According to several reports, "Game of Thrones" HBO's insanely popular fantasy TV show was the most pirated show of 2012. TorrentFreak reports the show to have had nearly four million downloads per episode during season 3, making it a world-wide sensation amongst people with an HBO subscription and those without.
Time Warner Cable's CEO, Jeff Bewkes, the man who should be the most upset over these distressing piracy figures, is just the opposite. On an earnings call this week, the Verge reports Bewkes was asked whether her condoned copyright infringement of the popular series, inspired by the "Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R. R. Martin. In response he simply said that piracy was "a tremendous word-of-mouth thing."
"If you go around the world, I think you're right, that Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world," he said. "Now that's better than an Emmy."
The director of the series, David Petrarca has expressed similar feelings about the show's piracy concerns. He feels that the vast audience that the more than four million downloads a week gets the series does a lot to promote the show's cultural popularity. The man himself, George R.R. Martin even takes the large amounts of piracy as a compliment, although he did say it was one he'd rather not receive.
Not only is Bewkes looking at the situation as a positive for the show, he's found a way to spin it into a positive for HBO, who is theoretically losing money on subscribers. However, he doesn't see that as the case. Users who pirate HBO, in Bewkes mind, aren't going to be paying for an HBO subscription even if they can't pirate the series. So the options are, allow piracy or have significantly fewer people watching Game of Thrones every week. He compared it to cable splitting.
"People have always been running wires down the back of apartment buildings and sharing with their neighbors," he said. "our experience is, it all leads to more penetration, more paying subs and more health for HBO."
