# How come I can watch this TV series? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-i-can-watch-this-tv-series/949167 "2021-08-19T18:16:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-i-can-watch-this-tv-series/949167/1 "2021-08-19T18:16:56Z")
I live in the UK, so am able to watch terrestrial TV (BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub.) I use **Amazon Video** to buy various series (not Amazon Prime Video) and have been kindly gifted **Disney+**. So far, so good. I’ve just discovered that I can watch Terry Pratchett’s wonderful TV mini-series ‘Going Postal’ for free. 🕶 Apparently I’m seeing it via ‘Microsoft Bing Videos’. So who provides this service? Is it associated with one of the above subscriptions? Is it legal?! All answers welcome. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-i-can-watch-this-tv-series/949167/2 "2021-08-19T19:04:31Z")
I’m curious how you’re able to see this video without knowing how you’re able to see it. How did you find it? What device are you using to watch it? Microsoft Bing Videos is, as I understand it, just a video aggregator service. It aggregates video content from the most popular platforms, sorts them, and gives you links to them. But you still need access to the platform that’s hosting the videos. In the U.S., _Going Postal_ and various other mini-series are available for free as part of Amazon Prime. I don’t know which service(s)/platforms carry it in the UK region. If you’re just seeing a _listing_ for _Going Postal_ on Microsoft Bing Videos, you may be seeing a link that would lead you to the Amazon Prime site or app (or whichever site or app carries it in your region). If you’re actually able to _watch_ it…well, how are you physically doing that? If it’s in a browser, you should be able to see the name of the site you’re using in the browser address bar. If it’s through a device like an Amazon Fire Stick or Roku, you should be seeing which app is being launched to play the video. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-i-can-watch-this-tv-series/949167/3 "2021-08-19T19:38:43Z")
Thanks for replying - your questions are the same ones I’m asking! I’m watching episode 2 now on my computer through the browser… Here’s the web link: [Going Postal (2010) - Episode 2, Part 1 - Bing video](https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=going+postal+episode+1&&view=detail&mid=AC68E5A2AD76D797C072AC68E5A2AD76D797C072&rvsmid=D1C64C8CA940D7591134D1C64C8CA940D7591134&FORM=VDRVRV) Hope that helps… ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-i-can-watch-this-tv-series/949167/4 "2021-08-19T19:41:46Z")
In that case, the video is actually hosted by Dailymotion. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-i-can-watch-this-tv-series/949167/5 "2021-08-19T19:49:38Z")
Right. Dailymotion itself is, as I understand it, kinda iffy. It hosts legitimate content, but also allows user uploads, and some of that stuff is pirated, or is legal to share in France, where Dailymotion is based, but violates IP laws in other regions. So… You’re able to watch that TV series because it’s being hosted by Dailymotion, a site which allows you watch quite a bit of video content for free. That’s who’s providing the service. As to whether it’s legal…maybe. Dailymotion does definitely have a lot of legitimate content under license, but it also sometimes hosts video content of dubious legality. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-i-can-watch-this-tv-series/949167/6 "2021-08-19T20:29:53Z")
That dailymotion upload probably isn’t on the legitimate side, though watching it isn’t a crime as far as I know. Justwatch is a handy search tool for the various legit streaming services. It provides from UK results for Going Postal that you may have access to: [Going Postal - watch tv series streaming online](https://www.justwatch.com/uk/tv-series/going-postal) ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-i-can-watch-this-tv-series/949167/7 "2021-08-19T20:47:23Z")
Thanks for that information. I’d like to err on the side of legality, so I’ve tried to download the series (and pay for it.) Apparently only Americans can download it - the best I can do is buy a DVD. This seems strange, because it was a British production. Am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-i-can-watch-this-tv-series/949167/8 "2021-08-19T21:12:03Z")
Distribution agreements are often complex, and both opaque and often counterintuitive to outsiders. Amazon Prime has a license to provide the series both in streaming format and as a download in the U.S. region. In the UK region, where it originated, distribution rights are presumably retained by the original broadcaster. For whatever internal reasons/calculations, they’ve decided not to make it available via streaming or download, only via DVD. For upper tier IP, like major movies, there’s a lot of financial incentive to get it out to as many consumers as possible. For lower tier IP, like the _Going Postal_ series, the costs of setting up online distribution for the original broadcaster might not look financially prudent. Licensing it to Amazon Prime or Netflix or another online behemoth probably means that behemoth gets the lion’s share of any revenue, _and_ directly competes with the original broadcaster. In the U.S., with no other good way to distribute an obscure IP like that, getting even a few cents on the dollar beats getting no cents. But in the home market, they don’t want to overly dilute the value of their broadcast service. And that’s not even getting into complicated distribution rights and agreements between the original broadcaster, the production company, the holder of the rights to the underlying IP, the distribution rights to any music involved (which is a whole 'nother _HUGE_ can of worms), not to mention the contractual rights and interests of individual actors, producers, or directors (granted, not likely significant for lower tier productions like this, but Equity or other trade unions might have rules about online distribution that make it too costly or complicated to distribute that way in the home market). ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-i-can-watch-this-tv-series/949167/9 "2021-08-19T21:19:50Z")
gdave, that’s really interesting - thank you. 🕶 And now that I’ve checked my Amazon UK purchasing history I discover that I bought a UK DVD with all 3 Pratchett TV series on it about 4 years ago. 😍 However it’s clear I have lent it to a friend … and I can’t remember which one! 🤓