Australia's free-to-air commercial television networks have tried to appease pirates by fast-tracking US shows to our screens, seemingly oblivious to the fact that their contemptible behaviour drove us to piracy in the first place. They alienated a generation of viewers by holding back new shows, making last-minute schedule changes, deliberately starting programs late and then saturating them with advertisements.

Netflix won't put a stop to piracy, but it may show the way forward.

Australians don't download free-to-air television because they want to see it first, they download it because they want to see it intact – from start to finish – every week. It's far easier to automatically download each week's episode of Gotham or The Big Bang Theory than it is to keep track of them on Channel Nine. The networks surely comprehend this, but it's easier to cry foul over piracy than to actually treat viewers with respect.

Meanwhile US cable TV giant HBO doesn't do itself any favours by locking away Game of Thrones as a Foxtel exclusive in Australia, snubbing customers who were prepared to pay per episode via services like Apple iTunes, Google Play, Quickflix and EzyFlix.

When you own the world's most pirated television show, it's ludicrous to take away legitimate ways to watch it and not expect spurned customers to turn to piracy. Seemingly HBO crunched the numbers and decided the extra money it could squeeze out of Foxtel would more than compensate for the paying customers who turned to piracy rather than embrace Australia's pay TV giant.