This is the second time in a year that ACE has taken down a pirate IPTV service in Africa.
Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a global coalition of audiovisual industry players fighting against content piracy, has taken down the activities of the Morocco-based pirated content platform Electro TV Sat.
Electro TV Sat was targeting a mainly French-speaking audience of 90,000 visitors per month. They were offered illegal access to 6,000 channels and 200,000 films and series. It was infringing the copyrights of almost all of ACE’s 34 members, with the most affected being the France-focused Canal+ Group.
ACE has conducted an investigation on the ownership of Electro TV Sat, and found that it was operated by two individuals from the city of Oujda, in northeast Morocco.
All four domains belonging to the pirate platform have been transferred to ACE and are now redirecting visitors to the “Watch Legally” section of its website.
Céline BOYER, Director of Content Protection for the Canal+ Group, said: “The Canal+ Group has been fighting against audiovisual piracy for years and our presence within ACE is proof of our involvement in this fight. ACE’s successive successes in the Maghreb are evidence of a new dynamic in the global fight against piracy and will necessarily shake up the feeling of impunity of pirate IPTV resellers, which I can only welcome.”
Jan van Voorn, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Content Protection for the Motion Picture Association, added: “The theft of online content is the greatest threat to the global creative community. The closure of Electro TV Sat in North Africa is a strong demonstration of the impact that ACE’s global investigative and enforcement capabilities can have on reducing this threat. We will continue to work tirelessly to protect the integrity of the legal film, television and streaming industry around the world and appreciate the continued collaboration with our partners at Canal+ Group.”
In September 2020, the coalition took action against Akfasat, an Algeria-based pirate service that offered its subscribers access to 3,500 live channels and over 26,000 movies and TV shows.
