what are the chances...

[merpy]

...that Dollhouse will be available online in some legal format, do you think? I live in Canada, so those \"full episodes online\" things never work, since you have to be in the U.S., and I absolutely want to support Dollhouse, Joss and the rest...but I don\'t have cable, and won\'t be getting it. I feel like this is a flaw in the TV money-making system. So many people around my age don\'t have cable and prefer to download shows. I\'m perfectly willing to pay for it, I just don\'t think the option is available! Someone please tell me I\'m wrong, or if there will be another way!

[malgal]

I don\'t know. Are you able to view any FOX shows online anywhere? I know they put some shows on their site, but only for the US. I think iTunes has some things, but I\'m not sure if they have country restrictions.

FOX isn\'t a cable station in the US. Is the Canadian affiliate a cable station?

[merpy]

Good point, I\'ll hope it\'s available on iTunes. I don\'t have iTunes right now, but I think it\'s a free download... Does iTunes give you files in .avi format, or is it some weird format?

Whedonesque says Dollhouse has been picked up by Canwest here in Canada. I think they\'re Global TV, which might be non-cable, but right now I don\'t have any channels at all, so iTunes is the better option.

Thanks!

[malgal]

I\'m sorry. I have no idea about the format. I haven\'t ever downloaded an episode from iTunes. I know they charge for them, though. I think it\'s usually something like 99 cents USD, so it\'s not terribly expensive.

I know Amazon also offers a similar service to iTunes called Amazon Unbox (http://www.amazon.com/Unbox-Video-Downloads/b?ie=UTF8&node=16261631). I don\'t know much about their service because I\'ve never used it either, but they may end up having the show as well.

[CollSwan]

Hurray for the cable-free!!!

I am usually a year behind (DVD via Netflix) or I watch on-line via iTunes or hulu.com (which isn\'t international at this point). I try to stay with the legal route b/c I do want to support the shows I like, but I hate being 8 months behind on some series.

iTunes format is an apple format (not *.avi or anything). I\'m sure some techy folks have been able to move it from iTunes to something else, I never have. I usually watch the episodes directly on iTunes and don\'t worry about re-formatting it - or I push to my iPod and watch it on the plane.
iTunes itself is a free download and episodes typically cost $1.99 per episode USD ($0.99 is typical cost for songs and such). I don\'t know how many new Fox shows are going to be on iTunes since I think they participate in the hulu.com project.

Also, if iTunes doesn\'t work for you, you may want to try amazon unbox - same price but it\'s more windows-friendly (I have a Mac and can\'t use it without installing windows - which kinda defeats the purpose of having a Mac, IMO)

surfthechannel.com is hosted in Sweden, (I think) and sidereel.com is elsewhere as well. Since international laws vary, I\'m sure if these are legal where you are or not. I try not to go here unless I\'m desperate for the latest BSG or something and hulu.com is crapping out on me... ;)

Hope his helps.

[merpy]

Thanks for the info, very helpful! I have lots of options now, so presumably I should be able to figure out how to get at least one of them to work! Now if only the show had started...