Crikey

Next week is likely to see a decision on Channel Nine’s court appeal against the banning of its drama Underbelly in Victoria. In the meantime, the internet has been demonstrating the difficulty of suppressing anything these days. Leaked copies of episodes which haven’t even screened yet have been available on torrent sites for weeks (up to episode ten) and some of those uploading to the net seem very well informed about what’s going on at Channel Nine.

“7Zark7” wrote on this site yesterday:

If anyone says they have 11, 12 or 13 they are liars. simple as that. they have been filmed, they were filmed last year in fact, they just haven’t left the editing room since the others got leaked they have a security guard on the door of the studio now.

Crikey understands this to be true. So where is the leak? What is Channel Nine doing about it? And what does this mean for the ability of traditional free to air television, or anyone else, to make, fund and protect its investment in content? Despite several attempts and evidence of scalded cat reactions, Crikey could not get comment from Channel Nine before deadline today.