MultiChoice is calling for a stronger regulatory framework to tackle pirate streaming, arguing that technology alone cannot stop the unauthorised distribution of broadcast content.
Speaking during a media briefing in Johannesburg yesterday, MultiChoice CEO Willington Ngwepe said piracy has become a major industry-wide challenge, affecting both traditional broadcasters and streaming platforms.
“I think certainly piracy is one of the existential threats to the business, and it's not just a threat to us; it's a threat to all broadcasters, including the streaming platforms,” he said.
The scale of the problem is particularly significant in SA, with Ngwepe saying the company's research shows that millions of South Africans have accessed pirated services.
“From the research that we have done, almost a quarter of South Africans have actually watched pirated services, so you can see how big the issue is in the South African context,” he said.
Technology has made piracy easier to distribute, access and scale by enabling unauthorised streams to be captured, duplicated and shared across websites, social media platforms and via illegal streaming applications, he noted.
In addition, high-speed internet, streaming technologies and increasingly sophisticated tools for bypassing digital rights management systems allow pirated content to reach audiences across the globe, creating a major challenge for broadcasters.
MultiChoice, he added, has been using various technologies to protect its content, including during the recent World Cup.
According to Ngwepe, these measures demonstrated the company is making progress in preventing its channels from being targeted by pirates.
Despite broadcasting firms intensifying security on their own platforms, pirates can obtain the same content from less-protected sources in other markets and redistribute it to audiences.
“With the recent World Cup, the work that the team did, which is deploying the technology solution campaign on our side to protect our channels, indicated we are actually making headway in kind of pushing back against piracy,” he said.
“If we have rights to the World Cup, there is another broadcaster somewhere else in the world who may not necessarily have the same technology solutions and security, and pirates can access their content. This means pirated content will come here, and it undermines our exclusive rights.”
As a result, Ngwepe believes regulatory intervention must complement technical protections.
The DStv owner is now focusing on engaging the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) and other government authorities to advance the issue.
“What we need is a more robust regulatory framework to be introduced to allow us to block access to these sites,” he said.
“And that's the work that we're currently focusing on in engaging with ICASA and the other government authorities.”
MultiChoice and its anti-piracy subsidiary Irdeto have intensified enforcement against illegal streaming operations, working with South African law enforcement authorities.
Two Cape Town raids in February and March resulted in arrests, while investigators accessed one suspect’s streaming management panel, which contained 819 user accounts, 715 of which were active. All the accounts were subsequently disabled and login credentials changed.
The enforcement drive also resulted in convictions in the Paarl and Worcester Regional Courts. The cases involved offences including unlawful access and interception of data, cyber fraud and the unlawful provision of passwords or access codes under the Cyber Crimes Act.
The courts handed down suspended prison sentences and correctional supervision in the various cases.
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