Technology and copyright protection laws are not always on speaking terms, so it's difficult to say whether you can legally download television shows with any sort of finality. Some legal analysts suggest that consumers who download television shows are clearly in violation of existing copyright laws. Others equate the practice with videotaping or digitally recording broadcasts for later personal viewing. Currently, the most common methods used to download television shows are very similar to file-sharing systems already being challenged in courts around the world.

The technology to download television shows definitely exists, and sales of the equipment have not been outlawed. Through a digital recording device marketed as TiVo, users can download television shows onto a recordable DVD format called digital video recorder (DVR). Not only does TiVo allow owners to download television shows; it also allows for the editing of commercials and real-time pausing. The use of DVR disks to download television shows falls under the same protection as using a video cassette recorder (VCR). The user agrees not to distribute the recorded material commercially, and all viewing is to take place in a private home.

With the advent of streaming video and broadband Internet services, however, the legality of downloading television shows has become less clear. Producing a primetime comedy or drama can be a very expensive venture for network executives. Creative artists such as writers, directors and actors must be compensated for their skills. Technical expenses must also be recouped.

Finally, there is the question of copyright, which is designed to establish legal ownership of the show as a creative work. While networks recover many of these expenses through the sale of advertising, sometimes the profit margin is surprisingly thin. When someone decides to download television shows through a file-sharing website, the legal owners of those shows lose some potential revenue.

This is the problem one faces when deciding on the legality or illegality of downloading television shows. It is currently legal to use a digital recording device to download television shows for private viewing. In a copyright law sense, it may be illegal to download television shows from any source not authorized by the legal owners of those shows to distribute that content. One can choose to download television shows offered through authorized services licensed by the owners. Most of the major broadcast networks in the United States now have websites which provide subscribers with downloadable files of selected programs.