Federal Anti-Piracy Campaign Boosts PPV

Just finished publishing a post for the day job on my interview with Integrated Sports Media president Doug Jacobs, who offered Pay Per View industry’s view of the Obama administration’s recent crackdown on online piracy.

From The Hill:

Providers of PPV sporting events face additional challenges because the cost of an event can range from $10-20 for a typical boxing or soccer match to $70 for a fight featuring boxer Manny Pacquiao. The costs can prompt fans to search for illegal online webcasts instead of coughing up the retail price.

“The bottom line is, people think feel its the big bad cable company behind it but they’re certainly hurting the fighters,” Jacobs said with regards to MMA and boxing, the two of the largest sources of PPV revenue. He estimated some high-profile events lose as much as 30 percent of revenue due to piracy.

“On a personal level, obviously [stopping piracy] means more money for television revenue. But it’s a tough sport and a lot of these guys don’t have a pension.”

This is obviously an issue of personal interest to me so I’ll be doing my best to try and get members of the Pay Per View industry to quantify just how much revenue they lose from online piracy.

So far the White House’s campaign appears to be win-win, with both Democrats and Republicans lining up to support the entertainment and software industries, who are driving the push for greater intellectual property enforcement.

Those of you who dabble in providing pirated webcasts beware: as noted in the article, White House IP czar Victoria Espinel recently suggested that illegally streaming an event online should be clarified as a felony. Not sure a lengthy stint in prison is worth helping others save $40.