Personally, I think both sides in this debate are somewhat pathetic.
Content providers are pathetic because they have had all this time to grok that their business model is outdated, and yet they still haven't. What is so freaking hard about distributing movies and TV shows over the Internet?
But people who pirate, and then argue that it's OK because they have a "right" to watch what they want, when they want, are just as pathetic. Lots of people put in lots of work to make that TV show or that movie. If you watch what they make, you have, IMO, a moral obligation to compensate them. The fact that the content providers have a braindead business model does not relieve you of that obligation.
(Btw, I'm well aware that the "content providers" aren't the ones who actually put in all the work to make that movie or that TV show. I think the people who actually do do that--actors, directors, writers, and everyone else who actually does the hard work--are making a huge mistake by hitching their fates to the fates of the media companies. But that still doesn't give me the right to get the product of their hard work for free.)
Content providers are pathetic because they have had all this time to grok that their business model is outdated, and yet they still haven't. What is so freaking hard about distributing movies and TV shows over the Internet?
But people who pirate, and then argue that it's OK because they have a "right" to watch what they want, when they want, are just as pathetic. Lots of people put in lots of work to make that TV show or that movie. If you watch what they make, you have, IMO, a moral obligation to compensate them. The fact that the content providers have a braindead business model does not relieve you of that obligation.
(Btw, I'm well aware that the "content providers" aren't the ones who actually put in all the work to make that movie or that TV show. I think the people who actually do do that--actors, directors, writers, and everyone else who actually does the hard work--are making a huge mistake by hitching their fates to the fates of the media companies. But that still doesn't give me the right to get the product of their hard work for free.)