On GoT and bitrates

Interestingly lots of people complain about the darkness of the most recent GoT episode and how much compression that brought on weak cable TV connections. At the same time you can find a proper full HD version of the episode with great bitrate from a less legitimate sources online. Does this mean Netflix model is finally winning? HBO is quite literally one of the latest (worthy) networks that still maintain live TV approach to distribution, and is probably the most pirated network as we speak.