Well, in a big surprise to next to no-one Game Of Thrones is the most downloaded show via Bittorrent for the second year running, and the response from the head of HBO was somewhat surprising.
Jeff Hawkes was quoted as saying this level of piracy was "better than an emmy" due to it leading to more subscriptions and of course DVD/Blu-ray sales further down the track.
Despite being one of the world's most popular show GoT remains severely limited when it comes to options to watch it as it screens. A HBO exclusive in the US (and therefore only available on more expensive premium cable packages) and only available for streaming on HBO Go (which still requires a HBO subscription) with even more limitations in Australia, despite QuickFlix and Apple trying to offer same day streaming. HBO even refused every offer made by Netflix (Torrent Freak) to stream the earlier seasons to a wider audience.
Over and over, year after year, the most popular shows top the download charts. These aren't shows that are suffering for legitimate viewers, they simply do not have a delivery method that meets the full demand.
For a list of the full top 10 hittorrent shows of the year head over to the Torrent Freak version of this story.
