I guess producers are used to a world where it takes agreements with local outlets in many parts of the world to figure out how a show will be broadcast in each

I guess producers are used to a world where it takes agreements with local outlets in many parts of the world to figure out how a show will be broadcast in each region. When a pirated show is instantly available in a region that would otherwise wait a week, that shows an industry asleep at the wheel. Producers should ask themselves some hard questions if they're unable to deliver a better format when they're the ones being paid for it. As I see it the future looks something like this: 1. ISPs and other infrastructure companies start charging much, much more for bandwidth but in exchange they invest hugely in it. The default assumption would be that everyone and his grandmother needs obscene amounts of data because this is now how they're watching TV, etc. There would be exceptions for people who somehow use very little, just like now where some people don't own a TV and don't buy cable. 2. Content companies make deals with these ISPs that basically say this: "hey, I'll produce lots of stuff people want, which will cause them to download obscene amounts of data; in exchange, give me a guaranteed cut of whatever you're charging them". 3. There would be a way to buy temporary bandwidth, e.g. instead of a pay-per-view movie you rent an hour of "high bandwidth" and download whatever you feel like watching in that time. In other words, companies have to stop pretending the Internet isn't the best way to distribute things, and customers have to stop pretending that things don't cost money.