I do pay for my cable TV service which includes BBC America, which does air Top Gear. Right now, they're airing a mix of seasons 10-12. There is no announcement as to the availability of season 13. As such, I *am* paying for a legal BBC service that does include the show in question. It's just not the current season.
If you bought 2 copies of season 12 off iTunes, would you be justified in downloading season 13 from elsewhere?
No, but that is not a valid comparision. A valid comparison would be if he intended to pay for season 13 when it arrived on iTunes, downloaded it elsewhere and then did subsequently pay for it on iTunes.
That is the
moral equivalent of subscribing to BBCA while season 12 is being broadcast, downloading season 13 and then continuing to subscribe through when season 13 is finally shown. Excluding the issue of advert revenue at least, but then sane people skip the ads on broadcast TV anyway...
I download loads of shows that I also "pay" for through my Sky subscription and licence fee. I realise that legally I don't have a leg to stand on, but I am perfectly happy with my moral position on it. I'm not doing Sky or the BBC out of any money and I'm not doing anyone out of any DVD sales (I watch the shows and then delete them, if I want to keep any long term then I go and buy the DVD when it is out).
The part where my moral story breaks down a bit is that I wouldn't dream of downloading a film, even though I guess I could use the same justification as with the TV shows (in that just about every film gets shown on TV at some point).
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