@Mike: Even though I’m a huge BSG fan (half of the Caprica scenes were filmed in our old neighbourhood in Vancouver), I didn’t know about them broadcasting in the UK ahead of the US. However, I observed a similar phenomenon with “Doctor Who”, though the delta was a year not 8-10 weeks.

I find it ironic that you can’t buy “Corner Gas” online. Canadian television series’ are often fairly hit-or-miss, so failing to publish a good quality successful series as far and wide as possible is plain stupid.

I also got into “Corner Gas” down in the US because a fellow Canuck introduced me to the series by loaning me his DVDs. It was a serendipitous event. And that’s part of why piracy is still winning – it allows us to get access immediately to something we decide interests us.

For example, I encountered “Peep Show”, “IT Crowd”, and “That Mitchell and Webb Look” on a Virgin flight to the UK two years ago. Yet these shows fail to appear in iTunes, or be available as DVDs. Huge missed opportunity for the producers to make money from me.

I’m surprised that you didn’t mention the program that was the breakthrough for this phenomena in the US. The first season of Battlestar Galactica was broadcast in the UK 8-10 weeks ahead of the US. Given the audience and demand for this program it should be no surprise that many viewers had their first exposure to downloading media via torrents in order to satisfy their insatiable demand for “BG”. Once viewers find that the Internet satisfies their demands for immediacy there’s no going back. Should a program of interest, “IT Crowd” for example, be broadcast anywhere in the world then interested consumers will use whatever means are available to access it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Whether those means fit into distributors narrow “Region”-coded definitions is irrelevant.

Every summer for the last three years I’ve ordered up the previous season of “Corner Gas” DVDs which generally go on sale about the same time as the new season begins. Living in the US it’s been the only legal way for me to get my CanCon. Last season I was rather excited because CTV said that new episodes for season 5 would be available for download. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that because I live outside of Canada iTunes.ca would not accept my $1.99. So, really, do you think I waited until September 2008 for season 5? Yes, CTV, I’ll still buy the DVDs but you had a willing, able, ready customer wanting to give you money and you gave that business to the pirates.

The studios have antiquated licensing deals throughout the world that were set into place long before the current internet boom. The licensees jealously guard them without any eye toward viewership as what they receive is not tied to how many people actually view the product. Thus far they haven’t managed to work out that they are slitting their own throats being several years behind the rest of us.

I can’t work out why they don’t immediately stream television or allow it to be downloaded the world over as soon as it airs. They could embed commercials and offer superfast transfer speeds. Downloaders would flock to their sights and they could push all of the advertisement they liked.

Guess that’s what happens when you live in the 20th Century but work in the 21st.