MultiChoice nails police officer for alleged piracy

DStv owner MultiChoice assisted in a raid on Tuesday that led to the arrest of a police sergeant allegedly connected to an illegal Waka TV pirate operation in the Western Cape.

Waka TV is a form of IPTV piracy, which refers to subscription-based pirate services that often sell themselves as legitimate and offer illicit access to live and on-demand content.

The South African broadcasting giant said the police officer was criminally charged and released on bail after legal proceedings.

MultiChoice’s anti-piracy director, Frikkie Jonker, recently told MyBroadband that South Africans found guilty of content piracy can face a fine of up to R2 million and a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

The broadcaster noted that the raid formed part of an ongoing collaborative crackdown on IPTV piracy between MultiChoice’s Irdeto Anti-Piracy Department and the Western Cape Provincial Commercial Crime Investigation Unit.

“Authorities have made significant progress in identifying and disrupting Waka TV’s reseller network, not just in South Africa but across the continent,” MultiChoice said.

“These enforcement operations send a clear message that content piracy will not be tolerated, and offenders will be held accountable through criminal prosecution and legal consequences.”

Waka TV has been identified as an organised piracy syndicate, which has resulted in millions of lost revenue from the legitimate broadcasting industry.

IPTV piracy is the fifth most prevalent form of illegally distributing copyrighted content, according to recent feedback from Irdeto.

Social media platforms were identified as the most common means of facilitating content piracy.

In this case, accounts share and livestream copyrighted material on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

Broadcast piracy, where unauthorised cable or satellite channels illegally redistribute content without the owner’s consent, was identified as the second-most prominent means of sharing copyrighted material.

Pirate streaming apps, where copyrighted content is illegally distributed on an app, and illegal domains, where the copyrighted content is available on a website, were ranked third and fourth, respectively.

Both of these include the live streaming of sports matches.

“MultiChoice, Irdeto, and law enforcement agencies are working around the clock to dismantle these piracy networks, employing advanced forensic investigations, cyber intelligence, and legal action,” the DStv owner said.

“More arrests and takedowns are imminent as authorities intensify their crackdown on Waka TV and other illegal IPTV services.”