A new portal has been unveiled this week by the Alliance for Intellectual Property. Called the Content Map, the portal aims to encourage UK online consumers to explore more than 150 authorised websites and platforms offering films, TV programmes, music, video games, e-books and sports broadcasts.
Funded by the BPI, Industry Trust for IP Awareness Premier League Publishers Association, campaigning group Music Matters and UK Interactive Entertainment, amongst others, the Content Map also provides ‘jargon busters’ and a list of frequently asked questions, which help the consumer to clarify the technical terminology that is used online.
The portal is based on the British Video Association’s video landscape concept map and shows the growing amount of legal content available online while aiming to help people access it with confidence and thus bypassing the pirate sites that proliferate on the internet.
The site is designed to showcase the wealth of legal services available to consumers across films and TV, ebooks, music, games and sports sectors. These services may be accessed through computer, web-enabled television, mobile phones, games consoles or other Internet-enabled devices, but they all have in common the ability for consumers to access creative content digitally through their services.
The Alliance for Intellectual Property says that it realises that it can be difficult for people to differentiate legal sites from illegal ones, which is why the creative industries have come together to launch this central online hub where consumers can be secure in the knowledge that they and their children can identify official services.
The Government has endorsed the Content Map, with Ed Vaizey, Minister for the Creative Industries commenting that the service will be very useful for all members of the general public.