Kevin Spacey has predicted the end of the traditional TV episode and a world in which every film is released in cinemas and on-demand at the same time.

The Oscar-winning Hollywood star, whose $100m (£64m) Netflix drama House of Cards broke with small screen tradition by putting all 13 episodes online at the same time, said: "I can imagine there is going to come a time when someone will do 13 hours of a story without breaks.

"They won't end an episode, they will allow the audience to decide when to take a break. You could have 13 hours of drama and the audience decides when the break is, when they want to pause it; in a way they do it now.

"It would be very interesting how something like that would evolve for the viewer."

Spacey said it would help the battle against piracy by releasing films in cinemas and on-demand simultaneously – a trend that has already begun with films such as Spacey's Margin Call and more recent releases such as Julianne Moore film What Maisie Knew.

He said the film industry should go further and simultaneously release new films on DVD at the same time they appear in cinemas.

He said people would still go out to the cinema because "people love to go out and have a shared experience. They always will."

"Why is Game of Thrones the most pirated show in the history of TV? Because people can't get it fast enough, that's why," said Spacey, in a question and answer session about his MacTaggart lecture the previous evening at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival on Friday.

"I believe if you go to a movie theatre and you see something you think is incredible, if you walk out of the theatre and there was a bin in the lobby of DVDs of the film you just watched, you would buy four of them – one for you and three for your friends.

"I believe the notion of being able to convince theatre owners that we can open a movie online, in the movie theatres, on DVD on the same day, that is probably where it is leading. That would be a huge bite out of piracy; if it is all available no one is stealing it before someone else gets it."

Spacey said his 2011 Wall Street drama, Margin Call, was made for just over $3m and was one of the first films to open on-demand and in cinemas at the same time.

"It did very well in both those places. I believe that is where it will probably end up heading. It will also be cost effective, in terms of four [marketing] campaigns instead of one."

Space said he "absolutely believed" the online release of films would not affect the movie business.

"People say, if you open a movie online at the same time as in movie theatres, no one is going to go to the movies. That's just not true. People love to go out and have a shared experience, they always will."

On the issue of tax breaks for TV and film makers, Spacey said he filmed House of Cards in Baltimore – as well as Washington DC – because of the tax breaks in Maryland.

He said governments had to be aware of the positive impact of tax breaks, not just for producers, but for the wider economic community.

"What we bring to the state of Maryland in terms of jobs, the economy, is pretty extraordinary," said Spacey. "We employ thousands of people and I don't know how a state or government can look at that as something not being a good thing for your community.

"Movies are not easy to raise money for in any times, but particularly in these, and in television. As a producer or financier, you are going to go where you get the best bang for your buck.

"I think it's incredibly valuable for governments to reassess their position on these things. It's not just about a tax break for a company, but employing people in your country and there's a lot of value in that."

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