Services like Netflix and the rest fill the gap nicely, but their selection is still woefully lagging behind. You can watch Iron Man 2 but not Iron Man, for example. Movie corporations want people to license directly from them and that just is not going to happen due to the high costs.
Most piracy is a result of people not being able to find what they want through accepted outlets. I am forced to use a VPN to the states to see the shows that are geo-blocked in the UK. License those TV shows, doco's and movies to established outlets globally and 90% of the pirates will disappear overnight.