You first need a computer, a high speed Internet connection, torrent software, a good/reliable/safe torrent site and then the knowledge to install said software and initiate a download. You then may need the proper codec/video player to watch the video and of course the wherewithal to stop seeding so you don't get caught by the piracy police. While these hurdles are easy (obvious) for geeks like me (and most HNers) they are not for the majority of the population.

> You first need a computer, a high speed Internet connection, torrent software, a good/reliable/safe torrent site and then the knowledge to install said software and initiate a download.

So the barrier to entry is free knowledge, if you already have the same requirements to watch Netflix/Hulu.

You don't need any of that. Streaming and direct download sites have new TV episodes almost as quickly, with none of that hassle.

You still need a high speed internet connection, a computer (or do these streaming sites work on tablets? I don't know) and of course know where to go. Also, when your favorite pirate streaming site gets shut down (they all do eventually), you need to know how to find another (safe) site to keep on. Yes less hassle but still not "Cable TV" easy.

It's pretty trivial to set up AdBlock and watch The Daily Show sans commercials. You're right, it's a day late, and you may have to wait a few seconds to watch Jon Stewart's mug in glorious HD, however it's still more convenient than finding a torrent.

Nothing's more convenient than finding a torrent of a hit show. The process involves typing "daily show" into a search bar, hitting enter, then clicking "download torrent" on the one that looks like what you want (which will normally be at the top of the list.)

You're skipping over the whole part where you have to download and configure a torrent client, and get a video player that reads MKVs and other containers encoded with x264... and probably a few other steps. Compared with hitting the power button a TV and clicking up and down until you find something, the torrenting process is labyrinthine. (Popcorn Time and others, of course, fix this somewhat)

Because it's a one time setup. You're skipping the sometimes multi-week process of getting cable installed.

Typing "thedailyshow.com" into a browser and just watching the show and having AdBlock+ remove all the ads is pretty convenient. A large percentage of people are using ad blocking software anyway, so setup once and forget about it.