Nine offers CSI online

Channel Nine will join TEN in offering downloadable episodes of American dramas as they air.

CSI will be available for download the same night as it has aired via its msn website.

But there is a small cost of around $2 per episode.

TEN currently offers free downloads of Supernatural, and available before they air.

According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, a Nine spokesman agreed that viewers wanted to watch shows at a time that suited them. Funny I thought part of the reason they were suing ICE TV was to dissuade time-shifting….

Well it’s good to see some movement from Nine on this, which up until now has only offered the Hat Show (aka McLeod’s Daughters).

As I see it diehard fans will have probably downloaded shows from US torrent sites for free as they are, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a market for Aussie networks to offer legal, low-cost downloads as well. Just as Napster died, people were happy to pay through for iTunes if it was comprehensive, legal and low cost.

The fact that Nine is making some move forward on this is certainly a move in the right direction.