Earlier this year, FOX sought charges against a pirate for releasing the premiere of 24 to the internet. Apparently, they've learned a few things in the meantime. Most prominently, this giving away of advanced premiere's can be a good thing. The network is experimenting with using the internet for pre-release this season, starting with the New Orleans based buddy cop show K-Ville. Will this marketing tactic help, or hinder?
The Internet has been blamed for financial loss by the film industry for years now. When pre-release pilots and episode rips began popping up on bit torrent sites and usenet news groups, the television industry initially responded in kind: the Internet was the downfall of the television market.

The presence of episodes after they have aired really does not impact American markets as much as it does foreign markets, who are usually behind the US in airing our imported programming. A concern that could easily be dealt with by global synchronization, but lets give the industry a break; they are trying to ‘get' the internet.

The last few years have seen the networks make a move towards offering free streaming versions of their shows shortly after the airdate, and more recently ABC has added the ability to watch these shows in High Definition. If you can't beat them join them, with intersertial ads, of course.

One major headache for studios has been the availability of pilots before the new season begins. The pirate world distributes ripped versions of these ‘pre-air' pilots sometimes months in advance of their airdate. The result is an outpouring of amateur reviews, sometimes coming from compelling and respected bloggers, which wind up foiling the well timed media efforts ties to launching the shows.

With K-Ville, FOX is taking an unprecedented step forward and making the entire pilot available online, on demand, 24/7, for absolutely free. No doubt, this is an effort to see if the impact of torrents can be tempered by a network with a more open and ‘giving' attitude. The backwards thinking would be that this will cut viewer ship of K-Ville's pilot, but in fact – if successful – the word of mouth generated by the segment of viewers who tune in online could form a dichotomy of positive word of mouth that will reach an even larger group of potential viewers.

Is FOX's move a first step towards the networks accepting the reality of pilot leaking, and if so will everyone get in line next year to present their pilot's to the public en masse at the same time they unveil to the critics? Time - and K-Ville's ratings - will tell.

- Jon Lachonis, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX)