Viewers have also benefited from growing competition among sites, some of which have spent billions of dollars acquiring content. While some sites push for subscription or pay-per-view models, there are always others that want to capture larger market shares by offering free content.

And few sites have ever produced good, original content like Netflix to make their products unique and sustainable.

The recent claims by some video site owners that they'll charge for domestic television shows have only attracted scorn from critics, who consider such plans a "joke".

Last week, the e-commerce giant Alibaba said it wanted to become China's HBO and Netflix and to "redefine entertainment" by buying content from production houses at home and overseas.

It will create its own productions too, such as movies, provided on a subscription-based platform, with 90 percent of its content only available to viewers who pay.

Perhaps Alibaba with its deep pockets and maverick boss will be the game changer in the increasingly competitive video streaming sector.

Maybe it will soon convert me and the millions of other "free riders" who have so far avoided paying for good entertainment, if we are convinced the Internet is no longer the place to find something for nothing.