Why is there a delay on international television?

Sharron Salin: See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_in_Canada_... .There is not, now, a one year delay between “Doctor Who” in Britain and America, at least in respect to BBC America.It is quite normal that foreign shows may be shown with a delay in respect to their country of origin. Many shows are never picked up for showing in another country. A television network or station in a country must pick and choose which foreign shows they want. Sometimes they pick a loser. Often they wait and see what is already a success before ordering it, in which case they are likely to be at least one year behind.The choice is either to start at the beginning of the series (which may put them more than one year behind) or start broadcasting new episodes. Broadcasting old episodes is often less expensive, but they will be putting themselves into competition with DVD sales.In short, TV networks and TV stations try to order shows and packages of shows that they think will bring ! in the most money. They may prefer to purchase older episodes because they are less expensive as this will compensate for competing with DVDs. Also, if the current show is being broadcast already in the U.S., broadcasting older episodes at a lesser price may be just what a station wants to do.BBC America originally did not carry “Doctor Who” at all, supposedly because it was too expensive for them. Perhaps they expected it to flop. When it was so very successful, they began airing it a year later and soon caught up. Note, that every show that BBC American airs means AT LEAST one other British show that BBC America does not air. The BBC runs three channels simultaneously in Britain and only one channel in the U.S.BBC America, like US stations, picks and chooses what it wants to air and sometimes, in retrospect, it chooses wrong. But one must expect any television station to occasionally make what are, in retrospect, errors.The new series starring Matt Smith is scheduled ! to begin on BBC America on April 17, 2010, presumably very soo! n after the BBC in Britain where the only date given currently is “Spring, 2010”....Show more