Joint Statement from Malaysia's Entertainment and Media Industry (E&M)
Date Released:23 Feb 2021
Share
Tweet
Media Pack
Piracy steals RM3 billion annually from local content industry
Leading players of the local content industry in Malaysia lauds the authorities for the recent action against digital piracy in Malaysia.
Industry players are of the opinion that the current penalty for committing acts of digitalpiracy doesn't commensurate with the huge economic losses suffered by the content providers.
The annual loss due to digital piracy is estimated at RM3 billion to the entertainment and media industry, RM500 million in taxes and puts thousands of jobs at risk.
On 8 February 2021, an IT company in Shah Alam was the first company to be charged in court under Section 41 (1) (ha) of the Copyright Act 1987 for selling technology or equipment for the purpose of the circumvention of technological protection measure referred to in subsection 36A(3) of the same Act. The director pleaded guilty and is waiting for the court's sentence on 1 March. The charging was undertaken by The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA) deputy public prosecutor.
On 16 February, a 46-year-old woman pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing 6 TV media boxes which allows illegal streaming of Astro's content via the internet. The accused was fined RM30,000 under Section 232(2) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, making her the first illicit streaming device (ISD) seller to be charged under this provision.
Datuk Yusof Haslam, renowned Producer & Director said, Without resolve from the relevant authorities, digital piracy will not be curbed. This act of theft is not new and has to be resolved by the authorities. I regret to see empty rhetoric without real solution to the problem. Without stricter regulations, piracy will continue to be a cancer to the creative industry and its talents.
Laila Saat, Director, Regulatory of Astro said, We welcome the recent charges brought against sellers of Illicit Streaming Devices (ISD) and will continue to work with authorities and content partners to send a strong message that content piracy is theft, illegal and punishable by law.
Piracy has become so pervasive that many have forgotten it is theft. Piracy is the biggest scourge of the industry, stealing from every single person in the creative ecosystem from actors, writers, producers, directors and cameraman, thus hampering development.
If piracy is left unchecked, it will retard the entertainment industry as it doesn't make economic sense for anyone to create or invest in premium content like rights to the FIFA World Cup , only to have them stolen and used illegally.
Zahrin Aris, Honorary Secretary of Persatuan Penerbit Filem (PFM) added, The penalty for those who use media boxes loaded with unauthorised app is too light. The penalty should be heavier. The value of content being pirated is definitely higher than the fine of only RM30,000.
Zed Zaidi, President of Persatuan Seniman Malaysia (Seniman) opined, Digital piracy enabled by ISD has long plagued the local creative industry. We are hopeful that the recent charges is a new beginning for the industry and serve as landmark cases; and providing justice for the local creative players, who are the victims of this criminal act.
Lam Swee Kim, Chief Marketing Officer of Star Media Group said, The penalty imposed should reflect how severe the act of piracy impacts the industry and the act of fuelling piracy, in terms of monetisation or remuneration should also be monitored and penalised.
The industry players appeal to the government of Malaysia to carry out a thorough review of the existing regulations, which currently does not fully enforce, convict, deter infringements; nor does it provide copyright holders with sufficient protection for their creative works against digital piracy.
Eradication of digital piracy to ensure that only responsible content is streamed requires collaborative efforts of all parties from content providers, broadcasters, regulators, authorities and consumers, to telcos, internet service and ecommerce providers.
In particular, there is an urgent need to address key enablers of digital piracy such as ineffective blocking of illegal streaming sites over the internet and ISDs being openly sold on ecommerce platforms.
Click here to download this press release (Available in English | Bahasa Malaysia | Chinese | Tamil)
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Agentic AI is getting physical.
At COMPUTEX on Tuesday, NVIDIA announced NVIDIA JetPack 7.2 and NVIDIA NemoClaw support on NVIDIA Jetson.
JetPack 7.2 brings a...
01/06/2026
Financial institutions have spent years building AI: fraud models, credit models...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
Joint Statement from Malaysia's Entertainment and Media Industry (E&M) 
