 The first season was aired in the United Kingdom on SkyOne months  before it aired in North America. This resulted in an increase in  North Americans downloading episodes on the Internet that were made  freely available by British viewers of the show. Fearing that this  widespread "previewing" of the series would diminish the shows  ratings once it aired in North America, executive producers  Ronald D. Moore (qv) and David Eick (qv) made a written plea to  fans to stop downloading episodes and wait for them to air in the  United States and Canada.