American viewers of Downton Abbey are not pleased that they must watch the show months behind U.K. viewers, but there’s a small silver lining thanks to Apple’s iTunes for series 3.

The final three episodes of the current series will be released on iTunes on January 29 if you are subscribed to the show with its Season Pass feature. That’s well in advance of the series finale which is scheduled for February 17.

According to the BBC, Apple is hoping to capitalize on people who don’t wish to be spoiled. The one problem is that the series has been over in the United Kingdom for a couple weeks now, so chances of spoiling are already high. Just yesterday PBS defended its decision to not sync up with the U.K.’s release schedule, saying that the move has not affected its ratings and fans get to watch the show commercial-free.

Downton Abbey‘s series 3 premiere on PBS scored huge ratings, nabbing nearly nine million viewers and exceeding all expectations. While PBS is surely thrilled by the success, it must be a bit annoyed that it doesn’t (and can’t) run any commercials with the program. This is absolutely one benefit for American viewers that cannot be enjoyed with virtually any other popular television show save for subscription-based content.

We’ll let you know once Downton‘s final three episodes are available on iTunes. We can’t wait and will probably be purchasing them ourselves! Will you?

EDIT: As noted by @WorldofDownton, the series 3 DVD/Blu-ray will be on sale the same day, January 29. This is another way to get the final episodes early. Pre-order Downton Abbey series 3 using the links below: