Nobody Likes a Waiting Period
People want to watch their favorite shows, and DVR isn't always the best option. TV networks need to pay attention to the fact that fans WANT their content, and find a way to make sure that it's available. Making it more difficult won't stymie the fans, but it will cost the networks money.
When Fox erected its paywall, downloads of both Hells Kitchen and MasterChef surged on BitTorrent, according to TorrentFreak, a blog that monitors file sharing online. "During the first 5 days [of the paywall], the number of downloads from the U.S. for the latest episode of Hells Kitchen increased by 114% compared to the previous 3 episodes. For MasterChef the upturn was even higher with 189% more downloads from the U.S."