Kodi Shutdown Possible: Amazon And Netflix Join Legal Battle Against Set TV
Even if you’ve never heard of Set TV, chances are pretty good you’ve heard of Kodi. Kodi is the name of an open source video streaming app that makes it possible for you to watch a lot of movies and TV shows without actually paying to do so. Kodi is an app a lot of people use to jailbreak their Amazon Firestick to stream free content. While Kodi is legal, the plugins you download and install to access the free content on Kodi are not.
According to Forbes, Set TV is the name of a company that offers its customers 500 channels of premium content for the low cost of just $20 a month. The provider has not found some magic revenue stream that allows it to stream all this content at such an affordable price, unfortunately. A lawsuit filed in the state of California this past week reveals Set TV is offering customers unauthorized content from networks such as NBC and Disney.
While it is unclear whether Set TV also offers content from Amazon and Netflix, the two streaming giants have joined forces with Paramount, Disney, and other broadcasters to fight against this copyright infringement. In the lawsuit, the broadcasters claimed $150,000 for each piece of stolen content. If the service is found to have committed copyright infringement, they would be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars.
Even if Set TV doesn’t offer content from Amazon and Netflix, it is in their best interest to join the fight with other streaming giants and broadcasters. After all, original series such as The Grand Tour and Stranger Things are just as likely to end up on a download site as traditional television. In fact, Netflix and Amazon original series could be more likely to appear on download sites or pirated streaming app because of how exclusive they are.
Huge lawsuit against Set TV could potentially send illegal streaming into a downward spiral. (FK)
Forget Kodi – Latest crackdown could change the face of illegal streaming forever https://t.co/m2FL7E6QUP
— Fordham IP Research (@ResearchFordham) April 24, 2018
Forbes notes the chances of the broadcasters who filed the lawsuit getting anywhere near the amount of money they claimed is highly unlikely. However, the point of the lawsuit isn’t really to get the money so much as it is to shut down the service and scare similar services into closing up shop as well.
Netflix, Amazon join studios in lawsuit targeting ‘Set TV’ — @MultiNews https://t.co/JCbJDLtoBj pic.twitter.com/BKMPSzcreW
— Jeff Baumgartner (@thebauminator) April 23, 2018
While the convenience of content from Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix sitting in one library is appealing to anyone who likes to watch TV or movies, this is a convenience that would cost a lot more than $20 a month.
