You can call it the democratisation of television programming. Channel Seven will screen Prison Break tonight and Heroes in the coming weeks – almost at the exact same time as the programs are aired in the United States. Similarly, Channel Ten is claiming that it is “streaming live” episodes of the controversial hit, Californication (they actually appear two weeks after they are shown on Showtime in the US).

Traditionally, Australian networks wait until February to begin running US programming to avoid having them run over the summer non-ratings period (or split the season considerably). So why are Seven and Ten detrimentally changing the programming patterns?

Simply, the power of the internet. Shows such as Heroes, Prison Break and Lost, which are extremely popular among tech-savvy viewers aged between 16 and 35 are losing a not-so-insignificant amount of their audience to illegal downloads. Many twenty-something’s will simply not watch live television at all, rather they will download new episodes as they air in the US, or download the entire series in one hit through programs such as Bit Torrent.

It is no coincidence that many of the highest rating shows this year have been locally produced, with Kath and Kim, The Chaser, Summer Heights High, Dancing with the Stars, Australian Idol, Sea Patrol and City Homicide easily out-rating their imported competition. Part of their success is no doubt due to the quality of production, but also, locally produced shows appear on Australian screens first and therefore, cannot be downloaded before they are screened (unless, as the ABC did last week with Summer Heights High, they are placed on the internet a little early).

Interestingly, Ten and Seven are screening only certain shows early. Nine’s CSI franchise, which “skews old”, would leak less viewers to the internet than say, Heroes or Californication, which have far younger audiences (older viewers are far less inclined or able to download programs from the internet). Therefore, Nine does not need to rush CSI to air in the same manner that Seven is with Heroes.

The internet has achieved what years of requesting couldn’t – timely showing of programs. If this trend continues who knows what could be next, maybe TV stations may even start scheduling programs at their advertised time in the years to come.