Re:Why the delay? (Score 1)

Because your summer is six months before ours for a start. And thats about the delay for popular first run stuff. Iron Chef isn't really all that popular and it doesn't really matter if we see it 10 years later. To be perfectly honest I can't tell its 10 years old when i see it. Can anyone?

But they can do it if they want. I think it was Jericho? It was shown in Australia within a few days of the US to beat the torrents.

And don't for get the Sports Factor. Last year Channel 9 here had a catchup week where they showed seceially put together digest showreels of some of the most popular Soaps to catch up the almost 2 years that some were behind the US. This delay arose because [among other things] Channel 9 shows live Cricket over the summer and 5 x 4 day games and maybe another 12 one day games basically mean every year some of those shows will get 2 months behind just from the Cricket. The other major network, 7, has a similar problem with the Tennis including the Australian Open. They show full coverage for the entire tournament in January plus a few of the leadup Tournaments.

In the US the sport would be on Cable. In Australia anti siphoning laws prevent them from disappearing from free to air so while you watch first run CSI:Blue :Yellow or :Green we watch cricket. Everyone's a loser.