Pirate TV Services Are Taking a Bite Out of Cable Company Revenue (arstechnica.co.uk)

TV piracy services are being used by about 6.5 percent of North American households with broadband access, potentially costing legitimate TV providers billions of dollars a year, a new analysis found. From a report: Pirate services that offer live TV channels are apparently responsible for more downstream traffic each night than torrent downloads. Based on these figures, there may be 7 million US and Canadian subscribers to pirate TV services that generally cost about $10 a month, the report by Sandvine said. That amounts to $840 million of revenue a year. We don't know how many people using pirate services would purchase a traditional cable or satellite TV package if the piracy option didn't exist. But if all of those people instead purchased a legal TV package for $50 per month, that would amount to another $4.2 billion revenue a year for North American pay-TV providers, the report said.

Comments

Re:Assumptions

[rogoshen1]

I know right?

"If you liked your grey-market TV package at $10, let me tell you about a GREAT deal! For the low, low price of $50 you can get exactly the same thing, with the added benefit of 13 religious channels, a Filipino-language cooking channel, and 75 home shopping channels! Trust me, you'd totally love it at $50. Because we; your poor, downtrodden cable company need your money. The legal expense needed to maintain a nationwide jihad against municipal ISP's and google fiber add up! Please, think of your cable company Subscribe today"

Re:No, just no

[Gravis Zero]

No. Just no. Not a potential no, a solid diamond-hard no. Like, seriously Chuck Norris testicles-hard no.

Ok... sooo... I'll put you down as a "maybe". ;)

Re:Assumptions

[MightyYar]

Well, an amatuer wouldn't know to wrap the cable around the outside of the attic fan once or twice so that it stays in place when the wind picks up.