You can sort of bypass the trans-Atlantic television programming propagation delay but buying shows at iTunes. Some, like Blade, are going up for sale at iTunes.com right after the episode airs.

I think the two Stargate series fall into this category too, as do a number of others.

If there are only a couple series you like, it might be cheaper to buy them from iTunes than to pay for a whole season of cable TV.

In theory, digital broadcast television is supposed to bring more channels and thus, more stations, and inevitably more shows airing each week. So, that could eliminate the bottleneck preventing you from getting great local and great US television shows at the same time.

In practice, here in the US we are actually seeing a _reduction_ in the number of TV broadcast stations as digital TV is around its halfway point at getting phased in. So, that might not be the rosy solution one would/should - but apparently cannot - expect.

Like you said, DVDs is one way to watch shows, especially those that never make it across the ocean.

Maybe your local satellite TV services offer an American TV package.

TV shows might be distributed in other ways in the coming years. After all, it is just video.

Ten years ago I would have never predicted TiVo but now I own one. Five years ago I would have never predicted iPod but I own a couple and just gifted one to a relative this week.

I guess what I am saying is that in several years you might be swimming in American TV and missing the days when you had more quality locally-originated/controlled video entertainment available.

TV sets will probably not be the only way to watch TV and maybe not even the main way to watch TV shows. Take a look at Elgato.com and see what their newest product looks like and how low their prices are.

If you like kiddie cartoons or adult animation, there will probably be a torrent of high quality shows in those genres coming out in three years. Next year Apple introduces Core Animation baked right into their OS.

By the next year, you can be sure that Apple and/or 3rd party ISVs will have released turnkey applications that harness those capabilities - which include the ability to do those CD-cases animations you see in the latest iPod/iTunes TV commercials.

I think within a year after that happening, you will see some *very cool* animation shows rolling out of some new animators that will spring up. Also, 3D rendering, Flash, and other animation modes have come out and taken root. The quality of that stuff will probably increase. When that happens, you will have more places than TV and movies to turn to for top-notch shows to watch.

You could even make your own. A few years from now, I do not think it will be that hard. Look how far DV and personal desktop video publishing & podcasting have come in the past few years.