The Stage

Piracy cost TV sector €78 million, study finds

Published Wednesday 17 March 2010 at 17:09 by Matthew Hemley

Piracy has cost the television sector €78 million and caused the loss of 39,000 jobs in the creative industries, new research has revealed.

The research, carried out by Tera Consultants to explore the impact of digital piracy - including unauthorised file-sharing and downloading of copyrighted works and recorded performances - found that the UK’s creative industries lost retail revenue totalling €1.4 billion to piracy, including copying CDs and DVDs, in 2008.

Of this, the UK’s audio and audiovisual creative industries lost €670 million, with the television sector suffering losses of €78 million.

When the €78 million figure is broken down, it shows that there were total revenue losses of €67 million due to digital piracy and €12 million because of physical piracy.

Meanwhile, the music industry suffered total revenue loss of €282 million, with €220 million of this on digital piracy alone.

According to the study, more than 185,000 jobs were lost in Europe in total over 2008, with 39,000 lost in the UK.

It found that job losses in the UK could reach 254,000 by 2015, and see losses of €7.8 billion in retail revenue.

Responding to the findings, Equity general secretary Christine Payne said the losses were a particular concern to members, given the fact so many of them rely on fees earned through repeat showings of programmes broadcast legitimately.

She warned of more job losses in the acting profession if measures are not taken to address the problems, and said: “Our creative sector produces world-class content, enjoyed by millions around the world, but simply put, this cannot be sustained and more jobs will be lost if illegal file-sharing persists.”

New legislation aimed at tackling internet piracy was passed by the House of Lords on Monday night, and had its first reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

A second reading of the Digital Economy Bill, which includes proposals to suspend the internet accounts of repeat offenders, is expected to be heard later this month.

Speaking today, Payne said it was important that the bill becomes legislation before the general election.

“Today’s research has reinforced my determination, even though we have a very short period of time before the general election, to get this bill on the statute book. We have really got to do it,” she said.