Coalition Against Piracy study reveals rising issue of illegal streaming in Philippines
Another study has revealed how consumers are increasingly using illegal streaming devises to access pirated TV channels and video-on-demand content.
The latest survey, commissioned by the Asia Video Industry Association’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) and conducted by YouGov, found 34% of Filipino consumers use a TV box which can be used to stream illegal content.
The figures show a sharp rise from 2018 when 28% were found to be viewing pirated content.
Illicit Streaming Devices (ISDs) are often pre-loaded on TV boxes and allow ‘plug-and-play’ access to pirated content.
Of the 34% of consumers who purchased a TV box for free streaming, almost six out of 10 stated they had cancelled all or some of their subscription to legal pay TV services.
The YouGov study als found that two thirds of online Filipino consumers have accessed streaming piracy websites or torrent sites to access premium content without paying any subscription fees.
“The proliferation of ISDs in the market as an access of pirated content affects the livelihood of people in the local creative and film industries,” Globe Telecom president and CEO Ernest Cu said. “There is a need to continue educating the public that online piracy is unsafe that can put data privacy and devices at risk. We encourage everyone to watch content using legitimate sources only.”
AVIA Coalition Against Piracy general manager Neil Gane, said: “The illicit streaming device (ISD) ecosystem is impacting all businesses involved in the production and distribution of legitimate content.
“Effective enforcement and disruption solutions are key, such as an efficient site blocking mechanism disabling access to egregious ISD applications and piracy streaming websites and meaningful cooperation with e-platforms where ISDs are openly sold.”
Efforts are underway to tackle piracy in the Philippines.
A Bill before the Philippine Senate proposes an administrative site blocking mechanism which would empower authorities to ensure ISPs take “reasonable steps to disable access to sites whenever these sites are reported to be infringing copyright or facilitating copyright infringement”.
Steve Jones is regular contributor to Mumbrella in Australia and Asia having held the title of chief reporter for several years. He is a journalist with more than 30 years experience and has worked for a number of consumer and trade titles in the UK and Australia
I’m starting to think this organisation’s modus operandi is to state the bloody obvious at regular intervals.
Of course people are using illegal streaming devices because they are:
1. Cheaper
2. More convenient
Than the legal operators.
What I would really like to see from an organisation that is meant to be supporting the cable TV industry is a set of recommendations of what the TV companies can do to reform and offer a comparable service. Moving away from expensive bundling packages is a good start. For example, HBO Go is now available online from NOW TV in HK as a stand alone purchase, similar to Netflix. As a consumer I should be allowed to pay to watch TV shows legitimately on HBO, without also paying additional dollars for numerous channels that I don’t want to watch. What other industry uses such restrictive subscription policies?
Right now, the output from CAP appears to be sharing fantastically pointless advice such as: “We encourage everyone to watch content using legitimate sources only”. This is the definition of toothless and it is a shame that an organsation that is meant to advocate the cable TV industry is so afraid of actually proposing anything of merit.
ReplyI think AppleTV+ is a step in the right direction. $4.99 a month seems
Replyvery affordable provided the content is topnotch and not geo-targeted.
Have your say