The piracy of film and television shows has been happening for years. I remember the warnings on VHS tapes and DVDs telling you not to steal the content. With the rise of the internet and streaming, piracy has risen exponentially. Now a “coalition” of studios has taken one person to court and won a judgment of $30 million.

Movie studios, including Disney, Universal, and Netflix, started proceedings against the defendant Dwayne Johnson (not the actor), in December 2021. Mr. Johnson ran AllAccessTV and Quality Restreams, which sold subscriptions offering customers access to films, VOD, and live channels. The live channels gave subscribers access to paywalled services like HBO and Cinemax.

According to the complaint Jonson made about $3 million per year with just AllAccessTV. He allegedly tried to disguise his services as VPN software.

Since the initial suit filing, other studios like Warner Bros., Apple, and Paramount have also joined in the suit. Now they have settled with Johnson with a $30 million win and an injunction banning him from operating any similar service that leads to piracy.

Lately, Hollywood has been cracking down on piracy. With everyone desperately trying to get exclusive content and gain subscriber numbers, outside sites using pirated content to take paying subscribers will not go unchallenged.

I’m also sure that the sheer volume of streaming services, with ever-increasing price tags, is helping to increase the number of people willing to pay people like Johnson. It was more affordable for viewers when everything was more centralized on sites like Netflix or Hulu. I’m not excusing piracy. I am totally against it. However, this might be why people like Johnson have been so successful.

What do you think? Comment and let us know.

Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, CBR