The latest trend with online media is the fast growing market for downloadable television shows. It was first made popular by TiVo and its competitors but now the market has moved to becoming available to anyone with a high speed internet connection. It all started as TiVo users became accustomed to watching their shows whenever they wanted, pausing at will and skipping commercials but not everyone was able to afford a DVR. The television networks took notice.

If you do decide to begin watching all your television shows through downloading them on the internet, please be sure that you are doing it legally. Many people make the mistake of illegally downloading through transferring programs person to person without the express consent of the copyright owner. Bittorent and other file trading networks are also extremely popular but also illegal. Here are just a few ways you can begin legally downloading your favorite television programs.

• Go to the television station’s website and check what shows they have available for download. This is actually the latest trend in promoting networks’ newest programs and to establish an online presence on the internet. It allows you to legally watch television from anywhere in the world without downloading anything illegally.



• If your cell phone or iPod is equipped to watch videos on it, then you can actually but the television shows and watch them anytime you want such as on your lunch break. While a relatively new trend, more and more mobile phone companies are jumping on the bandwagon signing contracts with the networks and studios for access to their shows for a small fee.



• If you’re stuck with no other options with trying to find a random show that you really want to see, get in touch with the television networks directly and ask them for any way to legally download what you are looking for. TV networks for years have been pushing new and inventive ways for viewers to download their television shows. So give them a call and they should to give you names of specific places where you can download legal copies of a show.



• As you are browsing the internet for websites that offer downloads of TV shows, you will run across a good number of them which violate copyright laws. To ensure that you are not doing anything illegal, even if by accident, check the website for any legal disclaimers and copyright information. You’ll find this type of scenario occurs pretty frequently with peer-to-peer networks and file-sharing sites that usually never have the permission of copyright holders to display their work.



• More and more major television networks are starting to embrace online streaming of full television show episodes through embedded flash video players on their homepage. You’ll find that much of the content will make you to dance around a few network commercial interruptions but these streaming episodes are one of the easiest and quickest ways to find and watch a recent episode of a television show you may have missed.