DIRECTV, a leading video distributor in the United States, has joined the International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP).
As a new member, DIRECTV joins a base of leading U.S. and international content owners, broadcasters, and distributors representing more than 200 television channels from the U.S. and around the world. IBCAP is the largest anti-piracy organization focused on illicit services offering multicultural content.
“We joined IBCAP to leverage its proven technical expertise in piracy detection and its legal success in curbing copyright infringement,” said Brooke Mallette, senior vice president of legal at DIRECTV. “As an initial step, IBCAP will identify pirate services that illegally offer the same channels as DIRECTV, while we also increase our collaboration with programmers and channel providers to pressure pirate services and their hosting providers to shut down unauthorized streams,” she said.
Technical expertise
IBCAP monitors more than 100 versions of set-top boxes and related services, as well as hundreds of websites and a multitude of social media and mobile apps, in its state-of-the-art lab; to identify pirated content.
On platforms monitored for piracy of international content, the IBCAP lab is finding an increase in piracy of mainstream American content, including general entertainment channels, sports and video-on-demand (VOD) — an area where DIRECTV would like to see increased enforcement by content owners.
IBCAP methodology
“As technology advances, it is becoming easier for pirates to stream hundreds, sometimes thousands, of channels on a single service, with many of these illicit platforms growing bolder by offering American channels and sports,” said DIRECTV’s Brooke Mallette.
Using a state-of-the-art anti-piracy lab that utilizes technology provided by Nagra, IBCAP proactively monitors and identifies unauthorized video services, collects evidence, and assists with legal actions and criminal investigations against organizations and individuals engaging in pirate activities.
IBCAP coordinates with government agencies and law enforcement both in the U.S. and abroad, reports suspected infringers to the appropriate authorities, initiates investigations, and promotes the prosecution of persons or companies that participate in the illegal distribution of its members’ video content
Original announcement
DIRECTV joins IBCAP: Strategic expansion strengthens Coalition’s fight against piracy. Press release. March 25, 2025. International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP)
Why it matters
IBCAP is an independent non-profit business entity and is not owned by any of its members or partners. In its earlier days, IBCAP had focused primarily on programming that originated outside the US, destined for international programming packages and multicultural audiences.
The DirecTV membership demonstrates IBCAP’s increased focus on piracy of mainstream programming that originates in the US, to identify sources of piracy for mainstream American content.
“The addition of DIRECTV to IBCAP broadens our ecosystem to strengthen our fight against piracy by taking on pirates who are illegally streaming content that DIRECTV also distributes,” said Chris Kuelling, executive director of IBCAP. “With our industry-leading automation for detecting infringement on set-top boxes, as well as our lab’s expertise, we will provide DIRECTV with critical intelligence about infringers to curtail unauthorized streams.”
