The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) announced the shutdown of Rare Breed TV, a major illegal IPTV service provider, after reaching a financial settlement with its operators.
North Carolina-based Rare Breed TV was one of the world’s largest digital piracy operations, claiming to offer subscribers access to over 28,000 channels and more than 100,000 movies and series.
“As part of the agreement, the operators will permanently shut down their illegal service and pay a significant financial settlement. Rare Breed IPTV was an unauthorized streaming platform that operated for years, offering thousands of live television channels and a video-on-demand library featuring more than 14,000 titles—all without the consent of the copyright holders,” ACE said on Wednesday.
“With support from its member studios, ACE identified the individuals behind Rare Breed and contacted them in North Carolina. Following ACE’s enforcement efforts, the operators agreed to cease their infringing activities, pay financial compensation, and fully cooperate with ACE going forward.”
However, while ACE says the pirate service operators agreed to shut down their illegal IPTV platform, the Rare Breed TV website was still online when this story was published, offering subscriptions ranging from $15.99/ month to $79.99 for a full year.
An ACE spokesperson was not immediately available for comment when contacted by BleepingComputer earlier today.
ACE is a coalition of over 50 media and entertainment companies worldwide, including the world’s largest film studios and television networks, focused on shutting down illegal streaming services.
It also collaborates with law enforcement organizations, including the U.S. Department of Justice, Europol, and Interpol, to target large-scale illegal streaming networks.
The coalition’s governing board includes companies such as Amazon, Apple TV+, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Studios, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
Since its establishment in June 2017, ACE has successfully taken down numerous piracy platforms, including the streaming providers Openload and Streamango, the pirate IPTV service Beast IPTV, the 123movies.la streaming site, and the world’s largest anime piracy site, Zoro.to.
Last year, it also helped sentence five men linked to the Jetflicks illegal streaming service, shutter a pirate TV streaming network that made millions of dollars since its launch in 2015, dismantle a pirate streaming service with over 22 million users and making over €250 million ($263M) each month, and take down Markkystreams, one of the largest live sports streaming piracy rings, with over 821 million yearly visits.
“This enforcement action sends a strong message to piracy operators worldwide,” added Larissa Knapp, Executive Vice President at the Motion Picture Association (MPA), on Wednesday. “Operating an illegal streaming service comes with serious consequences—including lawsuits, substantial financial penalties, and permanent shutdown.”
Malware targeting password stores surged 3X as attackers executed stealthy Perfect Heist scenarios, infiltrating and exploiting critical systems.
Discover the top 10 MITRE ATT&CK techniques behind 93% of attacks and how to defend against them.