Originally Posted by teh603
...or not licensed for distribution outside of Japan (still no loss to the rights holders), or unavailable in an unaltered state (ditto)
I suppose they could argue that it hurts them when trying to eventually sell those rights outside of Japan if there is already a fansub. As to if it really does or not I don't know.
In the old days fansub groups stopped distroing tapes (for no profit) once it was announed an anime had been licensed. That's happening less and less and even when it does the digital files are out in the wild and you can't really stop their availability and it's much easier to copy a digital file than it is a tape.