Fans won’t wait 30 days for new ‘Doctor Who’

The days are drawing nigh for the Doctor, a 900-year old time traveler.

Luckily for him, however, he'll get an extra month's reprieve as English cable channel BBC America will air one of three final episodes of David Tennant's reign as the character.

"Doctor Who," a British science fiction institution since 1963, is winding down it's tenure with Tennant as the lead character.

In just three episodes, he'll hand over his keys to his time machine to another actor, Matt Smith.

Before the two-part finale "The End of Time," there's still "The Waters of Mars," which premieres in England in a mere two weeks.

BBC America, on the other hand, has chosen not to expedite the transmission overseas, opting instead to delay it an entire month, airing it Dec. 19.

That's right, 30 days.

When American audiences are tuning into the latest special – featuring the Doctor stranded on a Martian colony – England will be preparing for the end.

And it doesn't make any sense.

In its recent run of also-British "Torchwood," a science-fiction alien/police drama hybrid, the cable channel aired it a mere two weeks after its airing back in England.

While this was still an inconvenience – fans anywhere don't want to be needlessly deprived of their favorite shows – it wasn't a major one.

Many English shows making the leap to America often take six months to a year. But thanks to piracy, things have been expedited. (Another special of "Doctor Who" aired Christmas Day in England and premiered here in June.)

With a show like "Doctor Who," which has slowly gained a major international following, it boggles the mind to understand how this makes any sense – for the viewer or even for the channel.

Audiences now are more technologically savvy than ever before and won't wait. Instead, they'll turn to pirating.

They'll also be able to find clips of it on YouTube within minutes of it airing, spoilers galore which can all take the fun out of an original viewing.

BBC America is missing a prime chance to have its name thrown out there by giving fans what they want.

Fans want to see what happens next to their Time Lord as he travels around in a spaceship disguised as a 1960s London policebox.

They just don't want to wait a month for it.

It's foolish for cable networks not to acknowledge the way programming has changed.

No longer are TV channels the gatekeepers of content – no longer are they able to stagger content as they wish for their own purposes.

BBC America isn't doing much to take advantage of this audience, nor is it being an advocate for legalized viewing.

Scheduling the episode earlier would give both what the fans want and concerned studio executives less reason to panic.