Many TV show episodes are available via a secure stream only. These are intended for viewing on the PC. Others are supported by advertising that is played with the video file. Naturally, there are many different online video formats.
Some episodes are available for download to your computer as a complete file for playback. This type of file is more readily transferred to your device for later viewing. Taking that file, and retransmitting it via a filesharing network is most undoubtedly of questionable legality.
For a user to view that file on his own personal device is a different case, as you’re the “end user”. “Sharing” the file or public performance of it is the key issue, as media rights have to be respected. This varies from different media sources (rights holders), of course.
Check with the website hosting the video about details on their intended media distribution rights. More specifically, if it’s a legal site like Hulu and others, this should be available. Often, if teh video is intended to be diaplayed only on the computer, this is because the episode is supported by the advertising seen on the screen.
There are episodes available for some programs, hosted on YouTube. These are available as special pages.
Bob :smileyvery-happy:
