'Free TV' Android boxes finding their way into many households, study says

[Tennis]

Forget illegal downloading; many Canadians are getting hooked on unauthorized streaming, according to a new study. This emerging type of piracy often involves a simple box running an Android operating system that's loaded with special software.

Connect it to your TV, and you can easily stream a vast selection of pirated movies and TV shows — even live television, including sports.

'It's the ease of use that's really the game-changer. It's just plug and play.'
- Dan Deeth, Sandvine

Dealers sell the boxes for a one-time fee, typically around $100, with the promise of "free TV."

Content creators and providers fear the Android boxes are growing in popularity. Now Waterloo, Ont., tech company Sandvine offers insight into the device's appeal.

The broadband equipment company monitored the home internet traffic of tens of thousands of Canadian households over the course of a month.

It found that more than seven per cent of them were using software called Kodi enhanced with add-ons or apps to stream content without paying for it.

Free TV android box

A fully loaded Android box is advertised on ebay for a one-time fee of $114.90 (ebay/c3-store)

The software can be downloaded and used on many devices, including computers and some smart TVs. But Sandvine estimates that most of the households were using it on an Android box to stream the pirated material to their televisions.

"It's not an insignificant amount of people if you think how many households there are in Canada," says Sandvine spokesperson Dan Deeth about the Canadians engaging in what he calls "the new face of piracy." Seven per cent of the 15.4 million households in Canada is more than one million.

It's so easy

Deeth says the loaded Android boxes are attractive because they make it easy to stream free, pirated content on any TV.

"It's the ease of use that's really the game-changer," he says. "It's just plug and play."

The boxes are pre-loaded with Kodi — an entirely legal open-source program that turns the device into a media player much like Apple TV.

Customers can then add legitimate add-ons such as YouTube and Netflix to stream content. But they can also use other, unofficial apps that provide access to almost limitless pirated content on the internet.

Users only need to click on a link to stream their favourite shows or movies on their TV. If one link doesn't work, they simply opt for the next.

"It works OK. Not flawless, but it works good enough for the price, and it's pretty easy to navigate," says Deeth. "You don't need a PhD in computer engineering."

Robert Sokalski in Winnipeg agrees. "You just plug it in the TV and it generally works," he says.

Sokalski pays for a cable subscription. But he also has an Android box loaded with Kodi and unofficial add-ons such as Exodus and Specto. The add-ons enable him to access, for free, Hollywood movies like Logan — which is still in theatres — or shows he can't access on his TV plan, like Game of Thrones.

Sokalski says that not all content available is top quality, but it beats a paid streaming service like Netflix when it comes to selection.

"It has multiple times more content than Netflix does," he says."You can find a lot of stuff."

The growing appeal of the boxes has raised concern from many parties — from Kodi developers to those who are creating or distributing the content and not getting paid for it.

Last year, Bell, Rogers and Quebec's Vidéotron launched legal action against at least 45 Canadian dealers selling loaded Android boxes.

The three cable giants — which all produce and distribute content — want to stamp out the Android box industry. They have already won a temporary injunction, preventing targeted dealers from selling their loaded devices until the case is resolved.

"These boxes are illegal, and those who continue to sell them will face significant consequences," Bell spokesperson Marc Choma told CBC news in March.

However, even with the ongoing court case, Android box customers report that the loaded devices are still easy to find in Canada.

"I can go Kijiji and get one here in twenty minutes if you want one," Sokalski told CBC News.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/pira...e-tv-1.4098249

Wow!
A lot of people are using these. I wonder why? Do they not mind stealing?
Criminals these days are really getting out of hand.


Not me though. #Lawabidingcitizen

[Deleted]

There is no easy fix to "Piracy"
There never has been, and there never will be. From the taping of music and tv shows on tapes and VHS and sharing with friends, to the downloading and streaming of today there will always be a way round whatever blocks are put in place by the content owners and providers.

Instead of going after the people who make use of the service, they should instead be looking at themselves, at the way media is distributed and the costs they charge, and going after the providers of downloaded content.

example, in the UK, if I want to watch an episode of a TV, sport and movies that are not on terrestrial channels, (and a lot of the good stuff is not)like you would on a kodi stick have the following costs.
Yearly costs for the very basic package £1239
pay monthly (which is more likely) £103

This gives you
TV license = £147
Complete Sky package = £960
Telephone line (needed to get sky) = £132

Then you have to wait for the current season to be shown (which is usually a couple of months behind) AND have to put up with adverts, LOTS of Adverts.
Or you could get a Basic Telephone line and broadband package for £380 Per year (£31 per month) and a Kodi box for £100, then get ALL the channels, and movies. (you could add netflix as well, but in the UK they do not always have the best or latest selection. So you can see why a kodi setup is far more attractive than a similar SKY package.

Personally, I do not have SKY TV. simply due to them either not showing the TV shows I follow, Locking them behind premium pay to view channels or have them several months behind what is being shown Stateside (and discussed everywhere on the net) If they were on the basic subscription package, recently released or not so damn expensive to watch, then I would quite happily pay for them. Until that happens I will continue to obtain them the way that I do.

[Deleted]

Meh, unscrambling boxes exist at least since the 1990s. I still remember when I was a kid and some guy bought a dish and left the signal open (without knowing) to the entire town. Good times.

[Tennis]

Meh, unscrambling boxes exist at least since the 1990s. I still remember when I was a kid and some guy bought a dish and left the signal open (without knowing) to the entire town. Good times.

Indeed. The question is how to combat it. Back in the day I remember the boxes would stop working every once in a while. These days with the internet, it seems way more difficult to do anything to stop it.

[DSRilk]

Indeed. The question is how to combat it. Back in the day I remember the boxes would stop working every once in a while. These days with the internet, it seems way more difficult to do anything to stop it.

The way to combat it is to make the content more easily accessible and affordable. The way cable companies do it, you end up paying through the nose for a bunch of channels you don't just to get a single show you want to see. Either that or you pirate that one show. There are a ton of people paying for Netflix, even though you can get the shows for free. Why? Because it's reasonably priced, it's easy to operate, and the UI isn't bad. That's how you beat piracy - better distribution and pricing practices.

[Deleted]

I am absolutely no fan of piracy, as i live from my intellectual property myself.

Netflix or Amazon arent that expensive. And games worth playing are games worth paying.

[Serpha]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/pira...e-tv-1.4098249

Wow!
A lot of people are using these. I wonder why? Do they not mind stealing?
Criminals these days are really getting out of hand.


Not me though. #Lawabidingcitizen

What are they stealing?

[Baelic]

There's a really simple solution to this... make content more accessible and affordable. Piracy only works when the process for pirating is cheaper and easier to perform than the legit method.

[Otimus]

So help me god, if this somehow ruins the development of Kodi, I'm going to be pissed off. Kodi is awesome, and one of the best pieces of home entertainment software out there

- - - Updated - - -

There's a really simple solution to this... make content more accessible and affordable. Piracy only works when the process for pirating is cheaper and easier to perform than the legit method.

You'd think they'd of learned that forever ago, instead, when Netflix hit it big, everyone pulled their content, and now everything has it's own service. Every fucking little thing.

[Deleted]

Wow!
A lot of people are using these. I wonder why? Do they not mind stealing?
Criminals these days are really getting out of hand.


Not me though. #Lawabidingcitizen

Nice bait, I cringed reading that

[Bathory]

I tried one, but it was very inconsistent. Not even worth my time to be honest. I'm fine with my netflix sub.

[Dread Pirate Phayde]

I used Showbox myself, quite frankly if I like something I usually end up buying it, and with the way some films turn out, like X-Men: Apocalypse, I was able to see it without supporting Singer and Fox.

[Independent voter]

I am absolutely no fan of piracy, as i live from my intellectual property myself.

Netflix or Amazon arent that expensive. And games worth playing are games worth paying.

Yeah if you make money off of intellectual property you're against piracy, if you don't well who doesn't like free stuff?

[Unhinged]

Yeah if you make money off of intellectual property you're against piracy, if you don't well who doesn't like free stuff?

I make money off intellectual property and I am for piracy. The middlemen in these industries are all worthless cunts. They are making more money than everyone else in the industry for nothing. They deserve to be fucked into destruction.

[Deleted]

Indeed. The question is how to combat it. Back in the day I remember the boxes would stop working every once in a while. These days with the internet, it seems way more difficult to do anything to stop it.

You can't. Mainly because two reasons, prices and the cable guys that sell the the boxes.

[beanman12345]

let it be, that's what I say. Music industry has survived. Porn industry has survived. Video entertainment industry will survive too.

[Shakadam]

I stopped downloading music when Spotify arrived. I will stop downloading movies and tv-shows as soon as a decent service exists that lets me watch everything I want, whenever I want.

No such service has yet existed. It's faaaar too fragmented with movies and shows locked to either one of Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, HBO, Showtime etc etc and adding region locks on top of that means you can pay 100€ a month on different streaming services and still not have access to all the stuff you want to watch. It's unacceptable.

[PACOX]

Fire Sticks are easy to install media browsing software onto them. Whether or not summon uses that software to connect to servers that connect to illegal content is their business.

Its not new tech really, just easier and more convenient for your non tech savvy person. You dont need a media stick to stream stuff to your TV. There are many other alternatives, like cables, computers, chromcasts.

They really arent worth the money but like I said unless youre not tech savvy. Everyone has a smartphone, most a pc or tablet. Nothing a $100 box can do that a Chromecast cant.

[Rennadrel]

Good, about time the media moguls and rich assholes who try to control our pocket books get what's coming to them, it's been far too long.

And as a hockey fan, fuck the NHL if they expect me to pay $250 to stream games when I just want to watch my team. Same goes for every other sport, and every other media company.

Also, why would I pay to watch movies when it's just rehash after rehash? When every other fucking movie is a Marvel or DC Comics film rather than something original or unique, there is ZERO reason for me to either go to a theater or even pay to watch a movie, I'd rather just not watch it at all than support people who think that rehashing every single thing is entertaining. The advantage of a free market would be that people will pay for what they want and use, not all the crap they don't want, which has been the biggest problem with cable companies the last decade and a half. They are too stupid to adapt and provide consumers with what they want, so people pirate what they do want to consume as far as entertainment.

[Arrent]

I'll gladly pay for products I want.

However, I'm not going to pay when I'm forced to purchase 85% fluff to get what I want (that's TV/cable ATM).