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"Game of Thrones" and "Dexter" once again prove that they are highly anticipated by fans, though not in the way that shows' bosses expect. The two series are the most pirated TV show of 2012, according to TorrentFreak.
As many as 4.28 million people watched an episode of HBO's "Game of Thrones". It surpassed an estimated 4.2 million viewers which watched the episode on the premium cable channel the night it aired.
As for "Dexter", its top episode was downloaded 3.85 times in just a week. It's one million more than the number of legal U.S. audience which watched the episode on Showtime (estimated 2.75 million viewers).
"The Big Bang Theory", "How I Met Your Mother" and "Breaking Bad" round out the top five of most downloaded TV shows this year. "The Walking Dead", "Homeland" and newcomer "Revolution" also make it into the list.
The site reports that more than 80% of TV piracy occurs outside the U.S. It's mostly because of lack of availability to watch the shows online in a timely manner.
Making up 10% of the total illegal downloads, Australia becomes the No. 1 country where TV piracy occurs. The U.S. ranks second with 9.7% of the total illegal downloads, despite the fact that Americans are the first to see these favorite shows.
© AceShowbiz.com
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But... The Big Bang Theory isn't even worth stealing.
American living abroad... I can't get legal access to these shows. Even if a network were to post episodes on their own websites, they're usually region-blocked anyway. I have no choice but to go hunting on the pirate sites.
I pay 160 bucks a month to my cable provider for full access. I feel I have paid to watch these shows and if I miss an episode or want to watch it at a more convenient time I will download. Really there is no difference between a download and a pvr/dvr as long as you are already paying for the right to watch the show.
These shows require you to have a cable or satellite provider and pay the additional fee for the Showtime or HBO network. These shows are not available for payed download online and the only way to watch them online is to already have access to it on TV. These networks have 2-3 good shows and the rest is reruns of the same 10 garbage movies, so while the cost of accessing HBO or Showtime is around $10 a month, you're already paying close to $2.50 an episode while these shows are in season. Give us the ability to pay this subscription independent of our cable provider for online access and this could be solved pretty easily.
If you’re someone like me you watch these shows on TV and it’s perfectly legal. I would say that I can understand uproar over Game of Thrones, Dexter, or any of the shows that are on premium cable channels. But for the ones on basic cable I think its ridicules that they make a big deal out of it. If I’m paying to watch shows and if I miss a couple episodes or want to rematch it I feel that for the amount I’m paying for I should be able to enjoy them. On top of that the networks don’t provide the viewers and fans opportunities to watch the shows freely and with the way we are today with busy schedules and conflicts I feel that it would be too much for networks to host full seasons of their shows with full access to the viewers in a way that is easy and similar to paying for cable, but online.
I don't have cable, I don't see the reason to ever buy it. Most of what I want to watch is either on Netflix or Hulu, which I am happy to pay for. Let me pay to watch your shows online and I will do so, try to force me to buy a cable package and I'll just pirate it.
I can see why they're downloaded illegally. Quite simply, it's because people can't find those top shows legally on the 'Net.