‘Downton Abbey’ season 3: PBS to offer up episodes on iTunes early

In the newest effort to combat criticism yet again of airing “Downton Abbey” months later than it does in Britain, PBS has come up with an interesting new strategy for its viewers: giving them an opportunity to purchase the episodes early at the expense of their own ratings.

Basically, what is going to happen here is that beginning on January 29, you can download the final three episodes of the season in America (which air with a slightly different edit than in Britain) prior to them airing on PBS. This gives the network an opportunity to make money, while also giving the PR move of saying that they offered them up to fans as early as they could.

Now, for a bit of curmudgeon-esque criticism: isn’t there such a thing called patience? What this entire saga has really brought to our attention more than anything else is just how selfish we as American TV viewers have become. While other countries have to wait months upon months to watch new episodes of certain shows, we throw a hissy fit when there is one show here that arrives later than somewhere else. At the PBS TCA event on Monday, the network’s president confirmed that they are talking about finding a way to get the show on the airwaves quicker, but also admitted that it may not even be in their best interest to put “Downton Abbey” up simultaneously against what is a very competitive fall TV schedule.

Ultimately, our suggestion is this: try to stay away from places that could contain spoilers for the show, and just sit down to watch “Downton Abbey” on TV. It’s always better that way versus watching it online or on your iPad.

If you want to see who has been finally confirmed to be appearing on “Downton Abbey” season 4, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: ITV