Hyderabad-based IT engineer arrested for streaming pirated content from OTT platforms

A Hyderabad-based IT engineer got arrested and landed in jail for allegedly streaming pirated content from OTT platforms on an Android app called Thop TV. The 28-year-old engineer was arrested by the Maharashtra cyber police after various OTT companies including Viacom 18, Star India filed a complaint against him. OTT platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix offer great content, but some people may find it difficult to buy a subscription. When people don't want to spend money and watch, they often find apps that sell pirated content. In this case, Thop Tv offered pirated content from all OTT platforms at a nominal monthly fee of Rs 35.

As per The News Minute, 28-year-old Satish Venkateshwarlu, who runs the Android app Thop Tv, got arrested by the Maharashtra Cyber Police for selling pirated content through his app. It was found that Venkateshwarlu wasrunning the Thop Tv app and website for almost two years. He charged a nominal fee of Rs 35 per month to subscribers for pirated content that he obtained from various OTT platforms. Another report from a famous news publisher revealed that he was streaming content from OTT platforms using API. He was arrested on July 12 at his residence in the Ranga Reddy district, Hyderabad.

The publication reports that broadcasters including Viacom 18 and Star TV had filed a case against Thop TV. Viacom had alleged that Thop TV was broadcasting its content without authorization. Many subscribers turned to Thop Tv to get the content at a much lower price. This increased Thop TV's subscriber base to 5,000 subscribers. Thop Tv had close to a lakh of viewers because it offered a variety of content including movies, TV shows, sports, and much more. OTT platforms had to incur losses due to this as most of the people who knew about Thop TV did not go for the subscription to the original OTT platforms.

Venkateswarlu got booked under the Indian Penal Code for cheating and will remain in police custody until July 19. Thop Tv was no longer available to users, shortly after his arrest. However, the app is still available on the Google Play Store.