MultiChoice taps GeoGuard to block streaming piracy

South African pay TV operator MultiChoice has tapped geolocation and cybersecurity specialist GeoGuard for its VPN and proxy detection solution to combat content piracy.

MultiChoice is using GeoGuard to block pirate viewers on its streaming services and to eliminate the creation of suspicious user accounts, which according to GeoGuard enables it to free up infrastructure capacity and cut CDN costs.

James Clark

GeoGuard is protecting MultiChoice’s DStv App, which streams live and catch-up content in countries across sub-Saharan Africa. MultiChoice went live with GeoGuard in February 2021 through the Amazon Marketplace, using the capability provided through GeoGuard’s integration with Amazon CloudFront.

According to GeoGuard, MultiChoice chose it for its ability to better protect its revenues without impacting legitimate users, for GeoGuard’s regular database updates, to reduce both false negatives and false positives, and its support for SmartDNS, a technology designed to circumvent geo-restricted services.

“As for all OTT broadcasters, geo-piracy is a major concern, and it was a real coup when we deployed GeoGuard and quickly achieved a great return on investment/ We have been impressed by GeoGuard – it works seamlessly in the background to safeguard our content for legitimate users, ensures territorial exclusivity and helps us comply with our content distribution obligations with rights owners. From an OTT broadcaster perspective, the cost savings and efficiency it’s providing in our streaming infrastructure is a huge bonus,” said Greg van Wyngaard, Senior Engineer at MultiChoice’s Connected Video division.

“While many OTT operators know that pirates weigh down their infrastructure – and cost them money to boot – it is hard to calculate the full impact until the pirates are blocked. With GeoGuard, MultiChoice has cut geo-piracy and account sharing dramatically and realised impressive savings on infrastructure costs. Plus, it can now support more than double the number of concurrent users for live-streamed events, resulting in a better quality of experience for its paying subscribers,” said James Clark, Director of Global Sales, GeoComply.