[Down With Love] Meets with Piracy Issues, With Intentions to Re-film Ending

Source: UDN
Translation: shyun_y @ http://asianfanatics.net


GTV and CTV’s latest idol drama – [Down With Love] met with severe piracy issues during the Chinese New Year (CNY). With only 2 episodes officially aired, the pirated version of the serial has been fully released. As a result, China’s website, Tudou web, which has earlier purchased the copyright to upload this serial, has to feature the full series for [DWL] from episode 1 to 28. Concerned on the impact of the viewership ratings due to the piracy issues, the top management of the TV stations held a meeting till midnight on the eve of CNY. They have sought legal advice and issued official letters to the Taiwanese parties. GTV even contemplated to overcome all odds by having Jerry and Ella to re-film the ending for the serial, to combat the rampage caused by the act of piracy.

The weekend idol dramas’ fight for viewership ratings appeared to be intense. Lego Lee and Baron Chen in CTS [Because of You] are gaining awareness amongst viewers. Although still in the top spot, SET [Autumn Concerto], starring Vanness Wu, is about to finish telecast soon, and [P.S Man] with Blue Lan, Sonia Sui and Bianca Bai will take over the time slot. Meanwhile currently in second top position, CTV and GTV [Down With Love], featuring attractions of Jerry Yan and Ella, has shown potential to take the top place in viewership ratings. However the widespread piracy problem that occurred just before CNY has resulted in anyone who visit Tudou web in being able to view the full serial of [DWL] and can even make online purchase for the serial’s DVD.

In fact in the history of Tudou web, [DWL] is the first idol drama serial, for the website to have made purchase for its legal and official copyright to upload. Similarly, Anhui TV, with the legal copyright, has also intended to air [DWL] only during the school vacation and Tudou web was supposed to follow the initial contractual agreement to upload [DWL]. However given the incident of the leakage of [DWL] during the process of delivery of the original film to the relevant parties, it took less than 72 hours for the pirated version to infiltrate the whole of the China market, Tudou web felt victimized and started to upload all 28 episodes onto its website yesterday. They also have intention to pursue compensation from the film dealers