Every night when Alexa comes home from work, she opens it. Television to relax. She is currently watching The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power on a platform she is not subscribed to. Connects to a “broken” prefix. “A friend connected us with the person who put him; usually it happens, by word of mouth. He came, installed the machine, and suddenly we had countless series and movies at our disposal, and the content was constantly updated with new releases. We got the full package and pay about 120 euros per semester in monthly payments that we spend on personal dates with this man,” says Aleka, who has been watching “pirate” series and sports matches by subscription for the past five years. networks in Greece and abroad.

According to subscription content providers, the number of “pirates” who watch TV like Alexa is estimated at 600,000-900,000 users across Greece. There are about 1.2 million “law-abiding” subscribers of domestic providers, to which another half a million subscribers of foreign sites are added (Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, Apple TV). “Updated analysis based on the number of blockings that occurred during the implementation of the anti-piracy system by Ministry of Culture as well as Digital control, indicate that about 4 out of 10 pay TV users have illegal subscriptions. This phenomenon is more widespread than in other countries, since the penetration of legal pay TV in Greece is lower than in other countries,” notes Nova Media CEO Kiki Silvestriadou.

The lost profit for the Greek state reaches 30 million euros a year, but the problem of piracy is not new. For years, blackheaded subscription services have prospered by speculating on audiovisual content providers and producers. “Content piracy of subscription platforms on social media, illegal websites and through IP streaming decoders has reached alarming proportions,” warns Cosmote TV CEO Dimitris Michalakis.

The picture is similar in other European countries, according to a study by the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance. Nearly 70% of Europeans have at least once “downloaded” or watched illegal content on streaming services. In Spain, piracy costs €2 billion and is responsible for the loss of 20,000 jobs.

“packages”

Pirates have different subscriptions, yearly, semi-monthly and different content packs. And if someone is familiar with the software used, then their intervention will not even be required to connect the “box”. He can get it himself in the store or online and install, while the same connection can be made through various applications that are freely available on the Internet. At first, Alexa admits that she was scared. “But I realized that everyone has it, and I think that they will not persecute us, but those who sell it. I know people whose projection stopped while watching a program, probably due to government intervention, but they changed the settings and still had access to the content after a few hours,” he adds.

“Piracy is a criminal offense for both the pirate and the user,” emphasizes Mr. Michalakis, who also warns of the economic and social consequences of this phenomenon. “Piracy kills creation,” he comments, noting that the loss of revenue discourages providers from investing in content. “Something that has implications in, among other things, Greek sports and Greek film and television production,” he explains in our discussion. “The scale of the problem is a deterrent to investment in Greek production and TV content,” confirms Ms. Silvestriadou. “This practically means job cuts for the entire production ecosystem, including actors, directors, set designers, cameramen, sound engineers and editors. Greek sport has also been hit hard, as in most cases its main sponsor is pay TV,” he notes.

“Content piracy of subscription platforms has reached alarming proportions,” says Dimitris Michalakis of Cosmote TV.

Domestic providers suffer from a serious loss of revenue due to piracy. “In Greece, the scale of illegal subscription threatens the viability of pay TV,” notes the CEO of Nova Media. “In addition to the phenomenon of piracy, there are also taxes and fees that only apply to local providers and not to foreign platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video. In particular, in these conditions of unfair competition, a Greek citizen is subject to a 10% pay TV tax, which does not apply to foreign platforms. This reduces demand, which is already suffering from widespread piracy,” he notes.

“Trojan horse”

End users of pirated subscriptions, even if they are never prosecuted before the law, become extremely vulnerable to cyberattacks and online risks. “A hacked connection requires a device connected to their home network. Therefore, it can act as a Trojan horse to access any device connected to the Internet, from a mobile phone and a computer to some kind of smart camera, etc. In a word, illegal access and theft of personal data becomes a simple matter.” , — warns the chief executive of Cosmote TV. A study by the Audiovisual Piracy Alliance showed that there is a 57% chance that an audiovisual pirated app contains malware.

Lately, both subscription content providers and the state, through the relevant ministries, have been taking concerted and decisive steps to combat this phenomenon. Already in 2021, in accordance with legislative provisions, the institutional arsenal available to the Commission for the Notification of Online Intellectual Property and Related Rights Infringement (EDPPI), which has jurisdiction to request the blocking of IP addresses and domain names with illegal content, has been strengthened.

“The European Union has classified piracy along with drug trafficking, pimping and human trafficking, as it has been shown that the same centers of organized crime spread to all of these illegal activities,” notes Ms. Silvestriado. Nova and other United Group subsidiaries have joined forces with more than 100 producer organizations across news, sports, music and culture to urge the European Commission to take stronger legislative action to combat piracy. “At the same time, at Nova, we make extensive use of blocking IP addresses with illegal content, a framework established by the ministries of culture and digital government and a model that other countries in the European Union should implement.”

For its part, Cosmote TV has embarked on a technological security upgrade of both its satellite and streaming platforms with new technologies to prevent illegal rebroadcasting of content. In addition, regularly submits applications to the EDPPI and EETT to interrupt access to domain names and IP addresses, as required by the laws on dynamic live blocking, that is, the massive interruption of pirated broadcasts during the match.

“The contributions of both bodies are valuable in effectively combating piracy,” says Mr. Michalakis. At the same time, he points out that “the need to further change the existing legislative framework by tightening the established measures of administrative and criminal liability is imperative. At the same time, legislative procedures should be simplified in order to deal directly and decisively with any illegal actions of pirates.”

The two providers plan to organize an information campaign for the public so that all citizens, and especially those who have pirated subscriptions, are aware of the consequences. “This is an issue that concerns the entire Greek society. We ourselves have to decide whether we want to finance organized crime or whether we want to finance Greek sports and culture. We will make every effort to educate citizens about the dangers of choosing an illegal subscription and the domino effects in everything from the economy, home content production to cybersecurity, our personal and family security,” concludes Ms. Silvestriadu.

“Sin is sweet, but it’s destructive”

Giorgos Gikapepas has signed contracts with famous TV series and famous documentaries for free and pay TV, theatrical productions and films. “Sin is sweet. It’s tempting to get access to all platforms and channels for a small monthly fee. The potential user thinks they have treasure in their hands,” he says of the hack. “But as a phenomenon, it’s devastating. Because I know very well how much money subscription channels spend on copyrights, how much money teams get, I can assure you that if everyone gets such an illegal car, the teams will not receive any income, we, as artists and creators, will not be able to recommend the production.We directors and the writers, have been lobbying pay TV for a long time to get their copyrights out of the reruns, and we succeeded. If a guy comes along and gives the whole world motorcycles, I won’t get paid for these reruns. You see how much one affects the other.”

Therefore, he is categorical that this must somehow be stopped. “We need to understand that pay TV is not a public good and that some people produce it. How will subscription workers be paid? How will the performances take place? If this continues, subscriptions will be terminated. But piracy not only results in loss of pay-TV revenue, it can also put people out of work. Piracy breeds unemployment.”

He also points out that the decline or inability to produce original fiction or non-fiction has broader socio-political implications. “Life and the world are evolving and changing, and there must be creators, screenwriters, directors and producers who will offer works that express our time.

Because in our time we do not see it at the moment when we live, but time passes, and during this time these sentences come, whether it be fiction, or a documentary, or an information show, and we recognize and decipher the world. what exists around us. If it’s not, it’s like we’re living in a world where no one is watching.”