As part of the run-up to the series finale of Alias, seasons four and five of the show are now available on iTunes. You can buy one episode for the usual $1.99 or you can buy all of season four for $34.99. And, for the rest of the season, new episodes will be available the morning after they air.

Alias returns tonight for a two-hour episode from 8 pm to 10:01 pm (thus, no Lost).

Ketchup at my local hot-dog vendor? Matches at the Qwik-Mart around the corner? The pilot episode of Conviction on iTunes? What do they all have in common? They're free! But you better act fast if you want to see the pilot of Dick Wolf's new NBC law drama. Starting this morning the episode will be available for download from iTunes but it's only going to last two weeks until the show premieres on Friday, March 3. This is the first time NBC has made a program available before it has had a televised premiere.

Fortunately, NBC is making it worth your time (besides the whole "free" thing) by including a behind the scenes featurette and a music video with the download. Once again, yay for free stuff. In other iTunes news, ABC has added episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos to their downloadable library.

The networks are seeing some substantial payoff from having their shows listed in Apple's iTunes store. Shows that are available for download are also seeing a bump in their broadcast ratings. Shows such as The Office, Lost and Desperate Housewives have all seen significant rise in the number of people watching them on TV.

I think it's more than a little funny that people are turning to the shows on TV after trying them out on iTunes. After all, you pay $1.99 a pop on iTunes to "try" and episode that, if you had watched it when it was aired, would have cost you nothing. Maybe it's because they can take the shows with them on their Video iPods and watch them on the train. Whatever the case, the networks have to be happy more people are watching them on TV since it props up the advertising model that some were afraid iTunes would kill by offering advertising-free programming.

Now, knowing me - and just reading that title - you'd think this article was something perverted, but believe it or not, it's a little on the technical side. The Starz premium cable channel has just launched a new service named Vongo, hoping to be the "iTunes for movies." You can download and install the program for free and have access to a number of movies, TV shows, and concerts on up to three portable media devices. There is a $9.99 subscription fee, which allows you to download as many of their offerings as possible. On top of that, there's also a $3.99 charge for "first run" movies that have just been released. This announcement comes just in time for the Consumer Electronic Show (CES), starting this week in Las Vegas, and is, I'm sure, timed to give those new devices a little extra "presence" there.

Personally, I love my Windows Portable Media Player and Windows Media Center Edition PC, so I can't wait to play with this new service more. I just downloaded it a couple of minutes ago, and will get back to you in a week or so and let you know what I think of it. In the meantime, let me know what you think.

Battlestar Galactica resumes the second half of its second season on January 6th, and if you're one of the unlucky few who might feel left out of this incredible show, you're in luck! If you're sort on time and want a quick 22-minute recap of the previous season-and-a-half of episodes up to this point, iTMS has a free, downloadable clip available for your viewing pleasure. I'd really love to see this done for many other shows before new seasons begin, as a completely new audience can be reached, one who may have otherwise given up on the show for fear of being lost.

As already mentioned here, iTMS is also carrying all episodes of the new series (including the mini-series), though those are not free.

[via Lost Remote]