Telly on the computer

I've just watched 2 episodes of Lost on my PC - Sky One's been withdrawn from cable, and as I've watched it from the beginning, finding it strangely compulsive in a shallow kind of way, one of my sons has been supplying me with episodes downloaded from a Canadian website and burned on to DVD. So I've been able to keep up; in fact I think I might be ahead of Sky now. Such is the nature of modern technology. It got me musing about the nature of my TV viewing. I know it sounds a bit sad, but, just out of interest, I've kept a TV blog for the last few months - noting down the programmes I've watched all the way through (excluding the news and my Neighbours habit), and the medium I've used to watch it. This is actually quite interesting as it's becomae a barometer of the change in viewing habits. It's clear that I now watch less and less live TV. Most of my viewing is now DVDs of films and TV series, my own videotaping (sometimes it's the only way - still), and the useful Replay facility you get with cable, where they select a few programmes from the BBC and Channel 4 and keep them for a week. Within those categories are some sub-sections - my DVDs range from the free ones from the front of newspapers, the 3 per month I get from Amazon DVD rental, ones borrowed from various children, all of whom have collections, and downloads or copies. Plust the odd pay-per-view movie. I don't actually have very many myself, and have made a conscious decision not to collect them. I really don't see the point of accumulating DVDs just because you can - I feel overloaded with media as it is.
I don't think I'm that exceptional, but I'm sure that there are still plenty of people who just settle down to whatever's on every evening - I know, I work with a few of them. But it seems clear that more and more people are adopting habits and tailoring their viewing to suit their lifestyles - because they can.
I do know that I'm not necessarily typical - I know people who only watch Sky Sports and the odd Sky One or Channel 5 series such as CSI, indeed I remember when I was a child there were people who always watched ITV, never going near the BBC. My parents were very loyal to the BBC and rarely had ITV on, except for Take Your Pick and Double Your Money which they loved. I always felt a bit rebellious if I turned over to see what was always referred to as 'the other side'.
I still feel I have a close relationship with the Corporation and wouldn't dream of turning to anything else for those big occasions, and certainly only ever watch it for the news. It really is an extraordinary organisation - there's nothing like it anywhere else in the world. I can understand why some are suspicious of it, and mistrustful - its power is extraordinary - but I do feel the world would be a poorer place without it.
Me - I have a habit of dozing off mid-evening, so the chances of managing to see anything live at primetime all the way through, are remote. So it makes sense to watch stuff that's pre-packaged in whatever format, as I can always catch up if I do fall asleep, or watch it later in the evening when I tend to be a bit more wide-awake. I rarely watch more than 1 or 2 programmes a night at the most and my aim is entertainment that also challenges me - in fact, anything that makes me think a bit.
Anyway - I enjoyed Lost - and I expect I'll quickly get used to watching TV on the computer, just like I've got used to digital TV, DVD, video, pay-per-view etc etc.