New trend? Current season of network shows appearing on cable

Has anybody else noticed this? I think it started with adult swim getting to show eps of American Dad 2 weeks after they premiere and then the same with the new season of Family Guy, but I guess even before then, you could watch the Apprentice on CNBC or MSNBC, I forget.

I think RocketRiver pointed out to me that Surface was airing on SciFi a few days or a week later.

Anyways, one night, on USA or TNT or TBS, they had Law and Order and Just Legal back to back and they were the episodes that aired that same night on their respective networks. So they were on Cable right after the episodes ended.

I like the idea because when you have a new fall season and there are new shows to check out, you can't catch everything because the shows you are interested in might be airing at the same time. In this instance, I have to give kudos to the tv industry.