MultiChoice nabs another TV pirate for selling DStv logins with more raids coming.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice has nabbed another TV pirate in Gauteng following a raid after he was caught for allegedly selling DStv login credentials and streaming devices that give illegal access to premium content.

The suspect will appear in the Lenasia Magistrate Court today.

MultiChoice says a successful raid was done in Gauteng with the South African police and police detectives from the Eldorado Park police station, as part of MultiChoice's broader efforts in Cape Town and Johannesburg to clamp down on piracy. The police also confiscated piracy equipment which will be analysed.

The suspect was arrested and charged with allegedly selling login credentials and internet streaming pirate devices, which enabled illegal access to premium content - actions in direct contravention of South Africa's Cybercrime Act.

"This raid highlights our continuous efforts to dismantle illegal operations that undermine the creative industry," says Frikkie Jonker, Irdeto director of broadcast cybersecurity and anti-piracy.

"More raids are imminent as we intensify our efforts to combat digital piracy. The professionalism displayed by the police before and during the raid was exemplary and contributed significantly to the operation's success."

Partners Against Piracy, an Africa-wide multi-stakeholder initiative, is working alongside local governments and prosecutors to fight against copyright infringement. Among these agencies are the Serious Commercial Crime Unit of the Hawks, South African Police Services and the Cybercrime Units in various provinces.

Amidst rapid increase of content piracy in Africa a South African pirate seller of hacked Android TV boxes with DStv gets 7 year jail sentence and ordered to pay R60 000.

by Thinus Ferreira

A Cape Town man, Jordan Lee Mott has been sentenced to 7 years jail time for copyright infringement and other crimes after he was found guilty of illegally selling hacked Android TV boxes enabling pirate viewing of MultiChoice's premium DStv pay-TV content. 

MultiChoice and Irdeto welcomed the conviction of Jordan Lee Mott in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Court. Piracy of content and pirate viewing is a fast-growing problem in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa.

Jordan Lee Mott was arrested in October 2020 for selling hacked Android TV boxes with access to MultiChoice's premium DStv content which is copyright-protected. 

Jordan Lee Mott was charged with 7 counts of contravening Section 45 of the Regulation of Interception of Communication and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act.

Jordan Lee Mott was found guilty on all 7 counts and sentenced to 7 years in jail, which was suspended for a period of 5 years on condition that the accused is not convicted again for contravening Section 45 of Act 70 of 2002.

Jordan Lee Mott was also ordered to pay R60 000 to the Criminal Asset Recovery Account.

MultiChoice in a statement welcomed the conviction and says more needs to be done to combat content piracy.

"Although the decision by the court is welcomed, there is more that needs to be done in terms of minimising the negative impact of piracy on content creation and the economy. It is important that we work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that perpetrators of piracy face the might of the law."

"As piracy and cybercrime rapidly increase, it is important for us to remain vigilant and agile and ensure that perpetrators of digital crimes are brought to book. The conviction of the accused should be a warning to other perpetrators who are driving this illegal economy."

"Illegally sharing content leads to severe revenue losses and cripple economies, which means reduced investment and job losses affecting economic development," MultiChoice says.

The Randburg-based pay-TV operator is now also working with Partners Against Piracy to combat content piracy in Africa.

How season 9 of Survivor SA Return of the Outcasts on M-Net got pirated for global free viewing faster than ever before.

by Thinus Ferreira

Online TV pirates are outwitting, outplaying and outlasting the latest 9th season of Survivor South Africa on M-Net, after they instantly captured and have since been downloading and sharing episodes from right after the broadcast debut of Survivor SA: Return of the Outcasts last week as part of DStv's premium pay-TV content offering.

In June 2021 it still took just over a day but less than two, for the first episode of the 8th season, entitled Survivor SA: Immunity Island, to find its way to the internet through illegally uploaded copies, followed by the rest of the season's episodes.

This year - and as M-Net switched Survivor SA to 4 episodes per week - the pirating process was even quicker. 

The first episode of Survivor South Africa: Return of the Outcasts made its pirate debut last week online on Monday night, mere hours after it started its premiere linear broadcast run on M-Net (DStv 101) on Monday evening. 

TVwithThinus won't mention any pirate sites offering the episodes but checked the validity and quality of the uploaded and shared episodes of Survivor SA: Return of the Outcasts online which pirates are making available for direct download as well as torrents.

These digital downloads of episodes and torrents of Survivor SA: Return of the Outcasts are of pristine quality - high-definition (HD) episodes, with clear video and audio, without any watermarks and without any M-Net or other corner channel marker logos. 

After less than 5 minutes of searching online, TVwithThinus last week found that a popular file-sharing site that hosts content and files as a free cloud storage service, already had the first episode of Survivor SA: Return of the Outcasts on offer to downloaders around the world within hours - and even quicker than last year.

The web address of this folder as well as the password is freely shared in online message boards for South African and global viewers who are now watching and following the show in droves online but who are bypassing DStv and M-Net. This is just one site and one cloud storage service folder containing the pirated content.

All of the other available episodes so far - produced by Afrokaans and meant for MultiChoice's DStv Premium subscribers who are paying the most for access to M-Net's content as its flagship pay-TV channel - have been uploaded and shared for download or torrenting.

Besides M-Net, Survivor SA: Return of the Outcasts is also being shown simultaneously on Australia's 10play, the live-stream and catch-up service of that country's Network Ten commercial TV channel.

M-Net and Irdeto, MultiChoice's broadcast encryption technology division, say that pirating TV content damages the TV industry and they are now investigating the matter after being made aware of it.

M-Net was asked where pirates find the versions of Survivor SA episodes and if it is from South African or Australian sources, why Survivor SA is specifically targeted by pirates, and also what M-Net is doing, or able to do to prevent or remove pirated content online.

M-Net didn't answer any of the specific questions but in response to the media query sent TVwithThinus the same statement it did last year, saying "Survivor is a global phenomenon and in recent years the South African version has gained vast popularity among fans abroad".

"M-Net was made aware of the illegal downloading and sharing of the series and we are investigating the matter."

"M-Net strongly condemns our content being pirated in any format. Piracy negatively impacts the development of the local television and film industries and undermines the investment of broadcasters and sponsors. We encourage viewers to report illegal downloads or streaming to piracy@multichoice.co.za".

M-Net’s Survivor SA Immunity Island once again swarmed by pirate viewers.

by Thinus Ferreira

It took just two days after the broadcast of the first episode of the new 8th season of Survivor South Africa to once again become the country's most sought-after TV show with episodes of Survivor SA: Immunity Island that, like previous seasons, are once again pirated and illegally shared and watched by thousands of viewers worldwide.

M-Net is warning people not to steal the content and that illegally uploading, downloading, sharing and watching Survivor SA episodes anywhere in South Africa except than through DStv is damaging the local South African TV and film industry.

It took less than 48 hours after the premiere episode on 3 June of Survivor SA: Immunity Island for a high-definition version ripped from M-Net (DStv 101), as well as a lower quality version, ripped from 10play that is the video streaming service of Australia's Network Ten, to appear online on 5 June.

Survivor SA: Immunity Island, produced by Afrokaans, has been torrented and directly downloaded thousands of times already.

In online message boards - with some of the conversations that have been shut down and deleted - Survivor superfans from across the globe and in South Africa ask where they can find and illegally download or get torrent links to ripped copies of Survivor SA: Immunity Island episodes.

The same happened with previous seasons of Survivor SA, of which illegal torrents and links to episodes can also still be found online, with the show that consistently ranks as the most sought-after South African television production that viewers globally want to see and follow.

While the illegal sharing and downloading is an added bonus boost for the profile and exposure of the show and its in-show sponsors and advertisers, as well as South Africa's Eastern Cape province that helped with filming location access in the latest season, broadcasters - including M-Net - frown on the illegal sharing of its content that damages the TV industry ecosystem where channels lose out on ratings and revenue and content creators who earn money through selling productions are short-changed in the long run.

The latest season of Survivor SA has been trending on social media for both the past two Thursdays nights as a conversation topic although it is shown on M-Net as one of MultiChoice's most exclusive TV channels that is only available to DStv Premium subscribers.

In response to a media enquiry, M-Net says that it maintains the same stance as per previous seasons and that ripping and illegally sharing episodes of Survivor SA is wrong and damaging to the TV industry.

"Survivor is a global phenomenon and in recent years the South African version has gained vast popularity among fans abroad. M-Net is aware of the illegal downloading and sharing of the series, and strongly condemns it," M-Net tells TVwithThinus.

"Piracy negatively impacts the development of the local television and film industries and undermines the investment of broadcasters and sponsors. We encourage viewers to report illegal downloads or streaming to Bertha.Sekgothe (at symbol) irdeto.com".

Three Egyptian content pirates sentenced to a 2-year jail term as MultiChoice Africa says TV content piracy won't be tolerated.

The digital platform security specialist Irdeto and the pay-TV operator MultiChoice Africa say three Egyptian content pirates have been sentenced in Cairo, Egypt for a 2-year jail term and that TV content piracy in Africa won't be tolerated.

The jail term and a  £75,000 (R1.28 million) fine comes after the three content pirates were found guilty on all charges, that included selling illegal pirate subscriptions, allowing 163 802 pirate viewers access to watch TV content from international broadcasters.

"Engaging in any form of piracy comes with consequences, and this ruling clearly indicates that piracy will not be tolerated," says Frikkie Jonker, general manager of the Africa Piracy department at MultiChoice Africa.

"These convictions are critical to sending a message to the pirate community that piracy is a serious offence that damages the media and entertainment industry."

"Our collaboration with Irdeto and the unbelievable support of the Egyptian enforcement authorities, without whom this would not have been possible, demonstrates the importance of working together to combat the growing problem of piracy."

The initial investigations into suspects began through a partnership between MultiChoice Africa and Irdeto, before a joint criminal investigation, that led to raids that uncovered several electronic components, servers, almost 40 smartcards from multiple conditional access providers, several pirate decoders, smartcard readers and other related equipment.

"These convictions are a testament to the seriousness of the piracy offence and the commitment of law enforcement worldwide to crack down on these cybercrime networks," says Rory O’Connor, Irdeto vice president of cyber security services.

"Our partnership with MultiChoice Africa epitomises our commitment to content owners, rights holders and operators to combat smartcard sharing and other forms of piracy. We will continue to work closely with law enforcement around the globe to shut down criminal pirate networks and ensure that justice is served."