Piracy Is ‘Better Than An Emmy,’ Time Warner CEO Says


Piracy is “better than an Emmy,” according to Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner.

The cable head recently made the statement regarding HBO’s series Game Of Thrones when talking about the future of the cable industry, and whether he thought Internet piracy would be a threat to his business moving forward.

“Game Of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world. That’s better than an Emmy,” were the exact words, according to a Wednesday report from Deadline.

Bewkes, who’s the guy on the left in the above photo by the way, said he was not “philosophically opposed” to competing with the Internet through traditional pay TV, adding that he was not concerned with people pirating titles.

The comments are something of an echo to what an HBO executive previously said about the network’s flagship series. The executive called illegal downloads “a compliment” to Game Of Thrones and admitted piracy hadn’t hurt DVD sales.

Of course, this runs in contrast to what much of the flawed “research” from the other side claims.

Harvey Weinstein is one such believer in the harmful effects of piracy, and he was recently joined by the Obama Administration, which is currently weighing an option to revive a portion of the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA).

Attorneys representing the entertainment industry have also requested that Congress consider a law to legalize malware and other forms of harmful Internet programs to root around on users’ systems and search for copyright violations.

And they absolutely hate this guy:

In other comments reported Wednesday, Bewkes said that pay television channels probably won’t be offered “a la carte,” as some have hoped, and he also said that Turner Broadcasting channels and HBO “would be highly likely to be in any package that anybody would create” moving forward.

Do you think piracy threats are more helpful or hindering to copyright holders?

[Image via Flickr Creative Commons]

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