Actually, some downloads are
very good quality
Erm, not that I've ever been a TV downloading warez monkey or anything though
But, yep. very good news
It should certainly IMO cut down on the number of people downloading it (well, you'd hope so, anyway).
Sky have been showing things v. closely behind the US for a while now (tonight's Prison Break season premiere is only
1 day behind the US, while the last seasons of PB & 24 etc. were only a week or so behind IIRC), so it's very good that the BBC have realised that showing such big (& expensive!) shows several months late is a tad silly.
BBC HD for me on the 25th