Copyright protection laws don’t always involve technology, so it’s hard to say, in general, whether you can legally download TV shows for any kind of purpose. Some legal analysts suggest that consumers are clearly violating existing copyright laws. Others equated the practice with digitally filming or recording broadcasts for later personal viewing. Currently, the most common methods of downloading programs are very similar to file sharing systems that are already being challenged in courts around the world. There are also legal ways to download TV shows, usually by purchasing individual episodes or entire seasons from a company that has the legal right to redistribute the shows.
It is legal to use a DVR to download television shows for personal use in the United States.
The technology to download television programs, legally or not, is widely available and the sale of equipment that allows digital recordings has not been prohibited. Digital video recording (DVR) devices allow users to record and save television shows, and some even allow them to be transferred to a computer or burned to DVD. These devices can also allow the user to pause live television and skip commercials on recorded programs with the push of a button. At least in the US, DVRs are under the same protection as VCRs (VCRs), and the user agrees not to commercially distribute the recorded material and to have all viewing in a private home.
It is legal to download TV shows from a company that has the right to distribute them.
However, with the advent of streaming video and broadband Internet services, the legality of downloading television shows has become less clear in many cases. Producing a prime-time comedy or drama can be a very expensive undertaking for network executives. Creative artists such as writers, directors and actors must be compensated for their skills and technical expenses must also be recovered. While networks recoup many of these expenses by selling advertising, sometimes the profit margin is surprisingly small. When a TV show is downloaded from a file-sharing website, the people who spend time and money on it are usually not compensated.
Making unauthorized copies of TV shows for friends is a form of copyright piracy.
There is also the issue of copyright, which is intended to establish legal ownership of the program as a creative work. Whoever owns the copyright to the show has the right not only to make money from the show, but also to play and stream it. When someone copies a program without the owner’s consent and makes digital copies available, they are generally violating copyright.
At least in the US, it’s legal to use a DVR to download TV shows for private viewing. Within the meaning of copyright law, it may be illegal to download programs from any source not authorized by the legal owners of those programs to distribute that content. A person can legally download television programs offered through authorized and authorized services by the owners. Most of the major broadcast networks in the United States now also have websites that stream select episodes of shows to viewers.
Streaming services allow people to download shows from the Internet to play directly on television.
