Legally established companies that are dedicated to the dissemination of programming via the Internet estimate that, due to piracy, they lose up to US$13.2 million (Q102 million) annually, revealed the study “Dimension and impact of online piracy of audiovisual content in America Latina and Guatemala.”
The research carried out by the Center for Telecommunications Studies of Latin America (cet.la) determined which contents are most in demand, as well as the search for these in illegal domains on different platforms and the reproduction modalities.
This is the first sample carried out in the country regarding the transmission of online content without authorization, since the damage caused by cable television piracy had previously been estimated at regarding US$54 million annually (Q420 million ), was explained in the presentation.
Impact
Luis Mauricio Torres, coordinator of cet.lat, indicated that the data was obtained through people who consume pirated audiovisual content, and what would happen when migrating to formal content or a legal platform, and for which it was possible to identify that 10% of illegal users in the countries analyzed might contract the service.
He stated that this would imply a market potential for operators of official audiovisual services, since the demand for these services is tied to the fact that they have a price and if illegal options did not exist, a much larger market potential might be obtained for the industry and the value chain, which goes from the writer of the works, the actors who participate, the creatives, producers, to those who distribute the content on the devices. In other words, there is an ecosystem that depends on all that work.
Main findings
Rodolfo Mendoza Yaquián, executive director of the Association of Programmers, Distributors and Agents of Cable Television Channels for Central America (Aprodica), reported that the study determined information for the regional block, so there are two precise results: the magnitude, that 57% of people who search for audiovisual content, which might be a movie, a series, a concert or a sports match, do so on illegal sites.
The second thing is that Guatemala differs from Central America in that the main search for live content is sports and not movies or series, which is stronger in neighboring countries.
Regarding the calculation of the losses, the manager stated that it is an estimate, since if one in 10 users who search for illegal sites switched to legality, regarding US$12 million would be generated.
For what is this?
Mendoza Yaquián also provided an explanation of why live content is the most “pirated” in Guatemala, as well as a profile of the users:
He began by commenting that sporting events are very valuable when they are seen live because fans or followers do not want to see the games on a delayed basis, and recalled that the programmers and companies that have the rights have cited as an example that “at the final whistle, “That content loses its value, because the result is already known.”
Therefore, it is the most desired content in terms of transmission, and logically it is the audiovisual material that is most exploited illegally. “That may even be something cultural regarding the country; or perhaps the ease of finding the content makes that difference very clear. In live content, the broadcast ends and it’s over,” he reiterated.
Delving into the rest of Central America, he said that people prefer movies, television series, concerts and even cartoons.
Potential solutions
Both specialists also provided a perspective on how to combat this problem: Torres stated that, without a doubt, business platforms have also been changing, apart from the fact that there are more of them, and that has generated a decrease in prices.
“Guatemala differs from Central America in that the main search for live content is sports and not movies or series, which is stronger in neighboring countries”
Rodolfo Mendoza Yaquián, director Aprodica
Among this is pay TV and affordability. In other words, everything that is consumed has to be paid for, although it is not justified that because of the price, people can resort to piracy.
For Mendoza Yaquián, it must be recognized that this is a very big problem, and that piracy of audiovisual content, a series or a soccer match is just a window on the bad practices that exist on the Internet, such as the dissemination of pornographic material, human trafficking and identity theft, which these transnational organizations use.
“If someone is offering some product that he stole to give to users, most likely he is looking for information to sell to someone else, which is his mode of operation“, he claimed.
Regarding possible solutions, they listed three:
- We must understand and be aware of this problem and not ignore it.
- Generate capacities and tools in the authorities, so that they become aware of these forms of illegality and know how to combat them legally.
- Legal complaints and blockages of digital platforms.
He cited as an example that to protect content that only lasts 90 minutes, many times the state apparatus does not operate with that immediacy and that is the reason for the new legislation that is being applied on a global scale to force state authorities to operate in few minutes, when it is a live broadcast.
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