But you did not, apparently, shoot the deputy.

I was starred on Gawker and io9; I left when the new comment system started (it was confusing as hell) and haven;t been back, sigh.

But HBO's making money from subscribers rather than advertisers is not the only reason why GoT is still profitable despite all the piracy. Don't overlook the role—and money received from—merchandising. A show like GoT naturally lends itself to enormous amounts of merch, and all of that merch puts cash in HBO's…

Eh, agree to disagree. :-) IMO the reason they even got a third season was because NBC was willing to say, "Close enough," but when the numbers didn't improve enough to cross that profitability line they couldn't take the loss anymore.

I think they're about a size 14.

They do count the number of views/downloads on their own sites/legal sites, when considering viewership/profitability. They look at social media, too, which is why a lot of us "Fannibals," spent a lot of evenings on Twitter discussing the show, tweeting encouragement at NBC, and mentioning and thanking the sponsors of…

It was on Sky; that's where we watched it. Sky Atlantic, I think. (I believe all three seasons are currently available on On Demand, too.)

I'm not disagreeing with you, but at the same time, there are more than a few pirates who think they're taking some kind of stand against The Man by pirating, or who claim all art should be free and copyright is evil, or who think anyone with a show on TV/music on iTunes/books in stores is rich enough so "doesn't…

And it absolutely does.

Amount of viewers=profit. Whether a show JUST misses the line where it would be profitable or whether it misses that line by an enormous amount, operating at a loss isn't something businesses are willing or able to do for long.

Exactly. Exactly exactly exactly. Shows that are huge successes are different from shows that are barely hanging on, in terms of how piracy effects them. Shows like Hannibal need every legal viewer they can get. As you said, if people want homogenized spectacle (the only movies that have a real added benefit to seeing…

And whether they would have watched it if they couldn't pirate it or not, the fact remains that they *are* pirating it. I would never buy myself a Porsche, but that doesn't mean it's okay for me to steal one.

And don't you forget it!

My brother and his wife were a Nielsen household once, around 99/00. They did the paper booklets, too.

YES. I just commented something similar above, right before I saw your comment. Lots of ellipses are bad enough, but when they use two or three times as many periods as they need…..it makes them seem like they don't actually have a coherent thought…..but are just hitting the period key to fill space…..or because they…

That drives me batty. IMO it's a sign of a disorganized mind.

And downloads/views of the show on Hulu would have been counted when it came to ratings—afaik it's not technically *part* of the ratings, but it counts as viewership and helps the numbers.

*Mabinogion, no L.*

She is no longer Secretary Clinton; Secretaries of [Dept] are not addressed by said title after they leave. She would still correctly be styled "The Honorable Mrs. Clinton," but not "Secretary Clinton." Only one Secretary of [Dept.] exists at a time.

All witches are not Wiccans.