It is unlikely that someone would not find around him a person who does not have access to illegal audiovisual content. In Greece, there are more than 900,000 subscribers who have illegal access to the content of the pay TV platform, while the number of legal users reaches 1.2 million. That is, about four out of ten users have illegal subscription with an average monthly cost of 15 euros, and an annual income pirates exceeds 160 million euros.

Due to this activity, according to market participants, the state loses about 35 million euros per year, the viability of pay TV due to the restoration of the taxation of Greek content providers (over-the-top) is at risk, while it is estimated that 18,000 jobs lost in the pan-European audiovisual sector. However, consumers of this type of content are also at risk. This is because, according to information, in many cases, for example, in the case of the Patras network, which was liquidated by the police in December 2022, criminals sell users’ personal information to other criminal groups. It is no coincidence that prosecutors equate piracy of audiovisual content with organized crime of pimping and drug trafficking.

Heads of the Alliance against Audiovisual piracy and executives of Greek telecommunications companies investing in the creation of audiovisual content (Alliance Against Audiovisual Piracy – AAPA). As Greek authorities’ operations against streaming pirates continue, the AAPA, which works closely with the European Police Agency (Europol) and the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust), is calling for stronger action.

The need to monitor, detect and counter new piracy practices is constant.

“The audiovisual industry is devoting significant resources to fighting piracy. And it has made—often in conjunction with law enforcement—many successes over time in combating illegal distribution of content, as well as older forms of piracy such as card sharing (subscription), which have been all but eliminated in many parts of the world.

However, as the industry continues to develop new technologies and methods to stop this illegal activity, hackers are gaining experience and inventing new ways. That is why the need to track, detect and counter new piracy methods is constant,” said K.

According to a Bournemouth University study commissioned by AAPA, the number of illegal pay TV users in Europe and the UK increased by almost 25% between 2018 and 2021. The income of those who develop these activities increased by 12.6% to more than 1 billion euros, while 17.1 million Europeans – almost the population of the Netherlands – had access to illegal IPTV services in 2021. according to the Bournemouth study. Why is piracy rampant?

“There is no single or simple answer to this question. For example, Bournemouth University found that varying levels of broadband penetration reflect levels of piracy. As the bandwidth and speed of the Internet increase in different countries, it is not surprising that piracy is on the rise in them. Keep in mind that the barriers to developing a pirate business are not particularly high.

Pirates also know that the risk of detection is low. Even if their activities are disrupted, they can recover fairly quickly by using a different IP address, for example, or even by moving their servers to another country. This is also facilitated by the lack of knowledge about the identity of their customers on the part of hosting providers.

Gaps in legislation

According to AAPA Executive Vice President Sheila Cassels, to effectively combat piracy, it is not enough just to actively block pirate websites.

“There are still gaps in the legislation that must be filled immediately. For example, the recent European digital services regulation does not require hosting providers to know their customer data, which only applies to platforms with more than 45 million users. In addition, the rules do not apply to non-European countries. It is necessary, he adds, to have a strict legal framework in place to ensure that intermediaries such as ISPs immediately interrupt live sports broadcasts at the request of content broadcasters. For her part, Deputy Director of the Intellectual Property Organization Maria-Daphni Papadopoulou notes that Greece is one of the few EU member states that have made full use of the existing legislative instruments of the EU. It has also been placed outside of the US 301 List (i.e., outside countries under monitoring regime for enforcement of intellectual property rights).

Numbers

900 000
Subscribers illegally access content from pay TV platforms.

1.2 million
legitimate users.

15
euros is the average monthly cost of an illegal subscription.

160 million
euro plus the pirates’ annual income.

18000
jobs in the audiovisual sector are lost every year at the European level.