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Online piracy is a major problem for the entertainment industries. In some instances, the problem is kept intact due to limited availability of content from legal sources. This week, ‘Adam Ruins Everything’ star Adam Conover mentioned BitTorrent as a viewing option for fans who no longer have access to the series after HBO removed it a few months ago.

In an ideal world, there should be no reason for people to pirate. However, that world doesn’t exist.

On the contrary, in recent years, movie and TV-show piracy appears to have become more relevant.

The fragmented libraries of video streaming services, paired with their costly monthly subscriptions, play a part in this resurgence. Many people have become accustomed to ‘pirating’ content on the side when the services they pay for don’t offer everything they want.

Diverse viewing options haven’t made it easier to find movies and series, either, especially so when content is removed from platforms unexpectedly. That was the case for ‘Adam Ruins Everything‘, which disappeared from HBO Max a few months ago.

When That Fails: BitTorrent…

When a fan of the series asked lead star Adam Conover where they could watch the series today, the comedian/writer came back with some interesting options, as spotted by Dextero.

“Adam Ruins Everything was removed from Max last year, despite the fact that many, many people still watch the show. The best way to watch the show currently is to buy a season pass on Amazon or iTunes. When that fails: BitTorrent,” he wrote.

The BitTorrent mention is an indirect reminder that fans have the option to pirate the show. While that might be interpreted as a comedic touch, there appears to be more going on here.

Conover obviously doesn’t want fans to pirate everything. He serves on the board of the Writers Guild of America, the labor union that represents film and TV writers. These people all depend on paying consumers to make a living.

That said, Conover is seemingly more frustrated with the capitalistic moves of the Hollywood majors than he is with pirates.

‘Monopoly Capitalism’

The comedian is hardly a neutral party, as ‘Adam Ruins Everything’ wasn’t renewed in 2019, presumably as part of cost cutting activities. The series became a casualty of WarnerMedia’s consolidation of TruTV, HBO, TNT and TBS. The viewing numbers were great, but the series didn’t survive.

Although mergers and consolidations may be a great way to save costs, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the industry benefits as a whole.

“The problem is when two big companies merge into one, there’s less competition and less competition means less jobs for us to go around and less options for us in the media. So if you want to know what killed Adam Ruins Everything, monopoly capitalism did. That’s the murderer,” Connoly said in 2022.

At the time, ‘Adam Ruins Everything’ was still streaming on HBO MAX, but it seems that Connoly saw the writing on the wall a few months later.

More Money, More Pirates?

In August 2022, HBO removed dozens of shows from its streaming platform, again to save costs. The decision was related to the Warner Bros. merger with Discovery and left many writers and actors frustrated, including Conover, who shared his frustration online.

“Remember when the promise of streaming was an endless library where even niche shows would be watchable forever? Now b/c of the merger, HBO Max is DELETING dozens of shows, just to save $ on taxes and residuals. A needless, shameful waste,” Conover wrote.

Fast-forward a year or so, and ‘Adam Ruins Everything’ was gone from HBO MAX too, which brings us back to today.

While piracy certainly isn’t the solution to any of the problems highlighted here, piracy does get a boost when movies and series seem to disappear from streaming platforms at random.

Don’t believe me? Just ask Adam Conover.