Apps that enable users to watch IPTV services are nothing new. However now BGR is reporting that two Australian media companies are looking to reduce the use of paid pirate IPTV boxes, not by going after the manufacturers or sellers, but by shutting down the app stores that they use. The stores are an alternative to the Google Play store, and provide APKs for all sorts of legitimate Android apps, however a Hong Kong based TV firm and Roadshow Films don't seem to care.
Sweeping legislation like this could be a very slippery slope. Only time will tell if this gets passed, and if it does, what ramifications it will end up having.
The company acknowledged that many of those marketplaces, which are somewhat akin to the Play marketplace offered by Google for Android devices, contain apps that aren’t specifically focused on copyright infringement — for example, Netflix and YouTube apps.
However, the company argues that the primary purpose of the marketplaces is to facilitate copyright infringement and that the non-infringing apps can be downloaded elsewhere.
Sweeping legislation like this could be a very slippery slope. Only time will tell if this gets passed, and if it does, what ramifications it will end up having.
The company acknowledged that many of those marketplaces, which are somewhat akin to the Play marketplace offered by Google for Android devices, contain apps that aren’t specifically focused on copyright infringement — for example, Netflix and YouTube apps.
However, the company argues that the primary purpose of the marketplaces is to facilitate copyright infringement and that the non-infringing apps can be downloaded elsewhere.