Pay TV strikes back

petetherock

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http://www.straitstimes.com/singapo...ce-website-which-streams-pirated-k-drama-hits


SINGAPORE - Fans who eschew legal sites and instead lap up Korean dramas on websites that stream pirated shows could find their options further limited.

Another volley against piracy has been fired under Singapore's recently amended Copyright Act, with pay-TV operator PCCW Media taking steps to block the Dramanice website here.

Dramanice streams pirated content including Korean hit romance drama series Descendants Of The Sun, My Love From The Star and The Heirs.

It is among the top 7,000 global websites accessed daily, according to the latest Alexa rankings.

In documents seen by The Straits Times, PCCW said Dramanice is a "flagrantly infringing online location", offering many episodes of 62 popular Korean drama titles illegally. These are shows also available on PCCW's subscription-based online streaming service Viu, launched in Singapore last January (2016).

The Hong Kong-based pay-TV operator served papers on five Singapore Internet service providers (ISPs) - Singtel, StarHub, M1, MyRepublic and ViewQwest - in May (2017). In the same month, it also made an application in the Singapore High Court to get the ISPs to block the website in question.

Singapore's amended Copyright Act, which took effect in December 2014, lets content owners seek a High Court order to get ISPs to block piracy websites.

Before the revised law, they could not compel ISPs to block pirated content.

Solarmovie.ph is the first piracy website to be blocked under the amended Copyright Act.

PCCW and the ISPs declined to comment when contacted but The Straits Times understands that PCCW is negotiating with the ISPs a payment to block links to the 62 drama titles.

According to statistics from HypeStat.com, Dramanice has 56,500 unique visitors a day, with more than 3,000 visitors from Singapore.

Malaysia accounts for the highest number of visitors to Dramanice, with more than 9,000 unique visitors a day.

Technology lawyer Bryan Tan of Pinsent Masons MPillay said: "Piracy is an ongoing problem despite the legal efforts and education programmes being undertaken."

A poll of 1,000 Internet users in Singapore released in February (2017) by consultancy firm Ernst & Young shows that one in two people were getting their TV and movie fix illegally.

The figures mirror a survey by research consultancy Sycamore Research and Marketing released in 2014, showing that about 60 per cent of people here aged 16 to 64 had participated in movie and TV or music piracy.
 

petetherock

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Just a reminder that we don't support illegal downloads or pirated stuff or any forms of discussion here.
 

petetherock

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http://www.straitstimes.com/singapo...ed-in-court-for-infringing-premier-league-fox

SINGAPORE - Pay-TV operators Singtel and StarHub, entertainment titan Fox Networks Group and football's Premier League have hauled two Android TV box sellers in Singapore to court in an unprecedented move against piracy.

In court on Friday (Jan 12), retail firm Synnex Trading and its director Jia Xiaofeng, and trading firm An-Nahl and its director Abdul Nagib Abdul Aziz faced several charges, in what could be a landmark case to determine the legality of media streaming boxes.

Their accusers allege that they "wilfully infringed" copyright to a significant extent by helping people access pirated content via media streaming boxes, charging them under Section 136 (3A) of the Copyright Act.

Mr Neil Gane, general manager of the Coalition Against Piracy (CAP), appeared in court on behalf of the entertainment content providers and pay-TV operators. He was listed as the complainant in this criminal case.

Synnex and its director each face four charges for helping customers "make unauthorised copies" of programmes - including English Premier League matches, and other sports, movies and National Geographic documentaries on Fox's cable channels - by using the media boxes. The accused were caught on three occasions in May, August and September last year at Synnex's Geylang Road shop.

Synnex and its director were also charged over the possession of 104 media boxes specifically adapted for making copies of the copyrighted content in May last year at Synnex's shop. Synnex was believed to have charged customers $159 for the media box, with each streaming app costing an extra fee ranging from $40 to $170.

An-Nahl and its director face two charges each of helping a customer use the media box to make unauthorised copies of English Premier League matches and Fox programmes, and carrying 12 media boxes - both in May last year - at Tanjong Katong Complex, where the shop is located.

An-Nahl and its directors are claiming trial. Synnex and its director have asked for an adjournment for them to decide whether to plead guilty or to claim trial.

Conviction carries a jail term not exceeding six months, a fine of up to $20,000, or both.
 

86technie

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Hi Pete, just a suggestion.
Maybe ought to change this thread title into
Android Box | Is it legal?

Take note Android box itself is not illegal.
It is the content that it have that is illegal
as most contents are either stream.

Or access VIA VPN into certain country like Taiwan to
gain access to their contents.
If it is not paid streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime
and etc. than it is illegal.
 

ddca

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If Android Box is illegal, then all the android OS smartphone is illegal, isn't it?
 

htngwilliam

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Haha! Very cute lei. Like this u watch YouTube also infringe copyright? The root cause of all these **** is content is too ex.

Look at Netflix. Charging something affordable. Before the time of Netflix etc. how much are our telco charging us? After a few years, I can’t even be bothered by live football. Haha! Let them charge high la. End of the day, no consumers. China is going into apps tv. A reasonable subscription. Can’t stop piracy but can convert some ppl to real consumers. And don’t need to be so gian peng, go around sueing the company. Well, just my one cent worth
 

wwenze

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[This content is not available in your country]
 

twentytwoeighty

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Doesn't affect me since I don't watch any of those lame content or use TV box. I got so much more better and interesting stuff to watch free on Youtube.
 

Henry Ng

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If Android Box is illegal, then all the android OS smartphone is illegal, isn't it?

Do not understand how they look at it. It is ST and SH that make noise. If say Android os illegal, google will jump up and down and make noise.
 
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htngwilliam

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Haha! Well, you can do whatever you want in court but cannot stop technology disruption.
 

Henry Ng

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Haha! Well, you can do whatever you want in court but cannot stop technology disruption.

What about other Android box seller? Viewquest also has Android Tv box. What about Android Tv set? What about Android phone? So many users, how?
 
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Asakura

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:s13: :s13: this again

Haha! Very cute lei. Like this u watch YouTube also infringe copyright? The root cause of all these **** is content is too ex.

Look at Netflix. Charging something affordable. Before the time of Netflix etc. how much are our telco charging us? After a few years, I can’t even be bothered by live football. Haha! Let them charge high la. End of the day, no consumers. China is going into apps tv. A reasonable subscription. Can’t stop piracy but can convert some ppl to real consumers. And don’t need to be so gian peng, go around sueing the company. Well, just my one cent worth
 
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