TV-Links.co.uk Gets Busted, Operator Arrested
If you’ve been wondering where your favourite resource for streaming TV episodes online has disappeared to, it seems that the website TV-Links.co.uk has been shut down this week after being “raided” by UK authorities and its 26 year old operator was arrested for facilitating copyright infringement on the internet. This was the largest website of its kind that I was aware of, collecting links to full episodes of TV shows that had been uploaded to YouTube, Daily Motion and other video hosting sites through the co-ordinated efforts of its users. While it’s definitely a shame since the website was so damn convenient for catching up on missed TV, I think we all knew it wasn’t going to last forever. Not only was the site growing in popularity, but they had also recently gotten into hosting full movies, including recent theatrical releases. The arrest has sparked some debate online, however, regarding the legality of the website considering that it only provides links rather than hosting the actual pirated content. Either way, there may be other websites that pick up the slack eventually, but I hope TV networks and studios take note that this is a service that a lot of people find very useful. RIP TV Links!
Comments (16)
Wow, it’s really a shame that they got hit. You knew they were going to go down sooner or later though because of the movies. I personally used the site to watch TV shows; old, hard to find, etc.
Actually, it was because of tv-links that I ended up buying the Heroes Box set in the summer..
RIP TV-Links
Posted by cuebert on October 22nd, 2007In my case, I’m currently watching a DVD box set, and one of the DVDs is corrupted, so I was using this site to watch the shows I was unable to watch otherwise.
Posted by Doug on October 22nd, 2007Yeah I was wondering when this would happen.Worst kept secret on the internet.My girlfriend and I work late nights so on our days off we would watch the shows we missed together.Oh well this type of site I suspect will be repeated again and again.
Posted by MoriaOrc on October 22nd, 2007This blows. I’ve been catching up on all of the MST3K episodes I’ve missed over the years lately. I’m of the school of thought that the owner of the site shouldn’t be punished too harshly considering that he didn’t actually upload any of the content himself, however I always wondered how in the hell the site was allowed to stay up for so long. Well, I guess I’m going to have to find somewhere else to watch old TV shows.
Posted by Rian on October 22nd, 2007But man how are we all going to find out about the next tvlinks though?
Posted by Tony on October 23rd, 2007http://www.surfthechannel.com/
Posted by Totz on October 23rd, 2007goodbye tv links, hello surfthechannel…
Posted by megan on October 23rd, 2007Cleaner layout… not as many shows yet though.
Posted by Sean on October 23rd, 2007nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
i LOVED TVLINKS!!!!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Posted by ilovetvlinks on October 25th, 2007Come on people, it’s so easy finding episodes online. Just google and “rapidshare” or “torrent” and you’ll find tens of sites. Also, the quality is WAY much better than youtube/dailymotion/etc.
Posted by newmark on October 25th, 2007Meh, the site ate some of my words. I meant google “tv show name” and “rapidshare” etc
Posted by newmark on October 25th, 2007Now I know what happened to tv-links. I’ve been searching for several days. I just discovered it 3 weeks ago. TV in the US can be rather boring. Gonna miss it!!
Posted by Big Al on November 1st, 2007I loved TV-Links, what a site. Don’t know how much money, if any, the guy was making. I used it to catch up on shows that I missed and caught a few shows I never seen before, the documentary’s where good too. Any of the shows I watched where on the TV anyway, so what’s illegal about that. Granted there where a lot of pirate movies but he only gave links, why not go after the guy’s at google, youtube etc. (because they have the money to properly defend themselves). I would have no problem donating some money to the guy who ran TV-Link’s for his defence, wouldn’t be much, but if enough of us give him something it would be of help, cause he gave me so much enjoyment and I’d like to pay a little something back. TV-Links is dead, long live TV-Links. Anyone remember that 12 year old girl they went after in America?, the 13 year old in England? I do, anyone remember them going after the big guys?, nope, not me either.
Posted by CitizenFly on November 9th, 2007hey everyone,
Remember when all you needed was a tv set with an antenna and tv/cartoons and movies were free. now it’s regulated for the rich and powerful who already have enough money. their just so greedy that they buy the government and have public office people in their pockets, so they reap the profits.
Guess what!!! we all just set back and let them do it.
The internet for tv shows/cartoons and movies that have already made their money should be free to everyone to watch, but yet do you see anyone doing anything about all the scam artists on here. free tv/satelite one time fee. you know who is regulating those links? the rich and powerful, because we let them do it.
Pretty soon, you will have to pay just to take a walk down the street and back for exercise.
Come on everyone, lets all complain, that site wasn’t hurting anyone’s pockets, because they already made their money of all those tv shows/cartoons and movies a thousand times over.
their just doing the same thing as all these video rental stores making money off of stupid people that won’t stand up to the bullies.
I say, lets kick all their azzes, just like we had to do in school when they were rich and stuck-up.
steven a perry
Posted by Steven A Perry on November 18th, 2007hey dumasses if tv links got busted dont you think you shouldent mention outer sites that are used so they dont get busted
Posted by ken on December 23rd, 2007They have actually re-opened and you can find them at http://www.tvlinksdb.com
Posted by Rhys on May 11th, 2008Leave a Reply