Downloading your favorite movies or television shows via torrents is seen as an act of piracy, and while some producers, record labels and artists are strongly against it, there are others who don’t mind it as much. Back in February we reported that hit television show, HBO’s Game of Thrones’ director said that he was not worried at the show’s piracy which was interesting considering that it was the most pirated show of 2012. While that is one view, what about HBO who is producing the show? How do they feel about it? Well it seems that HBO’s programming president, Michael Lombardo (via EW) thinks that having the show reach the piracy levels it is at is something of a compliment.
Speaking to EW, Lombaro was quoted as saying, “I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but it is a compliment of sorts […] [Piracy is] something that comes along with having a wildly successful show on a subscription network.” He also somewhat dispelled the myth that downloads will affect the revenue made from DVD or Blu-ray sales by saying that the demand for DVDs and Blu-rays of Game of Thrones is still there, and that the downloads did not negatively impact sales. Of course this does not make piracy right, or that it applies to all things downloaded, but it does show to a certain extent that fans are willing to pay to keep physical copies of the show, music, or merchandize despite initially downloading it.
Filed in . Read more about Game Of Thrones and Hbo.