Did 'Battlestar Galactica' Kill Television?

Some of that power was felt just a couple weeks ago when Web-savvy viewers of the CBS series "Jericho" convinced the network they were not paying enough attention to how the show was being distributed through non-traditional means -- you know, the Internet -- and in the end, had vastly miscalculated the audience for the show. On top of that, the campaign to organize the "Save Jericho" campaign came almost completely through the Internet, and CBS is poised to return the show either later this year or early 2008.

Other genre shows, however, have tapped into the raw energy of the Internet, whether it be the well-marketed and fan-produced "Star Trek: New Voyages," or simply by accident like SciFi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica."

"Although live broadcasts are still big business, time-shifted video podcasts have exploded the myth that the value of video resides in when people view them," wrote Wired blogger Adario Strange in a recent column.

That was proved by the first season of "Battlestar Galactica." Because of a partnership SciFi Channel made with British satellite company Sky One, the first 13 episodes of the series were aired across the pond, forcing American audiences to wait months. Well, OK ... audiences that didn't realize the episodes were available online -- albeit unlawfully -- and knew how to download them.

"For months, viewers in the [United States] downloaded the show illegally via torrents," Strange said. "The vibrant conversation in the [United States] regarding the show lasted months as time-shifted episodes trickled in from Europe one-by-one. The value of all those time-shifted Internet views created the hype that made the show a success in the [United States], not simultaneous viewings."

Strange was responding to an analysis made by HDNet executive Mark Cuban who claimed, among other things, that the "more people that see content when it is originally 'broadcast,' regardless of the distribution medium, the more valuable the content" as well as "the greater number of people that watch content simultaneously, the greater the emotional attachment of the viewer."

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