Share and Share A File
July 24th, 2006 | by MadHacktress |Is downloading TV shows illegal, too?
I subscribe to cable television and, indeed, many of the channels that show the programs that are available for download. Is that the same as downloading music from a CD that you already own?
In many cases I prefer to download the programs because DVDs are more wieldy than VHS tapes for archiving the shows you want to keep - and the downloaded shows “naturally” do not include commercials.
Which comes to the question - the fact that the downloaded programs do not register ratings robs the producers and networks of their revenues, doesn’t it? Is this what would make it wrong?
How do appliances such as TiVo and VCRs factor in to the equation? Surely the fact that VCRs have existed for decades means that downloading TVs is okay, right? But, then again, cassette tapes have existed for decades as well, and downloading music you don’t own is not okay.
What is the demarcation for owning the “rights” to a TV show? Subscription to a channel that provides the content? Retention of the content in its original form (ie. not removing the commercials)?
Perhaps there isn’t a demarcation, or one has yet to be established by the courts.
For now, at least, I will continue to download the few shows that I watch because, as a Canadian viewer, I can download them a few days before they’re shown on broadcast TV in my area.
Entry Filed under: Pure Opinion
It is as you say still a new technology, and case law is almost non-existant.
VCRs have existed for a while, and content recorded on a tape seems to be treated as “fair-use” (as long as you don’t sell copies).
I have a DVR and a DVD recorder. They get used the same way that the old VCR did, save that I can save a program on the DVR and archive it later to the DVD recorder.
My feeling is that if I’ve subscribed to the services of a content provider I may archive the content for viewing at my convenience.
Commercials are somewhat more problematic. Once viewed, is that portion of the program paid for? This is complicated by the targeting of commercials; some of the content carries commercials for a different demographic (I’ll never need a snow blower in Houston), and some commercials are time dependant (last winter’s sales are over).
For now, I’m assuming that anything that I can record off of subscribed channels is fair use as long as I don’t make and distribute copies.
I download most things I watch (even things like a few UK TV series that won’t be aired here for eons) and I generally only turn the TV (card) on for news and repeats of old favourites.