System under consideration would give high-speed digital pirates 'three strikes' before service is shut down

Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor

March 31, 2008

1 Min Read
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Virgin Media Inc. (Nasdaq: VMED) is reportedly in talks with the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) about testing a "three strikes" system designed to crack down on digital piracy.

The system being proposed would issue customers with three warnings before their service is disconnected.

Virgin Media, like other U.K. ISPs, could face government legislation if they do not agree to a system that tracks down consumers who download copyrighted materials. The MSO affirmed that it's been in discussions with rights holders organizations about "how a voluntary scheme could work," but has not said when the MSO might launch such a trial.

The Register says the platform Virgin might end up using would be similar to one that Tiscali UK tried briefly last summer, resulting in four customer disconnects before the ISP and BPI ended the arrangement due to payment disputes.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News

About the Author(s)

Jeff Baumgartner

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X and LinkedIn.

Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers.

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