TV execs aren’t the only ones feeling the effects of the writers’ strike. If repeats and reality programming end up ruling the airwaves in the coming months, a plethora of web sites devoted to hit shows like 24 or Lost could also be affected, notably torrent sites and other P2P communities that draw a sizable audience of TV show fans from all around the world looking for their latest fix. Will the file-swapping pace on sites like The Pirate Bay, Mininova or EZTV die down due to a lack of new releases? Take a look at any torrent site during your regular TV season, and you’ll see that episodes of TV shows consistently top the trading charts. Some statistics show that almost 50 percent of the people who use these sites are downloading TV torrents, while others estimate that more than 20 percent of all bittorrent traffic is caused by TV show downloads.
Some claim that less popular show and reruns will see some significant increase in popularity… but curently reruns of Law & Order or the latest Tila Tequila episode haven’t cause a downloading frenzy.
“But a lot of British and European TV does really well on torrent sites”. This will help the overall catalog of torrent sites. “The tail should get longer and availability of older titles should improve,” predicted Garland.
Source NewTeeVee