Some of the fall's big new series are already playing illegally on a computer screen near you. So why aren't the networks fuming?

Piracy-or publicity?

Last week, a handful of buzz-generating fall pilots - like NBC's Bionic Woman, ABC's Pushing Daisies, and the CW's Reaper - were mysteriously leaked for illegal download on the Internet. And surprisingly, the networks aren't all that upset.

Though they continue to head off piracy by watermarking pilots that are sent to critics and advertisers months before the shows premiere, TV insiders admit that online leaks - even the unauthorized ones - aren't exactly the worst thing that can happen to a network. At a time when it's getting harder than ever to attract viewers (this fall, 29 new series will elbow their way onto the schedule), the common sentiment is that any kind of early attention is better than no attention at all. Which explains why studios including Warner Bros. screened the first hours of new shows like NBC's Chuck and FOX's the Sarah Connor Chronicles at Comic-Con.

While TV industry legal teams pull leaked pilots from the Web when possible, one network marketing chief admits to seeing a bright side: "Those alpha bloggers are a very influential group of people. It's important to get the message out there." The key, of course, is timing" A pilot that leaks too close to its premiere date could attract a smaller audience when it hits the airwaves. Still, the nets have no plans to keep ahead of pirates by streaming the pilots on their own websites - not yet, at least. "There's a sense of discovery online that consumers like," argues the marketing chief. "That sense of adventure would be lost if we started [posting]."

An anonymous Warner Brothers Television executive has admitted he helped leak the pilot of “Pushing Daises“, an upcoming TV show. His reason? He wanted to make sure the show “got out there,” and wanted to “help the cause.” The executive didn’t upload it himself; he got his neighbour’s kid to do it. And the kid was delighted to, because it pushed up his ratio on some private network.

Further evidence of TV studios embracing BitTorrent can be found in an interview with Jenji Kohan, the creator of ‘Weeds‘. The third season of Weeds was leaked around a month before it was to be aired on TV. Although another week is left before season three is broadcast to the world, hundreds of thousands of people from around the globe have already downloaded and watched episodes of it. And what does Kohan think of this? She’s glad her show’s gaining a larger audience: “Revenue aside, I don’t expect to get rich on Weeds,” she told Advertising Age jubilantly. “I’m excited it’s out there. Showtime is great, but it does have a limited audience.”