::A Geek in Korea::

It seems that Comedy Central and Viacom have started shutting down access for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report websites for viewers overseas. Right now, while Korea still allows viewership, possibly through an oversight or some quirk of fate, but I shudder to think if I woke up one day without easy access to my two favorite shows. While my current handwringing is moot because I can still access the show, I’m working on the assumption that the site should be available to everyone anyway, and eventually it will be more difficult to access from Korea.

This move to lock down content is similar to Hulu, which locks it’s content down so that only people in the proper “regions” can watch the show. It’s kind of an epic misinterpretation of what the Internet should be all about. The geographical limitations of copyright don’t make sense anymore. This is because copyright owners demand something, lawyers get involved, and for whatever reason, I can’t watch US television shows outside the United States without being clever and finding a workaround.

There are always ways to continue watching the shows regardless to whatever lock down of content the websites attempt to impose. You can purchase or find solutions to these sorts of things all over the Internet, and it never actually stops people determined enough to watch the shows. I’d rather not go into the details of how to access these things, but it can be done with a few hours of effort, and if things turn ugly here in Korea, I’ll be forced to go down that path.

I’ve been a loyal fan of both The Daily Show and The Colbert report for as long as they have been on television. I’ve seen every episode of The Colbert Report available, and I’ve seen the vast majority of the Daily Show, save for the time when I first came to Korea and had to do without. I’d rather not have to go without if there is any other option open to me. There are many options.

One way or another I’ve watched for years, and recently the easiest way to watch the shows is to actually go to the website of the show and watch their hosted shows. This is a good thing for them, as I’m now a counted viewer that has eyeballs on a message they control and could alter to capitalize on it’s profitability. Watching on the official website is not as fast as other methods in getting what I want, and it’s not always as convenient for me, but I’ve continued watching regardless because I’m such a fan and am willing to watch the show despite the physical limitation of needing to be at their website while in front of my computer to do so. There isn’t a option to watch either The Daily Show shown on my television provider, as I don’t even have the heavily edited “World Edition” they run on CNN.  I no long even have access to CNN. (TV is pretty much my wife’s domain these days.) I’m making an effort to connect to the show, and I have been for years, so I’d hate for them to turn their back on me.

I know they provide me a service, but it’s one I’m now totally spoiled by, as it’s redefined my relationship with the show. Removing it would alter how I interact with the show. I’m not “bitter” about Hulu because I never really got to watch stuff on the service before they locked out other foreign users. They’ve always been that way, but these shows are now changing the rules and it rubs fans the wrong way.

I like the streaming website service they provide so much I’d be willing to sit through an advertisement, or even register to maintain such a privilege. This is not a common thing if you observe my web habits. I would prefer to stay with the arrangement I have with the show now, but if the copyright holders change their part of the deal, it’s very unfortunate for me. I understand that maintaining a streaming video website is a costly thing. Putting on the web for the entire world to have access was a tremendously good thing and garnered a lot of good will from me. A smart company would try to capitalize on that good will somehow instead of trying to put fans in a difficult situation.