My dangerous idea.

[The Nonesuch]

My current dangerous idea is to buy an old-model TiVo, add TiVoNet, 
then ship the box off to a distant friend who A) gets a a lot of
cable channels I cannot receive and B) has cablemodem access. Set it 
up to record shows and dump them (with simple compression) back over 
the 'net to me.

With such a setup, I can get shows that are on BBCA (not offered
here) and rare shows found on his local PBS affiliate, etc.

And just think of the fun I can have when TiVo becomes available in 
the UK, Japan, etc- instead of pen pals, we'll trade the ability to 
schedule television programs remotely. I'll give you access to
capture on my network if you give me access to one on yours :-)