ITV renewed its two-year anti-piracy partnership with Friend MTS, expanding monitoring to major events on ITV4. The service uses automated detection and round-the-clock operations to identify illegal streams and support takedowns across broadcast and streaming platforms.
Dutch flight instructor Sam Guichelaar received a Starlink copyright warning less than two days after torrenting an episode of Dexter: Resurrection. Starlink may suspend repeat offenders, and Guichelaar plans to use a VPN before switching providers.
Traffic to piracy websites fell 5.72% in 2024, but television remained the largest category, with nearly 97 billion visits. Film piracy declined 18%, while publishing was the only category to grow; streaming and downloads accounted for nearly equal shares.
Swiss and international sports and media organizations have launched StreamSafe to warn consumers about the risks of illegal IPTV and promote legal viewing. An AAPA study estimates 634,000 people in Switzerland use illegal IPTV, costing providers up to CHF70 million annually.
AAPA estimates 34.4 million people in the EU, UK and Switzerland used illicit IPTV in 2025, generating €2.6 billion for illegal providers and costing legitimate pay-TV providers €5.8 billion in potential revenue. It urges faster, coordinated anti-piracy measures.
The US Chamber of Commerce says digital piracy increasingly enables fraud, cybercrime and national security threats, and urges Congress to hold hearings and advance modern enforcement tools. Priorities include stronger public-private and international cooperation, consumer awareness and measures targeting foreign-based piracy operations.
A UK study found that illegal streaming exposes users to scams, identity theft, malware and potentially organised crime; 37% of active users surveyed had encountered harmful or unsafe content. Researchers estimate fraud and theft cost UK viewers about £270 million annually.
Illegal streaming costs UK broadcasters an estimated £1.35 billion annually, including losses from sports, film and television. The study estimates these losses equate to 10,400 jobs and £366 million in forgone tax revenue, potentially limiting investment in production and sport.
A WPI Economics study found that 31% of UK adults accessed illegal streams in the previous three months, rising to 51% among 18–24-year-olds. Films and TV are more commonly pirated than live sports, and social media is the most common access route.
CANAL+ and LALIGA have signed a strategic anti-piracy agreement covering almost 50 countries across Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti, expanding their long-standing commercial relationship into a coordinated effort to combat illegal sports streaming. The agreement will see the broadcaster and the Spanish football league share intelligence, coordinate enforcement strategies and combine technology and operational expertise to tackle […]
Illegal streaming is costing the UK economy at least £1.35 billion a year and is linked to the loss of more than 10,000 jobs, according to a report commissioned by anti-piracy initiative BeStreamWise. The Price of Piracy, produced by WPI Economics, estimates that piracy across sport, film and television results in 10,400 fewer jobs across the economy. […]
The Oscar winner and generation-defining talent spent three years writing, directing, producing and editing “The Odyssey,” making his movie into its own kind of myth: a hand-crafted spectacle shot across six continents on the most rarefied cameras in the world, powered by the biggest stars and designed to be seen exclusively in movie theaters. But after […]
