Most TV-show downloads come from overseas where the episodes haven’t aired yet, let alone that it can be streamed online. The only option left for these unfortunate souls is to use BitTorrent, or wait.

However, it seems that people don’t want to wait for months when they know that their favorite TV-show is out there, just a few clicks away. Indeed, at an increasing rate people have started to use BitTorrent to get their TV fix.

Traffic to the leading TV-torrent distribution site EZTV is up over 50% compared to last year. The site had more than 15 million visits in September compared to 9.2 a year earlier.

TV-torrents are particularly popular in Australia where most US TV-shows air with a delay of months or even years. EZTV is among the 300 most visited websites Down Under, and Mininova, The Pirate Bay and isoHunt are all in the top 100.

Stopping TV piracy is not that hard though. TV distribution companies should get rid of the long delays and offer streams to people outside of the US. If they can pull that off there is no doubt that the number of ‘pirated’ downloads will plunge.

Below is the list of most downloaded TV-shows on BitTorrent last week. Heroes is leading the chart with well over a million downloads in just one week.

The data for the most recent TV episodes are collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only.

Source: Popularity of Pirated TV-Shows Still Rising

Unlike the regular episodes these last two were never aired by Fox on US television, this also shows in the download statistics. Up to 25 percent of the downloads came from the US compared to little over 5 percent for the other episodes that did air on television.

Episode 23 and 24 of the fourth Prison Break season are available on BitTorrent because some non-US networks did decide to air them. ‘Prison Break: The Final Break’, as the final two episodes are called, is scheduled for a (ca-ching) DVD release in the US on July 21.

The data for the most downloaded TV episodes of this week are listed below. The data are collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only.

Source: Unaired Prison Break Finale a Hit On BitTorrent

The data for the most recent TV episodes listed below are collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. The data for the second list is based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week is provided by ShowInsider.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

The data for the most recent TV episodes listed below are collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. The data for the second list is based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week is provided by ShowInsider.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

The data for the most recent TV episodes listed below are collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. The data for the second list is based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week is provided by ShowInsider.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

The data for the most recent TV episodes listed below are collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. The data for the second list is based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week is provided by ShowInsider.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

The data for the most recent TV episodes listed below are collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. The data for the second list is based on the total number of downloads is not yet available at the time of publication.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

The data for the most recent TV episodes listed below are collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. The data for the second list is based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week is provided by ShowInsider.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

Last week, Heroes took over but Lost is again on top. Both Heroes and Lost were downloaded well over a million times, beating the rest of the shows by a landslide.

The data for the most recent TV episodes listed below are collected by TorrentFreak. We use a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. The data for the second list based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week is provided by ShowInsider.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

This week, however, Heroes took over the lead. Both Heroes and Lost were downloaded well over a million times, beating the rest of the shows by a landslide.

The data for the most recent TV episodes listed below are collected by TorrentFreak. We use a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. The data for the second list based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week is provided by ShowInsider.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

The data for the most recent TV episodes listed below are collected by TorrentFreak. We use a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. We usually include an additional list based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week, but these data were not available at the time of publication.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

The data for the most recent TV episodes are collected by TorrentFreak. We use a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. Thanks to ShowInsider we now also include a list based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

The fifth season of Lost just started with two new episodes. Both episodes were downloaded close to two million time in the first week. As always, the vast majority of the people who download the show are located outside the U.S, where it may take up to a year before season 5 will actually air on TV.

The rise of unauthorized downloading of TV-shows is a signal that customers want something that is not available through other channels. It’s more about availability than the fact that it’s free and should be viewed as an opportunity, not a threat. The more restrictions, the more piracy – it’s as simple as that.

The data for the most recent TV episodes are collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. Thanks to ShowInsider we now also include a list based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week.

Source: ‘Lost’ Most Pirated TV-Show on BitTorrent

The data for the most recent TV episodes are collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. A list of the most pirated TV-shows of 2008 was published in December.

Thanks to ShowInsider we now also include a list based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

The data for the most recent TV episodes are collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. A list of the most pirated TV-shows of 2008 was published two weeks ago.

Thanks to ShowInsider we now also include a list based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

The new device can play videos from several large streaming sites, including YouTube, Google Video and Metacafe. However, its true power comes from the built-in BitTorrent client. Millions of people use BitTorrent to download TV-shows every week, so there are a lot of potential customers out there.

‘Whenever’ and ‘wherever’ are two words that are often heard when people explain why they use BitTorrent, and Netgear cleverly acknowledges this with their new player. “It is ideal for those who are geographically displaced from their preferred television content, such as international sporting events and Bollywood productions,” is how Netgear’s marketing promotes it.

If Netgear is indeed hoping for BitTorrent users to embrace the device, most of the potential lies outside the US, where 90% of all the TV-torrent downloads take place. The main reason being that fans sometimes have to wait for weeks or even months before the show airs on TV in their country.

For those who have a large library of video files downloaded already, the Internet TV Player also supports external USB drives. Plug it in, and all your videos will be available on your TV instantly, easy as that. Netgear expects that the Internet TV Player (ITV2000), priced at $200, will be available in stores early Summer 2009.

Source: Netgear Unveils its TV-Torrent Player

The data for the most recent TV episodes are collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only. A list of the most pirated TV-shows of 2008, including download count will be published later this week.

Thanks to ShowInsider we now also include a list based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

The data for the most recent TV episodes are collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only.

Thanks to ShowInsider we now also include a list based on the total number of downloads (not only recent episodes) of all shows in the past week.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

Non-US fans of Prison Break and other TV-shows sometimes have to wait for weeks or even months before their favorite show airs on TV in their country. However, this is slowly changing. Earlier this week Fox announced that Jack Bauer’s “24″ will air simultaneously in the US and Germany. We expect that this example will be followed in other countries as well.

We’ll have to see whether this has an effect on our weekly download charts. The data presented here is collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only.

At the end of the year we will publish a list of most downloaded TV-shows for the entire year, like we did last December.

Top Downloads September 7 – September 14

Source: 10 Most Pirated TV-Shows on BitTorrent

The millions of online viewers are catching up with the TV viewers, and are now a significant part of the show’s overall fanbase. Jesse Alexander, the executive producer of the popular TV-shows “Heroes” and “Lost” told TorrentFreak in an interview that his shows actually benefited from BitTorrent, because fans don’t have to miss a show, and often inspire others to watch.

“People watching shows such as Lost and Heroes on BitTorrent is the present world reality,” Alexander told us. “TV networks have to recognize this, give their viewers more ways to interact with the shows, and find ways to generate revenue from every member of the global audience.”

This week the new TV-season has started, but our weekly TV-Show download chart is the last one of the summer season. Prison Break will appear in next week’s chart, probably on top. Last year, Prison Break was the fifth most popular TV-show on BitTorrent, after Heroes, Top Gear, Battlestar Galactica and Lost.

The data for the weekly download chart is collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only.

Top Downloads August 24 – August 31

Source: Prison Break Downloads Popular on BitTorrent

At the end of the year we will publish a list of most downloaded TV-shows for the entire year, like we did last December.

TV-shows such as “Lost” and “Heroes” can get up to 10 million downloads per episode, in only a week.

Top Downloads July 27 – August 03

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent (wk31)

At the end of the year we will publish a list of most downloaded TV-shows for the entire year, like we did last December.

TV-shows such as “Lost” and “Heroes” can get up to 10 million downloads per episode, in only a week.

Top Downloads June 20 – July 27

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent (wk30)

At the end of the year we will publish a list of most downloaded TV-shows for the entire year, like we did last December.

TV-shows such as “Lost” and “Heroes” can get up to 10 million downloads per episode, in only a week.

Top Downloads June 13 – July 20

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent (wk29)

The data of the weekly download chart, collected by TorrentFreak, is gathered from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only.

At the end of the year we will publish a list of most downloaded TV-shows for the entire year, like we did last December.

TV-shows such as “Lost” and “Heroes” can get up to 10 million downloads per episode, in only a week.

Top Downloads June 15 – June 22

Source: Leaked TV Episodes Popular on BitTorrent

It’s understandable why the BitTorrent community feels a bit jittery this week after the shock demise of the OiNK tracker, particularly when another top site seemingly disappeared today.

Back in March we described EZTV as ‘the leading TV-torrent distribution group’ so when people tried to access www.eztvefnet.org today and got simply directed back to Google, panic started to creep in.

Luckily, this error is the result of some administrative issues and EZTV is alive, well and offering this message to their users:

Due to some misunderstandings during the transfers of domains relating to EZTV, the domain www.eztvefnet.org has been temporarily lost and now appears to redirect to a google query for EZTV. While we are working on resolving this issue, please be advised that there are alternative domains leading to our site – www.eztv.it and www.eztv.nl

NovaKing, admin at EZTV told TorrentFreak: “We are currently having some dns issues with eztvefnet.org so would like to inform our loyal fans that we prefer for people to start using the shorter easier to remember domain names!”

Source: EZTV Now Accessible Under New Domain Names

What do they offer?

Master flash files and bitmaps of every piece of art used in this season of Odd Job Jack. Every character, prop, and background from every episode plus tutorials and other support material. All free to hack, use, remix under a share-friendly license.

And why?

We love animation and we just know you do too. We’re proud of Odd Job Jack and we’ve put lots of work into our show. Our art deserves to live beyond broadcast and who better to give a free gift to than the entire planet?

The torrents are tracked by legaltorrents.com, and can be found a the freejack site. This is a great initiative, let’s hope more will follow.

Source: Odd Job Jack For Free

* How to get BitTorrent working in Itunes

* I steal TV because I have to!

* Fenopy, the Ajax Torrent Search Engine

* Secret Cinema & Camera Obscura (private), for the cult and arthouse movie junks

* RIAA bandwidth leeching

* BitTorrent & TV at macworld

Source: BitTorrent & P2P Linkdump (15)

the entire concept of the show is for fans to share with all of their friends using any means they wanted, so DRM would be counterproductive.

This is not the first time CocaCola is involved in a free TV-show. They’re also sponsoring the comedy “marcus hates his job“, created by the makers of the popular “the scene” show.

Stageside

Source: Coca-Cola Promotes P2P-TV

What do you think?.

Source: Tag your Tv-torrents!