[icanhackit]

It's the startups that this move will hurt

I wonder - what if you took the code for Popcorn Time, made your own front-end and used the majority of your funds to sign deals with production companies? If it's P2P you could be based in Iceland for all it matters. You could avoid goods and services taxes everywhere because P2P is ephemeral and you'd avoid lawsuits from the rights holders for being a legitimate front-end for their content.

Your attack surface would mainly be P2P blocking in countries that don't like the cut of your jib or throttling from ISPs.

[pjc50]

sign deals with production companies

This is not going to happen.