The iconic Hollywood sign is shown on a hillside above a neighborhood in Los Angeles California, US, February 1, 2019. File Photo / Reuters
California: The Alliance for Creativity & Entertainment, the anti-piracy arm of the Motion Picture Association, added 11 more media companies as members in its fight against film and TV show piracy.
Some of the industry’s largest businesses in Latin America, Europe and Asia, including Colombia’s Caracol Television, France Televisions, RTL Deutschland as well as Paramount Global’s Chilevision and Estudios TeleMexico, have signed up to join ACE, the organization said Tuesday.
"Piracy is in many ways an existential threat to the motion picture and television industry,” Charlie Rivkin, the chairman of the MPA and ACE, said in an interview. "I think you’re going to be surprised by the exponential growth of ACE.”
The latest signups bring the total number of members to 52 since ACE was founded in 2017. Entertainment piracy costs the US economy about $30 billion in lost revenue a year and some 250,000 jobs, Rivkin said. Globally, the impact is estimated to be about $71bn.
Visitors to piracy websites are about 30 times more likely to be exposed to malware, he said.
Along with member companies such as Walt Disney Co. and Netflix Inc., ACE is working to recruit local players in markets outside North America that can help deepen the organization’s ties to law enforcement in countries where illegal streaming is rife. Jan van Voorn, the MPA’s global content protection chief, who also heads ACE, said the group is seeking more members in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, and especially in Vietnam, which currently hosts the five largest English-language piracy websites.
ACE is branching out from film and television series into live sports, and has signed up beIN Media Group in Qatar, which is broadcasting World Cup soccer matches. The organization is also in discussions to add sports leagues as members, Rivkin said.
Between 2019 and 2021, ACE cut the number of illegal streaming subscription services in North America from about 1,400 to 238, according to Rivkin.
"Now, 238 is still a lot, but it gives you a sense of how effective our work is,” he said. "Ten years ago, the MPA tackled about two dozen anti-piracy cases per year. Now Jan and his team tackle that amount of cases every week. I think we’re starting to turn a corner.”
