Pirate TV: Prison & Multi-Million Euro Fines Drive Viewers to Free OTT TV

The high seas and huge stakes in terms of monetary gain, are finally becoming far too risky for illegal content distributors who are now being systematically drowned out with multi-million euro fines, and being forced to walk a one way plank straight to prison.

A New Piracy Precedence is Set

Recently, a court in Sweden sentenced three broadcasters from Advanced TV Network (ATN) to substantial prison terms of up to 2.5 years, plus a hefty €20 million fine for damages due to their illegal distribution of content belonging to broadcasters Digit-Alb and beIN Media. The charges comprised: violating Sweden’s Trademark Act, Decoder Act, Offensive Weapons Act and Copyright Act.

A Global Reach

According to the anti-piracy industry group, Nordic Content Protection - which initially filed the objection back in 2016: even though ATN's base is in Malmö, Sweden, it also operates in America, Canada, Denmark and Greece. In summing up the charges, the court in Stockholm stated that ATN had: “shown beyond reasonable doubt that Arabic content pirate ATN had not been given the rights to broadcast the beIN channels in question, as it had tried to argue" [1].

Pirates Are Now Facing Their Demise

beIN Media Group's senior legal counsel, Cameron Andrews, noted the strong significance of this action, by stating that: “TV pirates like ATN package hundreds, and often thousands of pirated television channels from around the world, and then make big money by selling subscriptions. These businesses are parasites, making huge profits off the back of stolen content" [1]. 

Andrews expressed his satisfaction with the outcome by acknowledging that: “the damages and prison sentences ordered by the Swedish court reflect the serious harm that piracy on this scale causes. Enforcement actions like this... are an important part of the legitimate industry’s efforts to tackle piracy, and sends a strong message that piracy on this scale will not be tolerated" [1]. He also congratulated Nordic Content Protection for their hard work to achieve such a result - something which for countless years, has been woefully lacking in other such instances in various parts of the world [1]. 

ATN Showed No Bounds With its Illegal Streaming of the 2018 World Cup

"This demonstrates the inter-connectivity and audacity of the pirate ATN operation" [1]

ATN, which appears to have large treasure chests bursting with rewards from its stacks of ill-gotten gains, was also in the dock with regard to its links with beoutQ, another pirate channel, to illegally stream content from FIFA's 2018 World Cup in Russia. beoutQ was charged for the illegal distribution of matches that it holds holds exclusive Middle East TV rights for. The court in Sweden awarded compensation for damages amounting to €18.8 million (plus legal costs and interest) to the two legitimate broadcasters which fell victim to ATN's piracy: the beIN Media Group, which is based in Qatar, along with an award for damages of  €1.4 million (plus legal costs and interest) [1].

In response to the ruling, Digit-Alb's CEO, Alban Jaho, stated that the: “ruling sets a clear precedent that those responsible should repay the significant financial losses that are incurred by the rightful owners of the content they are stealing. Piracy is theft – plain and simple – and it is only right that those responsible are punished. In this case, record fines and prison terms have been issued and we hope that this sets an example for other authorities around the world to follow” [1].

Now, Pirate Viewers Who Cannot or Will Not Go For Pay-TV, Are Flocking to OTT Platforms

Step forward OONA...

“OONA which goes beyond TV and OTT – is a world 1st Free AVOD Mobile Entertainment & Messaging platform which rewards users for watching and sharing content, and gives them a cool personal assistant named Siskabot”

OONA's founder and CEO, leading digital strategist, Christophe Hochart, has developed a unique way to work with telcoms by collaborating with them and offering his expertise to create a win-win situation for all concerned. Focusing on delivering free entertainment any time any where, OONA in partnership with one of the world's largest telcom companies, Telcom Indonesia, is currently on track to fulfill the fun factor for 185 million Indonesians, and is well on its way to doing the same for billions of viewers in other parts of Asia, Africa, South America, the Middle East, the US and Europe with its free and premium options.

Users no longer have to waste away their time on pirate sites that are being systematically closed down, or risk being warned buy their telcom provider, or criminally charged by their country's authorities for watching illegal sites. Now, there is no need for browsing, searching and switching channels, as OONA empowers them with all the exciting television they could ever desire in just one place. - Be it live sports, the latest films, top series, educational broadcasts, documentaries, cookery programs, FashionTV, celebrity news, COMBAT GO, motoring and biking series, children's specials, breaking news, and more - with a target of 300-plus top national and international channels, OONA offers viewers a world of unsurpassed entertainment.

And with Telkom Indonesia, viewers are even rewarded with tcoins - a virtual currency which they can earn for watching and sharing contnet and video ads, and engaging with other users and the helpful AI Genie in the OONA App, Siskabot. They can then redeem the coins for free phone minutes, telkom products, and a vast selection of branded goods and services, as well as take away meals, fun days out, and other interesting things. - Naturally, nothing remotely like this is available on any pirate site, so it is a mega bonus for those who make the switch.

Everyone Should Be Able to Enjoy Free Entertainment

OONA's ethos is that “fun should be part of everyone's daily lives,” and through its regulated platform, the OONA Team are inspired to make people feel good by lifting their emotions and happiness levels via the platform's inclusive ethical free streaming service. In addition to this, saying goodbye forever to pirate channels is a big relief for many users once they have a cool second-to-none data and sub-free regulated entertainment platform.

As the piracy content market comprises the highest level of consumers in the mobile TV market as it does not involve any form of payment or subscription (a 99% prepaid market), OONA is set to sweep up and do social good across the board. This game changer cannot come soon enough for countless millions who are completely reliant on the pirates.

In summary, while more concrete and decisive action against global piracy will inevitably take time, the momentum is definitely moving in the right direction. - Yet there is no doubt that it will require strong determined organisations like Nordic Content Protection, to eliminate the pirates once and for all. And when it comes to OTT TV services, amidst the myriad of benefits that leading platforms such as OONA offer: removing the need of millions of viewers to act illegally by watching and sharing copyrighted content from pirate channels, is extremely important. - This is because it does not just take away hours of users time - surfing for what they want to see, and coming up against so much removed content. - It can also potentially lead to serious charges, fines and even imprisonment in a growing number of countries. So a big congratulations to the OTT innovators who are revolutionizing the entertainment space...  

Reference

Hawkes, Rebecca (2018). “Content pirates face jail, multi-million euro fines after court finds in favour of beIN, Digit-Alb.” Rapid TV News. https://www.rapidtvnews.com/2018070552730/content-pirates-face-jail-multi-million-euro-fines-after-court-finds-in-favour-of-bein-digit-alb.html#axzz5KnJnjBIG