Many companies decided to combat the rampant phenomenon of piracy, after what happened with Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean and the new season of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black: they were held ‘hostage’ by a group of hackers who asked for a substantial ransom. More than 25 major studios (Disney, Netflix, HBO, Amazon, Canal+ and many others) joined forces in a coalition called ACE, Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment.
According to the new association, illegal downloads of audiovisual works were 5,4 billion last year alone with a peak for HBO’s flagship title Game of Thrones, the most downloaded product. All this despite the existence of more than 480 online streaming services which are perfectly legal.
In addition to being a fundamental source of income, the creative field provides 5,5 million jobs on its own only in the United States; the aim of ACE is to protect these employments, in cooperation with the Motion Pictures Association of America.
Here’s the complete list of companies that formed the coalition: Amazon, AMC Networks, BBC Worldwide, Bell Canada and Bell Media, Canal+ Group, CBS Corporation, Constantin Film, Foxtel, Grupo Globo, HBO, Hulu, Lionsgate, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Millennium Media, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, SF Studios, Sky, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Star India, Studio Babelsberg, STX Entertainment, Telemundo, Televisa, Twentieth Century Fox, Univision Communications, Village Roadshow, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Entertainment.
ACE, an alliance of major to combat online piracy
