HBO does not need your money, they do really well selling their subscriptions. HBO's business is based on charging $200/year to subscribers in exchange for exclusive content. By offering a la carte shows at $9.99 or whatever they would be breaking the exclusivity that they sell to their real customers. The pirates' argument seems to be that HBO does not have the right to produce exclusive content for their subscribers, as if access to all entertainment is some fundamental right, it is not.
Here's a hint: paying $9.99 (or $0.99 or $0.01, if that's the price that's set) makes you a real customer. The definition of customer is "someone who exchanged his money for your goods/services"; it does not matter the quantity. All money is equally green.
Exclusivity is another name for rent-seeking. HBO has every right to publish (and not publish) its content in the manner of its choosing, but I don't have to like it.
I bought the Game of Thrones books instead; which I was able to do, at physical and virtual locations, individually or in a boxed set, at a fair and reasonable price, at my leisure. Oh, and I can resell them after I've finished reading them.
