So you’re a Downton Abbey addict. I can understand. I am, too. Given that Season 4 just premiered to 9.5 million U.K. viewers, you have two options. One of them will make you immensely happy but an evil criminal. The other will make you a sanctimonious, law-abiding citizen who will be Downton Abbey-free until January 2014.
I know which one I’m choosing.
There are ways—some easy, some hard—to watch British broadcasts from the U.S., but the real question is why we’re being made to wait at all.
Yes, I’m A Criminal
If you live in the U.K. and pay your TV tax, you can watch ITV and BBC programming for free. If you live in the U.S., you can watch many of the same programs for free, but on a time-delayed basis. In the case of Downton Abbey, millions of Britons happily watched it last week. Millions of Americans arguably would have been happy to pay to watch it with them, but were blocked by broadcast rights and some television exec’s decision as to how best to monetize Downton Abbey.
Except that this isn’t really about monetization. They’re giving the show away free to PBS viewers. They’re just making us wait six months to get it.
Six months… of all those Brits gleefully filling Facebook and Twitter with talk of Mary’s baby, Lord Grantham, etc. I’m not going to wait. Neither is Laura Stampler of
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