Report: Piracy in CEE

Is the problem of video piracy finally being taken seriously in Central and Eastern Europe?

On the evidence on what has recently happened in the region, it is certainly now in the spotlight. In Poland, for instance, the police have just shut down a pirate IPTV network, arresting three suspects in the process. Earlier this month, a coordinated pan-European police operation closed down an illegal IPTV network that used equipment based in Bulgaria to provide services to around half a million people throughout the continent.

Meanwhile in Ukraine, a meeting took place earlier this week between the regulator National Council and a number of industry bodies. In it, the parties agreed to work together to combat piracy and copyright infringement in the broadcasting and information space.

Elsewhere, Russia has taken a number of important steps to address the problem of piracy. However, as recently as a year ago, according to a survey undertaken by Irdeto in partnership with YouGov, 87% of consumers didn’t know that producing or sharing a pirated video was illegal. Furthermore, 66% thought that streaming or downloading pirate content was legal.

More recent data, produced by InterMedia and published only this week by Kommersant, shows that the proceeds of sites with illegal video content actually rose from R2.6 billion (€37.4 million) in 2016 to R2.8 billion last year.

While this is hardly good news, it has to be seen in the context of how well legal video sites are now doing in Russia. Last year, according to data produced by J’son & Partners, they saw their combined revenues increase by 20% to R13.6 billion.

It is certainly commendable to see broadcasters in some CEE countries take an active role in tackling piracy. The Polish DTH platform nc+, for instance, is hugely concerned with the illegal distribution of sports events to which it holds rights and has established a special unit to deal with the problem.

Clearly piracy is still a major issue in the region, and indeed the rest of Europe. It is nevertheless being tackled in numerous ways and while unlikely to disappear anytime soon will in due course be reduced.