PROANTI-PIRACY
DEVISING A MULTI-PRONGED STRATEGY TO PROTECT CONTENT
The MENA region is facing a number of threats from illegal satellite distributors and internet piracy in the form of IPTV and social media streaming services. BroadcastPro ME recently brought together key figures from some of the region’s most popular content providers, where a multi-pronged approach comprising technology, modified commercials and strengthened legal enforcement emerged as the ideal way to tackle piracy The US Chamber of Commerce estimates that $29bn is lost each year because of digital piracy. Closer to home, IDC estimates the cost of piracy in MENA to be around $750m. A 2021 report by media analyst firm Ampere Analysis and video technology provider Synamedia reveals that the MENA region is a piracy hotspot, while it is also the biggest potential market for paid operators. Media companies have been adopting initiatives and technologies to counter piracy and better monetise their investment in content, and BroadcastPro ME recently hosted a panel to unearth how some of the big Middle East media players are doing so. Moderated by Dr Sherif Zaidan, co-founder and CEO of SilkBytes (a DigiSay Group company), the panel consisted of Cameron Andrews, Legal Director, Anti-Piracy, beIN Media Group; Fiona Robertson, General Counsel, OSN; and Sunil Joy, Director of Content, evision by e& life (one of the business pillars of e&, formerly known as Etisalat Group). Over the past few years, and peaking during the pandemic, piracy has exploded across the broadcast industry. Pirates use a plethora of illegal methods such as localised pirate
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networks over terrestrial broadcasting and cable, traditional card-sharing control words, and encryption hacking. However, it is internet-based piracy, with content offered via websites, social media live streaming platforms and IPTV, that is posing an almost existential threat to the industry. Today, pirates can stream content onto YouTube or Facebook, make a peer-to-peer file, send movie links to friends or make it available on a website. While broadcasters put in massive efforts to keep piracy off the social streaming sites, the “real potential killer for the business is pirate IPTV”, commented Andrews. beIN, one of the leading MENA sports rights owners, has suffered losses to the tune of billions due to piracy in the region. “This has just been exploding, and it has exponential growth. It’s fuelled by middleware that the pirates use, platforms like extreme codes and other variants of it, which have made it very readily accessible across all markets. Wherever the internet is growing, we see pirate IPTV following.” While IPTV is also a concern for pay-TV operator OSN, the network is further plagued by piracy of linear content,
