Australian-Media.com.au News

• Today Tonight misleading the public

  July 24 2008 7:29pm (UTC+8)  -  Article by Kevin

  
  Today Tonight, the Seven Network's top rating current affairs show, is a show that prides itself on exposing fraudsters on national television for all to see. However, in an ironic twist the show tonight chose to promote one of those very people.
  
  Tonight's report on a way to obtain access to a variety of subscription television channels online is nothing but a fraud. Whilst there certainly are ways to watch a number of subscription television channels online, many of them contain large amounts of pirated material and many are illegal.
  
  Today Tonight claimed this was the report that Australian pay television operator FOXTEL supposedly didn't want you to know about - boasting that Australians can access some of FOXTEL's channels online at a fraction of the cost.
  
  "Add on features like an IQ Box, High Definition and options like on-demand movies, platinum packages, etc, and it's clear FOXTEL has mastered the art of squeezing as much as it can from its loyal subscribers." Today Tonight reporter James Thomas said.
  
  "But that loyalty is about to be tested and FOXTEL isn't going to be happy. Meet FOXTEL's public enemy number one - self-confessed internet geek - Jamie Balzan."
  
  Balzan has set up a website where you can purchase access to over 2,000 channels for a once off payment of as little as $30.
  
  "There's over 78 different countries, 400 channels, 1000 channels of movies, 1000 sports channels, you name it", Balzan proudly boasts.
  
  "You go on to my website, www.dontpaytv.com, and you download the link. There will be an email sent to you, it will be downloadable", he said.
  
  What is more, he claims it is perfectly legal.
  
  "Perfectly legal, because of the internet laws and the fact that there are advertisement that the company still pays for, and also the ad words, when you click they get paid for as well".
  
  What Today Tonight failed to tell you in its report was that Balzan is charging people for downloading what is free publicly available software. That software, written by American company TVU Networks Corporation, is called TVUPlayer.
  
  TVUPlayer can be freely downloaded from the TVU Networks website.
  
  One must also ask how Today Tonight was fooled in to believing the so called "internet laws" make this all "perfectly legal". We can only speculate as to what "internet laws" Balzan is referring to.
  
  Whilst the legalities of streaming television channels all over the world may be open for public debate, the law is very clear when it comes to charging for someone else's free software.
  
  A number of angry viewers have already contacted the ABC's Media Watch and the Nine Network's A Current Affair.
  
  Australian-Media.com.au

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