WATERLOO, ON – Set-top box sellers, unlicensed video services, and file hosts are reaping the ill-gotten rewards of preloaded TV boxes that enable unauthorized access to TV programming, according to data from Sandvine.
Sandvine’s Global Internet Phenomena Spotlight: The “Fully-Loaded” Kodi Ecosystem report is based on data collected from multiple tier-1 fixed access networks in North America and examines the mechanics and economics of using Kodi to access what many content owners believe to be unlicensed live and on-demand video content.
Kodi (formerly known as XBMC) is an open source Android media player that allows users to view local and remote videos on PCs, set-top boxes, smartphones, and tablets. Recently, the Kodi name has become increasingly associated with streaming of unlicensed content thanks to the availability of “fully-loaded” Kodi set-top boxes that contain unofficial add-ons and modifications designed to drastically lower the technical know-how required to access unlicensed live and on-demand video content. Fully-loaded Kodi boxes can access unlicensed content for free, as well as premium services featuring larger amounts of unlicensed content for a monthly fee.
(Ed note: Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal in March denied an appeal of an injunction blocking the sale of preloaded TV boxes, like Kodi, in Canada).
According to Sandvine, the major beneficiaries of this new form of piracy appear to be parties in the ecosystem that are selling the fully-loaded hardware, unlicensed streaming services, and hosting services for monetary gain. Even absent the Kodi software, this ecosystem would still be in place and unlicensed video content still accessible via web browsers and other media players, adds the report.
Highlights from the report include:
– 8.8% of North American households have at least one device in their household with an active Kodi installation;
– 68.6% of households with Kodi devices also have unofficial add-ons configured to access unlicensed content, and
– Approximately 6% of all households in North America currently have a Kodi device configured to access unlicensed content.
“Kodi is often referred to by name as the root of the unlicensed content streaming problem, but the true roots of the problem appear to be the illegitimate video service providers and file hosts who are making a profit by enabling access to unlicensed content,” said Sandvine CTO Don Bowman, in the report’s news release. “Sandvine’s business intelligence tools can help communications service providers to measure and track not only the applications being used to access unlicensed video content but more importantly to understand the origin of unlicensed content so that they can work with law enforcement to ensure that their license rights are upheld.”
