The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) and CASBAA’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) announced that they have managed to shut down a company in Australia selling IPTV set-top boxes pre-loaded to play pirated movies, television shows, sports programming, and other content.
The devices were sold on average for A$400 ($322), which included a year’s worth of unauthorized subscriptions to pirated versions of video-on-demand movies, as well as live sports channels, and premium TV channels from Europe, India, the United States, and Southeast Asia.
Following a joint investigation by ACE and CAP, the Melbourne-based company that had been selling the devices in Asia for a number of years has agreed to stop selling the boxes, and will take necessary steps to prevent customers who had already purchased the devices from accessing unauthorized programming in the future.
As part of a settlement agreement, the name of the company and owner were not released.
“These little black boxes are now beginning to dominate the piracy ecosystem, causing significant damage to all sectors of the content industry, from producers to telecommunication platforms. They also pose a risk to consumers who face a well-documented increase in exposure to malware,” said Neil Gane, general manager of CAP. “The surge in availability of these illicit streaming devices is an international issue that requires a coordinated effort between industry and government. This will be the first of many disruption and enforcement initiatives on which CAP, ACE, and other industry associations will be collaborating together.”
The recently launched CAP includes leading video content creators and distributors in Asia including: beIN Asia Pacific, CASBAA, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Fox Networks Group, HBO Asia, NBCUniversal, Premier League, Turner Asia-Pacific, A&E Networks, Astro, BBC Worldwide, Cignal TV, Media Partners Asia, National Basketball Association, PCCW Media, Sony Pictures Television Networks Asia, True Visions, TV5MONDE, TVB, and Viacom International Media Networks.
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) is a global coalition dedicated to protecting the dynamic legal market and reducing online piracy.
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