How Disney and Warner Bros. Are Causing Internet Piracy to Boom
Platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ were supposed to do away with pirated media. Instead, they may make them stronger than ever.
The Rise of Online Piracy
In our digital era, movies and T.V. shows were supposed to get easier to watch, not harder. But it turns out, media companies are fickle—and media distribution can get complicated as it crosses borders.
Warner Bros. Discovery has purged a bunch of high-profile movies and shows, either canceling them in post-production or deleting them from the Max platform. The sci-fi show Westworld disappeared from Max after its fourth and final season. WB killed off the completed superhero flick Batgirl without ever releasing it. Hulu, Disney+, and Paramount+ have also conducted their own, smaller purges.
So what are a viewer’s options when a studio or streamer abruptly yanks a film or series from distribution or, eyeing a tax writeoff, cancels it right before release? These issues are also compounded as physical media like DVDs and Blu-rays disappear from stores and movie distribution remains fractured by geography.
The Justification of Piracy
For a growing number of people, the answer is: steal it. After dipping in recent years, online piracy is on the rise again. And a not insignificant contingent of filmmakers and their fans believe this theft is justified.
Actor and director Werner Herzog may have best expressed this attitude. 'Piracy has been the most successful form of distribution worldwide,' Herzog said at a Swiss film festival in 2019. He was responding to a comment from Ukrainian movie-producer Illia Gladshtein, who admitted that while in Ukraine he could only get ahold of Herzog’s movies via torrent websites.
Torrent sites allow users to quickly download large files. Today they’re synonymous with T.V., music, and movie piracy.
The Irony of Piracy
Many filmmakers and industry professionals share the belief that piracy is a result of limited access to certain movies and shows. Alfred Giancarli, director of the award-winning drama Weeknights, stated, 'I think there are lots of reasons why people download or use digital file sharing to access movies, from ease-of-use, cost- and space-saving, because the film may not be available where they live or may be too expensive to obtain through traditional means.'
Ernesto Van der Sar, the editor of TorrentFreak, further explained, 'The irony of this situation is that the most avid [paying] consumers are also most likely to pirate. They simply can’t pay for everything they want to see.' It seems that those who have a genuine passion for movies are resorting to piracy when faced with limited options.
The Future of Media Distribution
Piracy of movies and T.V. shows has seen a resurgence, indicating that the current system of media distribution is not meeting consumer demands. Piracy peaked around five or six years ago, but has been on the rise again as streaming services become more fragmented and geographically limited.
To combat piracy, the industry needs to find a way to make content easily accessible and affordable for consumers. However, this is no easy task, as the industry relies on licensing deals and revenue streams that complicate the process of consolidating content. As Ernesto Van der Sar stated, 'The streaming industry has to converge towards a system where consumers can watch pretty much everything they like for an affordable price.'
