It was not paid for and it was not public domain. I do try to support the main producers of this content where I can (buying BBC Blu-Rays even though I have them already downloaded), but am not super strict about it. I do pirate.
Y-har matey, good to see a shipmate aboard! In the age of advertising often times the 'legit' sources where one can buy content still show ads or handcuff your free use of it. BitTorrent (over Tor)/I2PSnark/IPFS/Freenet/etc will probably remain the best way to obtain digital consumables. Big (and small) media still doesn't understand that being anti-user is a Bad Thing(tm).