Kodi Box owners have been dealt a blow today, following the formation of the Coalition Against Piracy (CAP).
The coalition is purportedly backed by some heavyweights within the entertainment industry, including the likes of Disney, Fox, Premier League, NBCUniversal, BBC Worldwide, A&E Networks, HBO Asia, and Viacom International.
Coalition Against Piracy will target criminal activities in Asia, where so-called Kodi Boxes are often assembled and dispatched across the globe.
For those unaware, Kodi is a neutral, open-source media player that can be installed on a broad range of devices – from discount set-top boxes powered by Android, to known brands, like Amazon Fire TV Stick.
Apps – known as add-ons – can be built by third-party developers to allow users to stream premium content, like paid-for sports and movie channels for free.
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The abundance of these illegal streaming add-ons has left Kodi with an unfortunate reputation.
So-called Kodi Boxes are devices, manufactured by a number of different brands, with all the requisite third-party software to stream paid-for content for free preinstalled on the set-top box.
Research by FACT has previously revealed there are now one million Kodi Boxes in use across the UK.
The FACT research was conducted in association with the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, Intellectual Property Office, Police Scotland, and anti-piracy outfit Entura International.
It estimated that up to 25 per cent of the online viewing public access content illegally online.
According to the FACT report, the UK is one of the countries most affected by the increasing demand for Kodi boxes.
Those supplying the Kodi Boxes range from individuals building boxes for a select few friends and family, to sprawling organised crime networks.
There has been a steady stream of reports of individuals who have been arrested for selling these devices, however, FACT claims these are just the “tip of the iceberg”.
The actions taken by the CAP in Asia could cause repercussions in the UK.
Coalition Against Piracy General Manager, Neil Gane told iWorld: “This is a highly organised transnational crime with criminal syndicates profiting enormously at the expense of consumers as well as content creators.”
The news comes as TVAddons, which hosts a number of software plugins that run on the Kodi media player, is currently facing three separate copyright infringement complaints in a Texas District Court.
US broadcaster Dish Network filed a copyright infringement complaint at the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas earlier this summer to stop “unlawful retransmissions of television channels exclusively licensed to Dish throughout the US”.
A spokesperson for Dish Network told Express.co.uk, “DISH is very supportive of innovation like Kodi and legal streaming services.
“The suit does not target individual end users, rather it seeks to stop a very specific add-on that supplied pirated content.
“We feel obligated to raise awareness about content that users may not realise is pirated, while also supporting our programming partners who work to create and supply content legally.
“We remain committed to combatting piracy and ensuring consumers have reliable, affordable options to access the content they enjoy.”
The developers behind TVAddons, who are based in Canada and London, refute the claims.