Audiovisual piracy does not stop: films and sports watched illegally by 4 out of 10 Italians

In the first period of application of the regulation, explains Agcom chairman Giacomo Lasorella, 'we recorded 55,504 reports that led to blocking'. Now, as a new phase, 'we are putting out for public consultation a regulation that will make it possible to extend the protection of original content through more targeted and punctual interventions'. Faced with the cooperation in the fight against piracy of large operators such as Google or Microsoft, there are platforms such as Cloudflare that, despite the warnings, still host illicit content, and 'with foreign players there is still a difficulty in enforcing the regulations'.

But why do so many Italians choose the path of illegality? For many, it is a question of accessibility: too many subscriptions, fragmented platforms, sports events spread over a thousand channels. The widespread feeling is that piracy is almost a form of rebellion, a way to 'take back' what the market has made inaccessible. Yet, the damage is tangible. Giancarlo Giorgetti, Minister for the Economy, also recalls this: 'Defending sport and entertainment from piracy means protecting a strategic asset of the Italian system'. For Luigi De Siervo, CEO of the Lega Serie A, 'piracy kills football at the root, taking away oxygen not only from Serie A, but from the entire sports movement, from youth teams to minor clubs'.

'Despite regulatory and technological progress and the first encouraging signs, it is clear that we still need to do more. Not only to protect the audiovisual and sports industry, but also to defend those who choose legality every day', is the comment of Andrea Duilio at Sky Italia, adding that 'it is essential to put an end to the sense of impunity that is still too widespread among those who consume pirated content and to the idea that this is acceptable behaviour without consequences'.

"The value of piracy to date is 350 million, or 50% of what Dazn pays Serie A for exclusive rights. A monstrous figure'. This is the denunciation of Stefano Azzi, ceo Dazn Italia, in his speech during the Stati Generali against piracy. 'There are 3.4 million subscribers to illegality that are taking resources away from the system and undermining sustainability, blocking the growth that new business models such as the revenue share proposed to Serie A could give to the system'.

In the meantime, the war is also moving into cinemas. Camcording, i.e. the clandestine recording of films with a video camera, remains one of the primary sources of pirated content. A practice that seems to be from another era, but which continues to resist in the shadows. Federico Mollicone, chairman of the Culture Committee at the Chamber, promises more stringent legislative measures to combat it. "The 778 million euros lost on cinema and television serials is an impressive number," remarks Alessandro Usai, president of Anica. "For us, the fight against piracy is primary, because we live on a system of exploitation windows subsequent to the box office.