certainly!! especially at peak times
i would call myself a fairly heavy downloader... i don't like being told "when" to watch a show or enjoy advertising in any form. But does that mean i should be excluded from enjoying a show?
In my opinion... until VOD comes along in a form whereby it is easy to access across platforms (ie linux/windows + xbmc plex etc... and even internet TV's) and this absurd notion of airing it in the states first (superiority complexes or what!?) then i feel that i am totally legitimate in my need to download.
However.... I schedule my stuff for overnight, lets face it most things in the states are aired at like 4am, plenty of time before "throttling" time for someone to record and upload it to usenet.