Soon NBC will be allow viewers to download many of their most popular programs free to personal computers and other devices for one week immediately after their broadcasts. NBC announced a few weeks ago that it was pulling it’s shows off of iTunes.
According to the New York Times:
The files, which would be downloaded overnight to home computers, would contain commercials that viewers would not be able to skip through. And the file would not be transferable to a disk or to another computer.
The files would degrade after the seven-day period and be unwatchable. “Kind of like ‘Mission: Impossible,’ only I don’t think there would be any explosion and smoke,” [Jeff Gaspin, the president of the NBC Universal Television Group] said.
Update 9/21: Looks like ABC is also offering downloads.