Fox Goes After Uploader of 24, Simpsons Episodes

Fox has served subpoenas against YouTube and LiveDigital to find out the name of who uploaded episodes of 24 and the Simpsons to those two video hosts.  It's not as if there aren't clips from either show there,  or Family Guy, or American Dad, or American Idol, or House MD, or any other popular Fox program.  This is different.  The user in question uploaded full un-aired episodes of 24 and full episodes of the Simpsons from Season 7.  (The current DVD releases cover through Season 9).

The show relies on shock after shock to keep the audience glued to this money-maker off the war on terrorism.  Fox heavily promoted the series during the football playoffs, to the point where TV critics  called the Bears-Seahawks game one long commercial for the show.  The serendipity was present when the game went into overtime tied at 24 apiece.

So now someone comes along and says lets end the suspense and post these episodes.  Fox normally keeps them under wrap, so it would likely be an insider, or potentially a critic with advance access to copies of the show.  Fox would like to know who is that person.  That's a mystery that may be more interesting than a lot of the programming on Fox.  Maybe Geraldo can read the name live.

The studio is likely to succeed on their quest.  The DMCA gives them leverage for the subpoenas.   It's a matter as to how it all plays out.  YouTube has deleted the content and suspended the account of the user.  Let's hope this isn't a publicity stunt to hype the show even more.  That's probably not the case, but you never know until the details come out.

Stories are in TechNewsWorld,  ITWire, and Ars Technica.