NOS signs up Nagra for anti-piracy drive

Portuguese pay TV provider NOS has signed up content security and TV technology specialist Nagra to help it combat broadcast and streaming piracy of Benfica soccer league matches.

NOS, which owns the rights to Benfica games and the distribution rights for the Benfica TV channel, will tap Nagra’s Anti-Piracy Services unit to fight control-word sharing and streaming piracy of Benfica content across the web, social media and illegal IPTV services.

Nagra Anti-Piracy Services help service providers, content owners and sports rights holders improve their defence against all forms of piracy – from open and highly visible piracy on the internet and social media, to control-word sharing and illegal commercial IPTV piracy services – by combining intelligence about global pirate networks with monitoring, takedown and litigation services, on-the-ground expertise and forensic watermarking technologies.

“Our goal at NOS is always to provide our subscribers with the highest quality content and the best viewing experience and this is especially important with live sports events such as the Benfica soccer games. In order to continue serving our customers in the best way possible, we need to preserve the value we deliver to consumers and ensure that this premium content is only delivered through the legitimate value chain. Nagra Anti-Piracy Services were the natural choice to help us deliver on that objective,” said José Pascoal, service platforms senior director at NOS.

“We’re delighted to support NOS and BenficaTV as they ramp up the fight against live sports piracy in Portugal and we will be with them every step of the way,” said Jean-Philippe Plantevin, vice-president, anti-piracy at Nagra.

“By complementing their existing Nagra content protection technology with our anti-piracy services, NOS can now take a holistic approach to fighting piracy working through a single entity that will not only address the growing threat of streaming piracy but also continue to fight control-word sharing piracy in the region.”