Can I stream purchased TV shows through iTunes?

[Kevin L.]

After Apple started letting you stream purchased TV shows through the AppleTV, I deleted all my local copies. Now I want to use an old mac as a media server in my living room and be able to stream these shows "in the cloud" to this TV. On my main computer, I can just go to the "Purchased" tab, but on the secondary computer, I can't see purchased content since I purchased it on a different computer. (Yes, I am logged-in with my same Apple ID).
So... I've scoured the web for some way to stream purchased TV shows through iTunes, just like I can do on the AppleTV, but I haven't found any answers. Anyone know of a solution? What about a Mac app that can emulate an AppleTV interface and let me access my purchased shows that way? (I'd just buy a second AppleTV but my living room TV set isn't digital so there's no way to connect it without really expensive down-scalers.)

 

[Rigby]

I don't think it's possible to stream TV shows through iTunes. However, you can do progressive download (i.e. start downloading the show from the purchased section in the iTunes store, and start playback after a few seconds while it is still downloading).

 

[Kevin L.]

That's not a bad idea. Too bad there's no software hack to make a mac run like an AppleTV. (Come to think of it, someone near me keeps advertising a "jailbroken" Mac Mini on CL with some sort of fake AppleTV software; I should ask what they're running.)