There's a stream that will swamp the pirates Jason Bateman and Jessica Walter in a scene from the new season of Arrested Development on Netflix. FOR as long as the internet exists, film and TV piracy is going to be a problem. It's unfortunate, but there you go. When big business doesn't innovate to suit the needs of its customers, the customers will find a way around to get what they want, the way they want it. People don't want to pay for something they would get for free on their TV, nor do they want to be a slave to the TV schedule. Australians are now used to having streaming music services on their phone and computer. But here's a thing: since Spotify was introduced, the rate of music piracy has reduced significantly. While rights holders don't get as much money from Spotify as they would from actual album sales, they certainly get a lot more than they would have if people were still just downloading their music. Plus, people are now stumbling upon music they never would have listened to and eventually buying albums they never expected to own. I use the service to listen to guilty pleasure music I would never want to spend money on, but would never steal. People pirate TV because it's easier than watching an hour of television at an inconvenient time, when more than a third of that hour is taken up by advertising. Unfortunately, it's easier to go to a torrent site, load up the torrent in Vuse, do something else while you wait for it to download, and then watch it. But do you know what's easier than pirating? Hulu. Hulu is this wonderful movie and TV show streaming service in the United States that has two tiers, just like Spotify. There is the ad-supported option, on which you can watch almost anything from its catalogue on your computer for free. Or, you can pay $7.99 a month, have fewer ads and the service streams to your phone, Smart TV, tablet and game consoles. Netflix is basically the same thing, only it also produces its own content (such as the new season of Arrested Development). Episodes and movies stay on the site almost indefinitely and people are free to watch what they want, the way they want, when they want. It also gives independent content producers the opportunity to show their work to a wider audience. For example, there is a web series on Hulu called Ark, which is excellent, but probably would have been lost on YouTube. On these services, you just search for what you want, click on it, and away you go. Both Netflix and Hulu also suggest other things you might be interested in, based on your past viewing habits. Most pirates are just cheap and lazy. If you offer them something easy and free (or affordable), then most pirates will stop being bothered to download illegally and will watch in a legal way that supports the content producers. If Americans can have this service, why can't we? Sure, individual free-to-air TV stations have streaming services, but it's not the same. People don't want to have to go to a bunch of different streaming sites to find what they're looking for. The digital generation is used to intuitive integration. iView and whatnot also don't keep the TV episodes up for more than a couple of weeks, so if you go on holiday for a month and your DVR dies, you're screwed. The beauty of Netflix is that, if you discover a TV show late in the game, you can marathon old episodes until you've caught up at your own pace. People don't want to have to go and buy full DVD sets of shows they think they might be interested in; $40 a season is a lot to pay for curiosity. If I'd had Hulu, or the inclination to steal, I wouldn't have had to experience the crippling buyer's remorse that came from owning Hex season two on DVD. It's not a question of whether Australia will get a good streaming video service, but when. At some point we have to catch up with the technology available. The world is no longer divided by sea; most people live on the internet. There is a lot of money to be made. It's just a matter of time. Alice Clarke is a Melbourne writer. Twitter @Alicedkc