Crunchyroll did the same thing with anime. They streamed fansubs and offered paid accounts with some benefits (I forget what exactly). A while back they went

Crunchyroll did the same thing with anime. They streamed fansubs and offered paid accounts with some benefits (I forget what exactly). A while back they went legit and now have simulcasting deals with some of the anime distributors. You can get it the same day as Japan with your paid subscription, or get it for free the next week. At the same time, all of their old content was taken down. I'm not saying I like this model, but it's been done before.