In early February, the Alliance for Creativity in Entertainment (ACE) reported the shut-downs of pirate streaming sites in Canada and Europe that took place in recent months.
- In January, ACE tendered a cease-and-desist communication to Canadian streamer VengeanceTV, which went offline in early February.
- German streamer Stream.to went offline in November. ACE reported that stream.to distributed more than 30,000 movies and 4,700 TV shows illegally; mainly to consumers in Germany and Austria.
- During Q4 of 2020, ACE also accomplished the shut-down of three pirate streaming sites in Spain, Megadede, Vidcorn and Movidy, which, according to ACE, accounted for most of the pirate streaming originating in Spain and consumed in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries.
The sites have apparently been de-listed from search engines, as their names no longer appear in search results. Attempts to connect directly result in ‘server not found’ or ‘connection timed out.’
US streaming sites shut down in Q4 of 2020
- Pirate streamer Big Daddy TV now re-directs to an ACE warning, followed by a screen about ACE’s ‘Watch It Legally’ program. It had been offering 6,000 live channels plus more than 2,600 VOD movies and 240 TV channels
- Another illegal service, ironically called Ace TV offered more than 2,700 channels delivered online and to an illicit streaming device
None of ACE’s news releases identify formal legal complaints or settlements.
Why it matters
ACE has pursued legal countermeasures successfully in its battle against piracy, in the form of cease and desist demands.
ACE is a consortium of Hollywood studios, broadcasters, premium TV programmers, online distributors and other major media companies.
