Giants of the Latin American television industry unite against piracy

ACE, the Alliance for Creativity & Entertainment, the anti-piracy arm of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), has added 11 more media companies as members in its fight against movie and TV piracy.

Some of the industry’s biggest companies in Latin America, Europe and Asia, including Colombia’s Caracol Television, France Televisions, RTL Deutschland, as well as Paramount Global’s Chilevision and Estudios TeleMexico, have signed on to join ACE, the organization said.

“Piracy is, in many ways, an existential threat to the film and television industry,” said Charlie Rivkin, president of the MPA and ACE, in an interview. “I think you’ll be amazed at ACE’s exponential growth.”

The latest registrations bring the total number of members to 52 since ACE was founded in 2017. “Entertainment piracy costs the US economy an estimated US$30 billion in lost revenue a year and an estimated 250,000 jobs,” Rivkin said. “Globally, the impact is estimated at around US$71 billion. Furthermore, users of piracy sites are about 30 times more likely to be exposed to malware,” he said.

Along with partner companies such as Walt Disney and Netflix, ACE is working to recruit local players in markets outside of North America who can help deepen the organization’s ties with law enforcement in countries where the Illegal streaming abounds.

Jan van Voorn, MPA’s head of global content protection, who also runs ACE, said the group is seeking more members in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, and particularly in Vietnam, which is currently home to the top five piracy sites in English in the world.

ACE is branching out from films and television series to live sports and has signed with beIN Media Group in Qatar, which broadcast World Cup football matches. The organization is also in talks to add sports leagues as members, Rivkin said.

Between 2019 and 2021, ACE reduced the number of illegal subscription streaming services in North America from about 1,400 to 238, according to Rivkin.

“238 is still a lot, but it gives an idea of the effectiveness of our work,” he said. “Ten years ago, the MPA handled about two dozen anti-piracy cases a year. Now Jan and his team handle that many cases every week.”

With information from Bloomberg