Can easy access "True Blood" cure file sharers?
Avid film and television show consumers could see the traditional delay in accessing US entertainment obliterated as HBO and Netflix set their sights on the Nordic markets. Certain industry observers hope it will combat illegal file sharing as Swedes will no longer have to wait for their favourite shows.
"Well-informed viewers who know what they want stand to benefit," writes columnist Erica Treijs in the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.
As an example of traditional service providers' long turnaround time, Treijs points out that public service Swedish Television (SVT) will start showing the hit US series Girls in January - one year after the show air for the first time on home turf.
SVT already air some HBO shows such as True Blood.
Many Swedes, who have in droves circumnavigated the government's attempted file sharing crackdown last year ("Is Ipred a toothless law?" August 16, 2012), are nowadays used to accessing foreign entertainment quickly.
Traijs notes quick distribution of content can combat illegal file sharing, but only if all entertainment is accessible this way.
"Otherwise," she writes, "this technical shift will only give birth to file sharers with very particular tastes."
Other industry insiders share her view.
"Netflix's entry to the market means there is yet another legal alternative which can teach the consumer to watch film legally," says Jonas Dahllöf, CEO of Swedish video-on-demand providers SF Anytime, speaking with net newspaper DN.se.
