MultiChoice cracking down on pirate streaming in South Africa

[Daniel Puchert]

Piracy crackdown in South Africa — up to 10 years jail time for viewers

South Africa's dominant pay-TV provider, MultiChoice, is cracking down on pirate streaming in the country, and while it is going after those involved in pirate platforms themselves, consumers of such content could land themselves in jail if caught.

In South Africa, the punishment for viewing illegal streaming services is a fine of R5,000 or three years in jail for first-time offenders and R10,000 or five years for repeat offenders, according to the Copyright Act.

 

[SeRpEnT]

 

[BBSA]

More fear mongering, they are get desperate....

 

[Swa]

No it's not. Members of the public can't be expected to know if something is legally acquired. Also the copyright act deals with distribution and not receiving. A person who knowingly consumed copyrighted content can only be held civilly liable for the damage of the event.

 

[S.Claus]

Good old DSTV on a witch hunt to protect their crumbling monopoly

 

[Swa]

More fear mongering, they are get desperate....

What's worse is Mybb publishing such nonsense without a real legal perspective.

 

[Death]

If only Multichoice used all this money they are spending to chase down pirates to I don't know, maybe reduce their subs so that the other 90% of South African's can potentially afford it, wouldn't that be a wonderful idea.

 

[Swa]

If only Multichoice used all this money they are spending to chase down pirates to I don't know, maybe reduce their subs so that the other 90% of South African's can potentially afford it, wouldn't that be a wonderful idea.

I'm wondering if it has any effect. Will any of those subscribers pay for the service or is this just an academic exercise?

 

[Alexander the Straight]

Sure to make a huge difference in a country where even a red traffic light is seen as nothing more than a friendly suggestion

 

[PlutoForrest]

I only have this to say to Multichoice.

 

[BBSA]

No it's not. Members of the public can't be expected to know if something is legally acquired. Also the copyright act deals with distribution and not receiving. A person who knowingly consumed copyrighted content can only be held civilly liable for the damage of the event.

Although my IPTV subscription includes all the DSTV channels, I rarely find myself tuning in to any of them. Having access doesn't necessarily translate to viewing.

 

[Ciferion]

Use that money to buy shows worth watching, not these constant repeats of the same shows and constant advertisements in a row. I mean, seriously, five to eight advertisements playing every 20 minutes is getting ridiculous. This is why we are ditching DSTV, other than the ridiculous premiums.

 

[LCBXX]

MC, with the support of the MSM, pretends it has the money to keep funding their piracy-crackdown agenda.

They're going to learn, just like all those who've tried it before.

 

[Bismuth]

MC, with the support of the MSM, pretends it has the money to keep funding their piracy-crackdown agenda.

They're going to learn, just like all those who've tried it before.

Indeed.

If they pirate your content, they don't want to pay for it, probably never will pay for it, so yeah... If MC rather bothered trying to find the 'sweet spot' of their price point, less people would be inclined to pirate as well.

But, yeah, what do I know, I don't run a monolithic media monopoly.

 

[PaulGherkin]

What's worse is Mybb publishing such nonsense without a real legal perspective.

It's all about the clicks my man. Who cares if it's garbage.

 

[PaulGherkin]

Indeed.

If they pirate your content, they don't want to pay for it, probably never will pay for it, so yeah... If MC rather bothered trying to find the 'sweet spot' of their price point, less people would be inclined to pirate as well.

But, yeah, what do I know, I don't run a monolithic media monopoly.

Honestly, which of their content is actually worth the effort of pirating.. Good Lord, its rubbish. Much better stuff out there and via legal means

 

[Bismuth]

Honestly, which of their content is actually worth the effort of pirating.. Good Lord, its rubbish. Much better stuff out there and via legal means

For sure, I am not sure why people like pirating it, but yeah.

 

[PaulGherkin]

For sure, I am not sure why people like pirating it, but yeah.

I think it's a BS claim that their content is being pirated... Nobody has given a clear example. To my mind this means that it's all about one thing... this masepoes dinosaur won't die without a fight.

 

[Bismuth]

I think it's a BS claim that their content is being pirated... Nobody has given a clear example. To my mind this means that it's all about one thing... this masepoes dinosaur won't die without a fight.

Yes, it is fascinating to watch MC's protest and claims as they go down.

 

[ThinkCentre]

This will be very interesting to see how this boils out to. Remember someone needs to find the legal owner of the movie you just watched and needs to vet that you are not allowed to access this file on a website. Good luck!