And those companies wonder why piracy is back on the rise. We have been duped.
Piracy is a service problem, as Gaben says so it is.
Combined with 6 movie channels, which show virtually every movie synchronized and in its original language[0] version without ad interruption this setup works for me.
[0] Granted, the original version wasn't too helpful in watching Parasite, which I had to enjoy in the German dub.
That you are free to watch until you stop paying for their service. Those movies do not belong to you.
FWIW I can't say I have noticed any radical increase in popularity. The number of Leechers on the most popular piratebay torrents are only in the 100s so I assume it's very niche. I suspect that "playing an .mkv file" is already too technical/clunky for much of the public compared to using streaming app. Let alone setting up a seedbox and media server behind a VPN or whatever for the best experience.