A while back I tried out the Popcorn Time app that kept making news before it was shuttered (via VPN of course). It wasn't so much that I didn't want to pay fo

A while back I tried out the Popcorn Time app that kept making news before it was shuttered (via VPN of course). It wasn't so much that I didn't want to pay for anything. We subscribe to digital cable with HBO, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. My girlfriend watches cable a lot on the living room TV but I usually watch everything via HBO Go, Comcast On Demand, Amazon streaming, or Netflix. It's typically just easier than futzing around with the terrible DVR and I tend to pick up a show and watch it in chunks/seasons. The thing that really struck me about Popcorn Time wasn't the fact that it was "OMG piracy!" or anything groundbreaking (torrents aren't new and some clients feature watching while you download). It was the fact that I could skim through every show, bookmark favorites, and see which episodes I already watched. You could search by genre or popularity or year like on Netflix. And there were no issues of trying to figure out which service has the show I want to watch, which one has the site that only works properly in that one browser, etc. My takeaway, as someone who constantly flirts with cord-cutting, is that I'd totally pay someone (even Comcast) for a legal service like that. Hell, I'd even pay $50/mo or whatever cable costs on top of my internet service. In fact, I might even pay more because I could skip some of the other subscriptions. In fact, if cable is feeling the crunch from Netflix, then maybe they ought to out-Netflix Netflix. I already treat Netflix like a low-cost equivalent to basic cable where you can't just go in expecting to find a certain new movie or show but you can usually flip around and find something you'd like to watch. I understand why it would be tough for some companies to negotiate the contracts for all that content but if anything, cable companies have loads of experience and existing partnerships for this sort of thing. TL;DR: I'd gladly pay $50/mo for a legal Popcorn Time that delivers current and previous seasons of lots of shows in an easily searchable and bookmark-able interface via on-demand streaming. Streaming shows/series isn't new anymore but the missing piece is consistency and a single interface. I'm sure they'd screw it up in reality but if I'm fantasizing about the "perfect TV" that I'd gladly pay for, that would be it.