I pay for the streaming services, but don’t stream. Maybe this is me trying to justify “theft”, but how I like to think about it is this: I pay for the streaming services. I have the technical know-how to either download directly or rip (screen record) any shows I want from any of the popular services, as well as to write the scripts myself to roughly automate this. I also have spare computers to do this 24/7. However, it’s actually better for the streaming service that I don’t do this myself, since they still get my money without me using the bandwidth. I pay for AMC Stubs A-list but don’t often see the movies in theaters, so I don’t feel bad pirating new releases. As for movies/shows not on streaming services, I could buy used dvd/blurays, rip them myself, then sell them back, but that would ultimately result in a near-net-zero cost anyway, so what’s the point of going through all that? In my mind, as long as I’m paying for these subscriptions pirating feels like it’s no longer an ethical/moral gray area.

Note that I only do this because I can afford to. When I was younger, I would pirate everything without worrying because if I couldn’t afford to pay the streaming service, they didn’t lose a potential customer if I pirated anyway. Now that I am better off and would definitely be paying for these subscriptions, I might as well, but still get to own the content I’m paying for. 120TB and counting!