Openload, Streamango Shut Down As Part of Anti-Piracy Settlement

Ted Johnson

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Openload and Streamango, two major sites that featured pirated copies of TV shows like Game of Thrones and movies like the latest Rambo, shut down their services under the terms of an agreement with a coalition of Hollywood studios and other content companies.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, which includes the studio members of the Motion Picture Association and other companies around the world, said that the sites also agreed to pay “a significant damage award.” The terms were not disclosed, but ACE had pursued a civil lawsuit in Germany and settled out of court.

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The two sites generated millions of visitors. According to a report in TorrentFreak last year, Openload, a file-hosting site, was in the top ten of global streaming video traffic, ahead of Hulu.

The company had more than 1,000 servers in Romania, France and Germany, and provided infringing content to 72% of the top 50 illegal video streaming and lining sites in the world, ACE said.

“For years, these two pirate operations failed to take meaningful action to stop the dissemination of the illegal content, harming creators and misleading consumers,” said MPA Chairman Charles Rivkin.

In 2018, the U.S. Trade Representative listed Openload in a review of “notorious” markets. It cited its practive of enticing users to upload unauthorized content in exchange for free downloads.

Earlier this year, Openload featured episodes of the final season of Game of Thrones, above, after they leaked in Germany several hours before they aired.

The Openload site now defaults to a generic page and the Streamango address links to an ACE website.

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