Amanda Palmer hardly fits the profile of an Internet outlaw, but her obsession with the ABC show "Lost" makes this self-described "bubbly, nutty mum" the television industry's worst nightmare.
Like thousands of other British fans, the 30-year-old personal assistant can't bear to wait the nine months it can take for new "Lost" shows to air in England. So, soon after the closing credits roll in America, she downloads each episode off file-sharing networks.
And most alarming to TV industry executives, Palmer admits not a twinge of guilt.
"It's TV, isn't it?" she said. "It would probably be different if it was a movie. If it is free on everybody's TV, why worry about it?"
The $60-billion TV industry has a simple answer to Palmer's question: because the future of free TV may depend on it.
Although still far behind music, television shows represent the fastest-growing type of files downloaded online. As Internet speeds increase and software improves, almost anyone can get high-quality bootlegs of such popular shows as "Desperate Housewives," "24" and "The O.C." -- minus the commercials that make "free" TV free.
As Palmer can attest, piracy has never been easier.
Software such as BitTorrent makes pirated material easy to download, episodic TV ensures a fresh supply of content and the popularity of devices such as Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod creates an appetite for video.
"In the same way that the original Napster was synonymous in the minds of virtually everyone who used it with free music, today if you say 'BitTorrent,' they're thinking television," said Eric Garland, chief executive of BigChampagne, a research firm that tracks online traffic. "Even people who are not eye-patch-wearing pirates think nothing of grabbing a show from BitTorrent."
In fact, some people now use file sharing as a source of on-demand programming, outpacing the industry's efforts to set up their own pay-for-view services. Instead of programming a VCR or digital video recorder to record the latest episode of FX's "Nip/Tuck," these users simply download it the next day.
Clicking the mouse instead of the remote has dramatic implications for the TV industry.
Producers of popular programs often take in as much as a third of their revenue from foreign sales -- a pot of money that would presumably evaporate if overseas downloading catches on.
In addition, producers also rely heavily on the profits that flow from DVD compilations of their biggest hits.
