Dish Network and Chinese broadcasters TVB and CCTV are claiming they are entitled to $227 million in damages due to pirate streaming of OTT video content on h.TV set tops in the US, owned by Hong Kong-based HTV International (HTVI).
There is a very sizeable population of Cantonese and Mandarin speakers in the US, and with Dish owning exclusive rights to distribute programming from the world’s largest producer of Cantonese-language programming in TVB, and China’s largest broadcaster in CCTV (China Central Television), this is severely limiting the OTT opportunity for millions of people in the US.
There will almost certainly be backlash from this. If BBC content was only available overseas through an exclusive pay TV deal, there would be a flurry of pirated services offering BBC content. Instead, live and VoD content from BBC Worldwide and BBC America (part-owned by AMC Networks) is available on multiple TV services, on various platforms and devices. With the BBC having been a frontrunner in OTT and making content available outside of the UK, BBC Worldwide made sales of $1.4 billion and a profit of $320 million last year. Similarly, Comcast has been accused of acting as a gatekeeper to particular sources of content such as NBC Universal.
TVB (USA), CCTV, and Dish claim HTVI has been working with unidentified affiliates, agents, and co-conspirators that stand accused of setting up a pirate broadcasting network that delivers CCTV and TVB channels over the internet to h.TV set top devices. HTVI and the affiliates apparently capture TV signals transmitted by broadcasters in Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries using a digital capture device, then converted these into digital signals, which are then fed into a server for conversion into H.265 for streaming over the internet.
HTVI and the accused affiliates in question profit from this TV service by selling the set tops at $300 up front, with no additional costs, and US import records reportedly show that last year HITV made multiple shipments containing as many as 24,000 set tops to Multi Media World in New York. In comparison, unbranded Android-based set tops without access to pirated programming sell for as little as $20.
The h.TV set tops come with a software interface that provides apps to stream content, and it is these apps which apparently retransmit CCTV and TVB programming in the US.
HTVI has admitted to playing a role in the manufacture, distribution, and customer support of h.TV set tops, but has denied involvement in the infringing h.TV apps that allow users to stream and share TVB and CCTV content. HTV International claims this is instead solely down to third-party app developers, and maintains that its h.TV set top is a neutral device. The official complaint document states that the accusatory parties believe the third-party app developers either do not exist or are controlled by HTVI, as it is also accused of aggressively advertising these apps in the h.TV store.
The retransmission service of h.TV has been compared to other services using peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent, Napster, and Grokster, although h.TV purely streams video content, rather than downloading media files. HTVI and its affiliates are also accused of making unauthorized copies of CCTV and TVB programs on servers located in the US as well as other undisclosed locations.
TVB operates five OTA TV channels: Jade, J2, J5 (previously named HD Jade), iNews (Cantonese), and Pearl (English), as well as 13 pay TV channels in Hong Kong. TVB (USA) licenses its content to Dish, with the exclusive right to transmit its channels via satellite in the US, as well as the exclusive right to transmit the TVB US channels in the US via OTT delivery. VoD is not included in that license.
As it stands, the three accusatory companies claim they are entitled to seek statutory damages of $150,000 per work pursuant, of which the accusatory parties claim to have registrations for 1,538 works that they have identified as being infringed – bringing the total sum to $226,950,000 in statutory damages. For a company with a registered address that is just one room, it’s unlikely it has this type of spare cash.
“This lawsuit is important as it’s critical for content providers like TVB and CCTV to protect their works. We stand with Dish, TVB and CCTV as they fight this unlawful activity in court,” said Chris Kuelling, executive director of IBCAP (International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy.