[kriro]

"""piracy is really a last resort for when they really love the content but can’t get it any other way."""

This is very true and a pretty strong indicator that you are leaving money on the table by ignoring a customer segment. I've reduced my media consumption a ton but know enough people who stream TV shows (technically not illegal) they'd gladly pay for. The problem: they want to watch them in the original language (typically English) and when they are released.

Incidentally that's also a segment that is willing and able to pay for that (for starters knowing the language means they are usually better educated than average which c.p. means a higher income) but the problem is it's just not available to buy. Pay TV is sloooowly getting there (I could watch GoT instantly on a pay TV channel for example)

[TeMPOraL]

Yup, that's exactly it. On-demand (not just immediately after release; sometimes you learn about already screened or even finished series and you want to start watching it), downloadable (optical media simply sucks, doubly so when they get scratched) and in original language instead of some crappy translation. There are ways in my country in which you can download like this in a technically legal way, with consistent download speed, simple interface and a better quality than streaming service - you only pay for gigabytes of transfer you use. There're tremendous amounts of money going to such services instead of publishers and authors because official sources can't be bothered to do media distribution in a viewer-friendly way.

[james-skemp]

I've always been told that it's usually for legal reasons/costs that they'll leave this money on the table. I believe it was in the context of Miami Vice that I saw this came up, specifically in regards to music licensing (for DVD release many years ago).

Does anyone know if contracts have gotten any better with regards to streaming purposes? With Hulu's raise I assume there's now some language being put into these to account for it.