[mseebach]

Yes, but in the isolated world of this thought experiment, that's more reasonable: Commercials are most often targeted for a specific market, so there is no value in someone watching them thousands of miles away. This is true even for global brands ("They call it a Royale with Cheese").

[fluidcruft]

Legal: recording the OTA broadcast and watching it two hours later without skipping ads

Illegal: Downloading the same TV show with the commercial breaks intact as broadcast by your local affiliate and watching it two hours later without skipping ads

[officemonkey]

Legal: a friend recording a TV show on a VCR and giving you the tape.

Illegal: a friend recording a TV show to an .avi file and sending you a megaupload link.