Peer-to-Peer TiVo?

Evidently Roanoke’s flooding yesterday made the Today Show, although no one in the newsroom taped it. So those who wanted to see it but didn’t were out of luck.

Which got me thinking.

I’d love to see a network of TiVos — the digital video recorders that are getting so popular as a VCR replacement.

It would work like this: You miss an episode of your favorite show (or of a news show you hear about after the fact). You send your request to the network: “Did anyone record the season premiere of Joan of Arcadia?”

(More likely, you would scroll through your program guide to the show you missed, then choose a menu item on the screen marked “Try to Retrieve This Show from Other Viewers.”)

Your DVR — TiVo brand or otherwise — would then find people who did record it and pull the show down for you.

Of course, this would require more than just a standard DVR; you would need a high-speed Net connection as well, but it strikes me as a neat way to fill a need.