Why People Pirate Movies and TV Shows

Most people think that people steal movies and TV shows by downloading them on the internet because they simply want to get something without paying for it. The truth is that while some people are unwilling to pay for the content they watch, most people would be willing to pay for content if it was offered at a fair price and via a delivery method of their choosing.

What content producer always fail to understand is that all of their attempts to stop people from downloading their content always has two results: the illegal downloaders always find a way around their antitheft measures, and honest, paying customers are inconvenienced. The true fact is that there are some people who will never pay for their content. They will always find a way around copy protection or just not watch the content. This relatively small group will never give their money to content providers, so the content they steal cannot really be considered a loss. The content producers think that if them make copying and downloading their content difficult enough, that these people will simply give up and buy their content. The reality is that the content pirate view copy protection as a challenge to overcome. They revel in breaking new protection schemes and then making the content easily available to the masses.

So if the true pirates never pay for content, what is the point of DRM and copy protection? All it ends up doing is causing problems for paying customers. Customers are unable to use the content they paid for in ways that they choose. They have to pay for the same content over and over again to view it in different mediums. Some television content is made available online while other content isn’t. New and novel ways to provide content such as Hulu and Netflix are endlessly harassed and blocked by movie studios and television networks. Content is blocked in some markets and allowed in others. Some markets get content several months after it has been released. Bluray player must be updated in order to play newer discs with updated copy protection. Some content is not made available on mobile devices. With all these restrictions, is it any wonder people turn to downloading their content from the internet with the copy protection removed? Content downloaded from the internet can be converted to play on any device the user chooses to watch it on, it can be copied unlimited times, it can be accessed as soon as it is release in any market, and it has no compatibility issues due to DRM.

If the content producers, Hollywood movies studios, and television networks were to provide their content DRM free, compatible with any device the user chooses, and at a fair price, people would gladly pay for their content any day of the week. Instead these entities continue to provide subpar viewing experiences to their paying customers and cause them endless frustration and problems; driving them to illegally download DVDs.