Kevin Spacey urged traditional TV networks to take a leaf from Netflix's playbook and explore the idea of releasing all episodes of a TV season at one time, and called on networks to give viewers "what they want, when they want it" as a way to fight piracy.
Speaking at the MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburg Television Festival on Saturday night, Oscar winner Spacey, and recent start of hit Netflix original TV series House of Cards, says that the old model of making people wait for new episodes may be outdated. Instead of "water-cooler moments" the day after an airing, Spacey says that binge viewing and allowing viewers to control when they'll consume each episode, is the new thing.
"Clearly the success of the Netflix model - releasing the entire season of House Of Cards at once - has proved one thing: the audience wants control. They want freedom. If they want to binge - as they've been doing on House Of Cards - then we should let them binge," explained Spacey.
Spacey, who has just been nominated for an Emmy award for his performance on House of Cards, also thinks that the solution to the piracy problem lies not in enforcement, but in adjusting to the expectations of today's audiences.
"Give people what they want, when they want it, in the form they want it in, at a reasonable price, and they'll more likely pay for it rather than steal it," said Spacey.
