Why Some Free Shows On The Web Are So Heavily Pirated

Earlier this week, the popular BitTorrent news blog TorrentFreak published a list of the most pirated TV shows of 2010. The No. 1 most-pirated show—that would be ABC’s Lost, which was illegally downloaded nearly six million times—had a strange characteristic about it. It was available, for at least several months of 2010, for free via Hulu. Not just the last five episodes, but the whole darn series. So who is breaking the law to download stuff that’s available for free, and why?

The available data suggests a few possible explanations:

1. The majority of that illicit traffic of TV shows is from outside the U.S. At the same time, the proportion of TV content that is being pirated by U.S. Internet users has gotten smaller over the last couple years. That suggests that Hulu is doing a pretty good job of limiting piracy in the U.S., and that it might be able to do the job worldwide if it got the legal rights to show content internationally.
2. Hard-core fans want an archive that’s easily accessible, high resolution, and they know won't disappear—features that right now, only piracy offers.
3. Television content still seems ephemeral and unreliable—sometimes the best way to keep it is to make your own recording.