NBC recently demanded that the FCC force broadband providers to ban pirated traffic on their networks, using the argument that said trading hurts corn farmers by cannibalizing movie theater revenue. The company then went on to pull their video content from iTunes just as TV season arrived, driving many of those users to the very pirated services NBC loathes.

NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker yesterday stated that the industry is "losing the battle" on piracy, and urged everyone, from ISPs to home networking device manufacturers, to install systems that would filter pirated material. He then threw out some gaudy numbers from the Institute for Policy Innovation think tank that suggested the U.S. economy loses $58 billion from piracy every year.