Homeland to debut on T-Box prior to airing on Network Ten

Telstra and Network Ten have signed a deal for the US drama Homeland to debut on the Telstra T-Box before airing on free-to-air television.

The 200,000 T-Box subscribers will be allowed to stream the premiere episode of the series, starring Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, for free, and in advance of its first showing on Ten. How far in advance T-Box viewers will be ahead of the rest of us has yet to be announced.

The answer to that question partially rests upon when Ten will begin screening the well-received series. Also, it's unclear whether this arrangement will also be available for the remaining 11 episodes of the first season.

The success of this partnership between new and old media could be undermined by other factors. Remember that illegal copies of the series, which has completed its season run on Showtime in the US, are already available online. There may also be legal ways of watching the show prior to its local debut, depending on when the DVD and Blu-ray discs are released in US, and how deep into Australian ratings season, which begins in February, it premieres on Ten.