In rapid succession, ACE reported the shut-down of nine illegal streaming sites in Egypt, followed by two German language streaming sites operating from Vietnam.
The Egypt shut-downs were in collaboration with the beIN Media Group, with which The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) announced a partnership April 2022. These August shut-downs followed the shuttering of other illegal sites in Egypt in June 2022.
Nine sites in Egypt
According to ACE, the Egyptian websites attracted almost 166 million visitors over the past two years across live sports and entertainment programming, providing a common pathway for consumers to illegally view content since 2019. This action built on collective efforts in the region by beIN Media and ACE to tackle illegal theft of content and intellectual property, bringing the total number of illegal sites shut down this year to 27.
beIN Media has also teamed with Cable Network Egypt to monitor for sports rights violations by hotels and shops in that country.
The Vietnam sites
The German language sites, HDFilme and xCine, had been operating from Vietnam since 2019. They provided illegal access to more than 23,000 movies and an estimated 100,000 TV series episodes to more than 16 million visitors monthly.
All of the domains associated with HDFilme and xCine have been transferred to ACE and are redirecting to the Watch Legally section on the ACE website.
ACE identified the operator via legal actions taken in Europe and cross-regional investigative work. This operation is the first of its kind in Vietnam, which is becoming a major exporter of pirated content and a country of origin for many of the world’s largest piracy sites. The organization has turned up the heat against Asia-based pirates over the past year.
Closed sites now re-direct to ACE’s Watch Legally landing page
Further reporting
beIN Media Group Confirms Closure of Nine Pirate Sites in Egypt – Morocco World News
Press releases
beIN Media Group and Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment Shutdown Nine Additional Pirate Sites in Egypt (beIN Sports)
Why it matters
These actions again reflect the importance of teamwork in anti-piracy. In addition to beIN Media and ACE, the Egyptian cases involved the Egyptian Minister of Interior, the Assistant Minister for the Specialized Police, and the Director of the General Administration of Works and Intellectual Property Rights.
Teamwork was also highlighted for the Vietnam cases, “Our focus … is a key part of our ongoing efforts to reduce piracy in the Asia Pacific region and throughout the global creative ecosystem,” said Jan van Voorn, Executive Vice President and Chief of Global Content Protection for the Motion Picture Association and Head of ACE. “ACE will continue to target the operators of Vietnam-based piracy services who put consumers at risk of egregious malware, undermine investment into the country, reduce tax contributions to government, and stifle creativity.”
