Also on the topic of shows being cancelled because people DVR them, another reason DVR helps shows is because it opens up schedules on certain stations more. Look at Breaking Bad, before the last season AMC started showing a few episodes every night at like 3 in the morning. Hardly prime time.
But it allowed people like me who had never followed the show to get caught up and then become a fan of the show and then, in turn, watched the last season as it happened.
You think that hurt their ratings? Give me a break. We live in a busy world, you can't expect everyone to just stop what they are doing and watch a show right then and there. We have hundreds of channels, DVRs allow you to watch multiple shows from the same period when previously you would watch just one. Smart companies like AMC fully embrace DVR usage because it helps their viewership.
Not to mention ad revenue, which does include DVR ratings, is paid to the network whether you watch the commercials or not. Oh my god, I skipped some commercials for financial retirement consultants, cleaning products and boat insurance.... Man I must be destroying the entire economy.
Edit: in terms if people watching online I'm not sure how you are defining that exactly. People stealing everything and downloading it all illegally? Okay, I'll give you that. But you can't honestly put that in the same catagory as paying a cable provider 100 dollars a month and utilizing a DVR to allow you to watch television on your own schedule. As far as people legitimately watching television online they are either paying for episodes on services like iTunes or watching free streams on websites like NBC or Adult Swim. In either of those scenarios the provider is still benefitting.
