Is it illegal to download TV shows?

[pcjunkie]

I really should be working on my paper right now, but instead I have just spent the last 45 minutes reading about copyright infringement and arguments about downloading television shows online. My curiosity was piqued by this entry on the William and Mary LJ group.

The issue: NBC has of late been sending out letters threatening legal action to

Comments

[moosesocks]

Personally, I'd like to see LEGAL bittorrent downloads with the ads reinserted. That way, there's virtually *no* question of legality.

The whole means by which broadcasters derive their revenue has been shaky from Day #1. After all, you could just walk away or change the channel when the ad is being played.

As technologies change and evolve, sometimes a business model becomes outmoded, which is something we're seeing now with the broadcast TV industry. Somehow, broadcasters feel that they deserve some sort of protection from this obsolescence (and the government seems to agree), and as a result, the we've instituted all sorts of draconian measures to stop copyright infringement, which has the unfortunate side-effect of stopping many legitimate activities.

Econ 101 tells us that businesses and even entire industries must be allowed to fail in the event that they become obsolete or unnecessary. People need to learn that it's damned near impossible to control the free market

[tribesman2007]

i agree with you that it's not as harmful as downloading other media, but really it comes down to this: NBC sells DVD box sets, and if you can get it online, you won't pay in stores. it seems like the precedent of time-shifting applies, but i can also see someone arguing that the ruling for betamax pertains to a single viewing or limited life of the recording (to be taped over by something else later... cassette tapes weren't very cheap), whereas downloaded media take up no physical space and so can be kept indefinitely, watched infinitely.

[6x7]

I'm not concerned about the (il)legality of the act of downloading TV as much as I am concerned about its effect on the production of shows I want to watch. In short, networks gain revenue when I am exposed to advertising during a given program -- be that during commercials or through product placements ("Nissan Versa!" Even more significant is my purchase of a good or service advertised on a favorite program. Viewers vote with their dollars to keep shows on the air. That's why "Studio 60" lasted as long as it did: it's audience was small, but rich, and advertisers are always trying to reach rich people.
Folks are going to download whether its illegal or not -- but they can't complain when their favorite shows are cancelled or production budgets are slashed when ad revenue declines.

[pcjunkie]

Well maybe they should make it easier to to get shows sans-adverts on an a la carte basis.

[theredphoenix2]

A couple of points

[wwiiirosie]

As far as I know (and I may be wrong because I am not well versed in TV piracy) DOWNLOADING is not technically illegal. But UPLOADING is, and the problem occurs when using BitTorrent and Kazaa-like sites that automatically uplaod content for other users when you download it.