[openfly]

Sadly, Filmon announced yesterday that it’s free tv service has ended “due to contractual problems”.

[capetonianm]

“contractual problems” in this case I think is quite simply piracy, or infringement of intellectual property rights. Theft, to put it plainly

Without wishing to sound self-righteous, I believe that if someone makes a film, writes a book, performs a piece of music, etc, they are entitled to the proceeds therefrom, and not to have people reproducing it without paying.

There has always been the argument that ‘Brad Pitt (or whoever) doesn’t need the $0.30 cents he’d get from my buying an original copy/download of the film’. The argument doesn’t hold water as firstly it’s not just ‘Brad Pitt’, it’s everybody who contributed to making the film, not just the actors, and without fee/royalty income there would be no film industry. Then, if everybody downloaded free, even Brad Pitt wouldn’t get anything!

I took this up with a friend who downloads everything he can get his hands on without paying. I asked him how he’d feel if he’d written a book (which he had) and saw pirated copies of it on sale. “That,” he said, “is different.” I never understood why!

[openfly]

Tell that to all the thousands around the world ( and in CT…including myself!)…who got used to watching real TV. It’s the digital age.
Mind you there are several other ways of replacing FilmOn!

[FaroFlyer]

Capetonianm, not everybody uses Filmon for films. I use it solely for UK TV. The commercial channels are financed by commercials. The great British Broadcorping Castration is funded by licence fees, and I pay the BBC licence fee.

Openfly, can you share information about watching UK TV on another site similar to Filmon?

[Inthesandpit]

Not good – I too used Filmon to watch the UK TV channels mainly. Any solution for me here in the UAE would be for something like Filmon but not using a VPN as use of VPN is illegal here.

[LuganoPirate]

I totally disagree with bootleg copies of dvd’d and illegal downloads. It is theft and I understand when people say but it’s so expensive, but then a Rolls Royce is expensive, so if you can’t afford it you don’t go and steal it!

My boys also moaned when I forbade them to download illegal copies of movies, but after I explained why they accepted it and I set up a subscription to Netflix and Amazon prime which they are very happy with.

I have paid subscriptions to SKY and DSTV in South Africa, and with this and BBC iPlayer and ITV equivalent I’m able to keep up to date with my favorite shows, but I do sometimes have to use a VPN and don’t know anyway round this.

One great thing now with the new TV’s is the possibility to watch programs streamed to the internet enabled TV from my mobile phone, and in the case of Netflix I don’t even need the phone, it just streams through the net when I’ve logged in.

[openfly]

@Faroflyer. ToView can be used in Europe without a VPN, and I have used it in South Africa without a VPN. The quality is better than Filmon and very user friendly. Surfeasy is a UK based free VPN, and I also use viewtvabroad on subscription at £6 a month…both are good. With the VPN, you can watch all the UK channels on ToView, plus BBCiPlayer and the ITV Hub.

To the other comments regarding being unethical to watch UK tv programmes due to copyright….I have three properties in the UK and pay for three TV licences. I have no qualms whatsoever in trying to watch the UK TV that I pay for.

[capetonianm]

I also pay a BBC subscription in the UK and see no problem in using other distribution channels to view that content when I’m not in the UK.

I was referring to copyright theft. I’m glad someone else (LP) sees this the same way as I do. I told my son and his friends and various other people who come to our house that if I caught them downloading anything illegally I would refuse them access to internet.

Admittedly as a ‘youth’ I taped some music, everyone did it in those days. In CPT there were record libraries where you could hire vinyls, and there were signs saying that it was illegal to record in any way the records you were hiring. And they sold audio cassettes from the same shops that you hired the records from!

[Inthesandpit]

I don’t mind paying when the content is what I wish for – and out here it is UK TV channels that I wish to watch. The local channels (which I pay for and are expensive) only provide limited content on UK TV channels which are repeated often. I cannot see the Local UK News in real time which is what I like to watch. I did have a subscription to BBC iPlayer, ITV HUB and Channel 4 all viewed through a VPN. However last year the use of a VPN was declared illegal and anyone found using a VPN would face severe fines or imprisonment. Other options like using a paid for box streaming real time TV from a remote site is also illegal. These providers have been shut down. So for me Film on was a good option, I have considered subscribing to the Film on HD service but this is a last resort as it is quite expensive.

[FaroFlyer]

I have been directed to 2 other websites tvcatchup.com and britishtvchannels.com I have successfully used TVCatchup but it does not work on Internet Explorer for some reason. You do not need a VPN to use it.

It is not as user friendly as Filmon was, but it is not a fair comparison as Filmon free is no more.

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