songs as well as movies. It's ushered in an era of digital distribution with movies that hasn't yet been successful, but the same medium of distribution for music has now become more popular then physical sales. The RIAA in conjunction with Metallica were able to shut down the first major P2P client in Napster and effectively fire the first shot in the war that would go on between the record companies and movie studios versus the internet and it's file sharing downloaders.
But that subject has been talked about time and time again. For music it's long since been argued that the spreading of these files for free will increase concert attendance and make new fans of the genre. Not to mention that most of this music is already played for free on the radio. It's not much different then taping your favorite song off the radio. Still, it has been considered a negative to many record companies. On the movie forefront it's been less accepted and considered more criminal as the ways to illegally record these movies are often much more scrupulous then just ripping a CD into MP3s. Some of these movies are being broadcast on the internet just as they're hitting theatres or perhaps even BEFORE they were hitting theatres.
While the record companies and movie studios are fighting back, how does it effect the wrestling community? I came across this idea a few weeks back when TNA ran their Global Impact program. Despite being excited for the show, I somehow completely forgot to set my Tivo to tape it. I taped Impact, but not the Global Impact afterwards. I was quite disappointed, so I decided to see when it replayed. Despite it being advertised to replay several times, I never could find a replay time. Although I do believe it re-aired. So what was I to do? Big TNA fan that I am, missing out on such a momentous occasion? It didn't set well with me.
So I fired up my P2P client of choice and looked it up. Sure enough there was the Global Impact broadcast with hundreds of downloaders and leechers. So I downloaded it. To me, it was a life saver. But was what I doing wrong? I don't think so, considering that Impact aired on TV and I had the channel, I just failed to tape it. I don't think even TNA could argue against that. That's not really the problem...
The problem is, also available to me were certain TNA pay-per-views, as well as DVD releases and WWE PPVs, etc. Now I didn't download any of them, because I wasn't interested. I already watch the TNA PPVs, I actually order them. But it got me to thinking, how much does this effect TNA's bottom line? You see the major difference between wrestling fans and say fans of music or movies, is that wrestling fans are notoriously cheap. Wrestling fans won't buy something unless they have to. Whereas there actually are people who might illegally download an MP3 and then go buy the CD. Wrestling fans aren't like that. If they can get it for free, they'll continue to do so.
It's a shame in a sense because while this is undoubtedly exposing TNA to a wider audience, it's also ultimately hurting them. I suppose the same argument could be made that it might boost live attendance, but TNA's bread and butter is PPV and for fans to basically be stealing it, is a shame. Not because you're hurting the big company that is TNA, but because you're literally taking money out of the pockets of wrestling like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal. These guys get paid because TNA is in business. If you steal from TNA's business model, you're hurting their bottom line profit and at the end of the day could be contributing to guys like Styles, Joe and Lethal from getting paid.
What can TNA do to fight this? What can WWE do to fight this? Very little. The RIAA has had some success with going after people. If you download tons of illegal content, chances are you'll eventually pay for it and you might pay for it dearly. However if you are like myself and only download things that have a vague legality to them, you should be okay. I know most wrestling fans do this. I don't think it's a big deal except for when it's effecting the wrestlers and the promotions. 10 year old WWE events that are no longer for sale on any medium should be able to be downloaded. The same for old Impact broadcasts. However, current pay-per-views and the like should not be.
So the next time you're thinking about stealing some pay-per-view, think abut who you might ultimately be effecting. TNA can't afford for a bulk of their fanbase to steal their pay-per-views. If you like the product, like the wrestlers and want them to succeed and live well by entertaining you and have the ability to continue to entertain you by being in business, then please don't be a cheap bastard on the internet. Purchase the pay-per-views. And that's the Professor's Position. Until next time, the Professor out!
As always you can leave me feedback at ProfNewtonGimmick@yahoo.com.
On the Effect of the Internet
This is the Professor's Position and this week we're looking at the effect of the internet on wrestling. Not in the sense of booking or kayfabe or any of the normal reasons you see this topic addressed. Instead I'm going to take a look at the effect of torrents, peer-2-peer clients and the effect of illegal internet downloading on a wrestling and how it effects a company's bottom line. Before I get into that though, I want to personally thank TNAWrestlingNews.com for their awesome support of the Professor's Podcast which debuted a little over a week ago. It was a big success with several hundred downloads off Rapidshare and over 500 live listens with many more downloads on the MadCaster Networks. I hope that with the continued support the TNAWrestlingNews.com Professor's Podcast will become part of your must-have wrestling podcasts. Expect a new one up later this week. Onto the column!
For years we've heard the RIAA and MPAA complaining about illegal downloads of songs as well as movies. It's ushered in an era of digital distribution with movies that hasn't yet been successful, but the same medium of distribution for music has now become more popular then physical sales. The RIAA in conjunction with Metallica were able to shut down the first major P2P client in Napster and effectively fire the first shot in the war that would go on between the record companies and movie studios versus the internet and it's file sharing downloaders.
But that subject has been talked about time and time again. For music it's long since been argued that the spreading of these files for free will increase concert attendance and make new fans of the genre. Not to mention that most of this music is already played for free on the radio. It's not much different then taping your favorite song off the radio. Still, it has been considered a negative to many record companies. On the movie forefront it's been less accepted and considered more criminal as the ways to illegally record these movies are often much more scrupulous then just ripping a CD into MP3s. Some of these movies are being broadcast on the internet just as they're hitting theatres or perhaps even BEFORE they were hitting theatres.
While the record companies and movie studios are fighting back, how does it effect the wrestling community? I came across this idea a few weeks back when TNA ran their Global Impact program. Despite being excited for the show, I somehow completely forgot to set my Tivo to tape it. I taped Impact, but not the Global Impact afterwards. I was quite disappointed, so I decided to see when it replayed. Despite it being advertised to replay several times, I never could find a replay time. Although I do believe it re-aired. So what was I to do? Big TNA fan that I am, missing out on such a momentous occasion? It didn't set well with me.
So I fired up my P2P client of choice and looked it up. Sure enough there was the Global Impact broadcast with hundreds of downloaders and leechers. So I downloaded it. To me, it was a life saver. But was what I doing wrong? I don't think so, considering that Impact aired on TV and I had the channel, I just failed to tape it. I don't think even TNA could argue against that. That's not really the problem...
The problem is, also available to me were certain TNA pay-per-views, as well as DVD releases and WWE PPVs, etc. Now I didn't download any of them, because I wasn't interested. I already watch the TNA PPVs, I actually order them. But it got me to thinking, how much does this effect TNA's bottom line? You see the major difference between wrestling fans and say fans of music or movies, is that wrestling fans are notoriously cheap. Wrestling fans won't buy something unless they have to. Whereas there actually are people who might illegally download an MP3 and then go buy the CD. Wrestling fans aren't like that. If they can get it for free, they'll continue to do so.
It's a shame in a sense because while this is undoubtedly exposing TNA to a wider audience, it's also ultimately hurting them. I suppose the same argument could be made that it might boost live attendance, but TNA's bread and butter is PPV and for fans to basically be stealing it, is a shame. Not because you're hurting the big company that is TNA, but because you're literally taking money out of the pockets of wrestling like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal. These guys get paid because TNA is in business. If you steal from TNA's business model, you're hurting their bottom line profit and at the end of the day could be contributing to guys like Styles, Joe and Lethal from getting paid.
What can TNA do to fight this? What can WWE do to fight this? Very little. The RIAA has had some success with going after people. If you download tons of illegal content, chances are you'll eventually pay for it and you might pay for it dearly. However if you are like myself and only download things that have a vague legality to them, you should be okay. I know most wrestling fans do this. I don't think it's a big deal except for when it's effecting the wrestlers and the promotions. 10 year old WWE events that are no longer for sale on any medium should be able to be downloaded. The same for old Impact broadcasts. However, current pay-per-views and the like should not be.
So the next time you're thinking about stealing some pay-per-view, think abut who you might ultimately be effecting. TNA can't afford for a bulk of their fanbase to steal their pay-per-views. If you like the product, like the wrestlers and want them to succeed and live well by entertaining you and have the ability to continue to entertain you by being in business, then please don't be a cheap bastard on the internet. Purchase the pay-per-views. And that's the Professor's Position. Until next time, the Professor out!
As always you can leave me feedback at ProfNewtonGimmick@yahoo.com.