The re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica is making a lot of waves in television. In an interesting story, Mark Pesce gives a talk on hyperdistribution, in which he talks about how BSG's popularity may be partially the result of piracy.
The British aficionados of the series provided torrents for each episode within a few hours of each broadcast. Many fans in the US picked them up and watched them; so did many people in Australia.
While you might assume the SciFi Channel saw a significant drop-off in viewership as a result of this piracy, it appears to have had the reverse effect: the series is so good that the few tens of thousands of people who watched downloaded versions told their friends to tune in on January 14th, and see for themselves. From its premiere, Battlestar Galactica has been the most popular program ever to air on the SciFi Channel, and its audiences have only grown throughout the first series. Piracy made it possible for "word-of-mouth" to spread about Battlestar Galactica.
Source: Mindjack: Piracy is Good? How Battlestar Galactica Killed Broadcast TV
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