The Nova and Prima media groups have been fighting online pirates for many years. They have been particularly successful in the field of online storage, where they have managed to negotiate the removal of their content. This was the case with Ulož.to, which changed from a classic cloud storage service to a de facto private online disk, as well as a number of other online platforms that allowed the sharing of illegal content. However, the Stream Cinema Community add-on worked on a different model that did not require physical ownership of the files. It drew the target files from the Webshare storage.
The online add-on allowed users to watch content on large screens with minimal effort. In practice, it was necessary to have a device that supported the KODI application, such as Android TV, but the service could also be accessed on LG or Samsung displays, and instructions could be found online which made it possible to use the Stream Cinema Community add-on via Apple TV, which, by its very nature, is very hostile to content from the gray zone.
What could be found on the stream? "Absolutely everything"
The reason why the Stream Cinema Community add-on was such a thorn in the side of many legally operating streaming services was the breadth of content that could be found there. With a certain degree of exaggeration, it can be said that practically everything was there. It was no problem to find the latest titles that were available for hundreds of dollars in video stores such as Rakuten TV or O2, but also older films or art delicacies. If someone was looking for some really specific genres, for example, they might have come across them, but otherwise, practically everything was available.
An unquestionable advantage of the content available in the gray zone was the picture and sound quality. Movies, series, concerts, documentaries, but also, for example, erotica, were available from standard to the highest resolution, i.e., Ultra HD. Additional enhancements were also a matter of course – in the video category, Dolby Vision or HDR (high dynamic range) and, for audio, for example, Dolby Atmos sound. Paradoxically, in SCC's endless catalog, individual titles were often available in higher quality than the official streaming service, which has limits due to its technical capabilities. Some streams could even exceed 100 Mbps.
Is Nova and Prima behind the end of SCC?
Earlier this week, the editors of MediaGuru.cz contacted the Association of Commercial Television (AKTV), which represents the interests of Nova and Prima, to ask whether this organization was behind the end of the well-known add-on. However, AKTV spokesperson Marie Fianová gave a vague response, confirming only that the platform had been under scrutiny for some time.
"We have been monitoring unofficial add-ons to KODI that illegally make protected audiovisual content available for a long time within AKTV, analyzing their functionality and trying to prevent AKTV members' content from being available through these add-ons. Various repositories serve as data sources for these add-ons, so AKTV primarily strives to ensure that AKTV members' content does not appear on these repositories and, to this end, AKTV enters into cooperation agreements with the repositories," said Fianová.
The AKTV spokesperson described this type of add-on as a major problem because their quality and design can give users the impression that they are a legal service. "This is all the more so when they are even offered as a paid service pre-installed on various TV add-on devices. In the eyes of users, such an add-on may appear to be a legitimate service with a monthly or annual subscription, which is very advantageous compared to legal streaming services," added Marie Fianová. Over the years of its operation, the add-on had reached such perfection that it contained virtually all essential information in a visually appealing form.
Illegally shared content has not disappeared from the internet
According to estimates that appeared on the internet, the Stream Cinema Community add-on could have been used by up to 100,000 people. A rough picture can be obtained, for example, from the number of members of the two largest Facebook groups, which in both cases reached tens of thousands of users. However, illegally shared content has not disappeared from the internet, which is an endless source of everything. AKTV and its members are thus facing an endless battle with internet pirates, who are currently exchanging their latest experiences and recommending alternatives that could replace the "gray internet legend" on the global discussion forum Reddit, for example.
Source: mediaguru.cz