Mindjack
How Battlestar Galactica Killed Broadcast TV
“While you might assume the SciFi Channel saw a significant drop-off in viewership as a result of this piracy, it appears to have had the reverse effect: the series is so good that the few tens of thousands of people who watched downloaded versions told their friends to tune in on January 14th, and see for themselves. From its premiere, Battlestar Galactica has been the most popular program ever to air on the SciFi Channel, and its audiences have only grown throughout the first series. Piracy made it possible for “word-of-mouth” to spread about Battlestar Galactica.”
So true. I’d pay to watch the series on the net and I was torrenting each episode the night after it aired in the UK. I made a point of watching the show on the Canadian Space channel during the regular season (and telling my nerdy friends to do the same). There’s no way I would’ve watched this show if I hadn’t see it online first.