Representatives from the UK’s creative industries and major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have joined forces, supported by £3.5m from the Government, to launch Creative Content UK, a new partnership that will boost consumer awareness of the wide array of legitimate online content services and help reduce online copyright infringement.
Creative Content UK will comprise two key components. The first, which will launch before Spring 2015, will be a major multi-media education awareness campaign, led by content creators and part-funded by Government, that aims to create wider appreciation of the value and benefits of entertainment content and copyright.
The second component is a subscriber alerts programme that will be co-managed and co-funded by ISPs and content creators and scheduled to begin at a later date.
Subscribers will be alerted and advised by participating ISPs when their accounts have been used to infringe copyright. Account holders will then receive an alert from their ISP, advising them that unlawful file sharing may have taken place on their connection and offering advice on where to find legitimate sources of entertainment content.
Business Secretary Vince Cable described the UK’s creative industries as one of its “brilliant” global success stories, saying that the country possesses unrivalled creativity, from record-breaking musicians to box office films, which excite and inspire people all over the world.
However, he added that, too often, that content is open to abuse, which is why the Government is working with industry to ensure that intellectual property rights are understood and respected and that people understand that piracy is not a victimless crime but actually causes businesses to fail, harms the industry and costs jobs.
Creative Content UK founding partners include the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the BPI (British Recorded Music Industry), and the four main internet service providers: BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, with the prospect of other ISPs joining at a later stage.
It will operate within the wider context of successful programmes aimed at combating copyright infringement, such as the blocking of illegal sites and working with advertisers and payment processors to cut off revenues to such sites.