It's not about copy protection -- but even if it was, you should be able to copy that which you buy in order to consume it on your medium of choice -- but rather about excluding people who don't have the magic chip.
It's a little like saying, "Okay, you can eat, but only if you sit at my table. And if you won't, well you can just find another source of food." And that would be okay IF other sources will continue to be available, which is unlikely to remain the case going forward for two reasons.
Firstly, this whole marriage with Intel is of the MPAA's making, so they're going to do their level best to ensure that all online video content utilizes this filter. And secondly, online video content is the future of video consumption. Yeah, having DVDs or Blu-ray discs are great, but they're bulky, inconvenient, degrade over time, expensive (relatively) to manufacture and distribute, and more. Streaming content is the future, and this is Intel facilitating control of that future.